CO Presenting As Water Leak

I rent out a flat through a estate agents who have recently had some work done on the boiler. There was a small leak on one of the heat exchangers which turned out to be the O-rings. The estate agents have said it needed to be repaired immediately as a CO leak can present as a water leak. If this is the case can someone please explain how this would happen?

Thanks

 

What boiler is it that you have

 

Could have been an o ring in the flue.
This can cause combustion air to be brought back into the appliance.

 

A leak of water or flue gases?

 

It is a combi boiler. Not sure on the exact make or model.

 

It was O-rings on the heat exchanger that were leaking.

 

It turned out to be water but the estate agents have said that it had to be repaired immediately as what looks like a water leak from the heat exchanger could in fact be a CO leak.

 

Vaillant or glowworm maybe?

 

Did the alarm activate? Take it there is an alarm fitted?
Is the Q because of a high bill for an emergency plumber to attend perhaps?

 

Ah. Don't be too hard on the OP. True, he's a landlord and property is theft, but he may well be a good one and trying to keep rent down, which is only possible if he can keep costs down.
I see his point. He's wondering if this is an emergency callout job or if the agent is just ripping him off or wasting his money. And let's be honest - does the gas guy even really want an emergency callout if it isn't an emergency?

 

TBH
It doesn’t matter if it was just a water leak. It needs fixing.

 

Agreed. But if it's a slight weep and it is only water, a day or two is hardly an urgent matter. Though it may be wise to turn the boiler off to prevent an electric shock hazard.

Obviously there's a limited amount of time a tenant should be left without a working boiler, even in summer, but 48 hours and with a discount off the rent is hardly unreasonable.

 

Tennant probably used a call out company and the agent is having to justify it!

 

Isn`t that on the head of the tenant then?

 

Thanks for the responses. It is due to an emergency call out yes. The alarm never went off as there was no CO leak. I'm just trying to establish how something that looks like a water leak could possibly be a CO leak. I'm not an expert by any means but can't see how this could be.

The agent are making out this is an obvious assumption and before I question it I wanted to check the facts. I did do a fair amount of searching but couldn't find any possible explanations.