dripping noise from gas combi

[bennytheball]

Can anyone suggest what my problem might be? Our Ravenheat gave up the ghost on Good Friday (of course) and we payed £150 for it to be repaired (though there seemed to be nothing wrong it still took 1.5 hours to clean it & put it back together again;we were just happy to have hot water again!).
Anyway, sice then it has been making a dripping noise, water dripping into water. It srated off occasional, but now is all the time and quite rapid. There is no sign of any leak from anywhere. I am pretty DIY-clueless, but it's hell trying to get a plumber who will look at a gas combi round here and I'd like to know whether it'slikely to be a big job or something simple....?

 

[chrishutt]

Could be a leak from the heat exchanger connections within the combustion chamber box. You wouldn't see anything, but would hear the drips splashing into water in base of combustion box. You might find traces of water leaking out where pipes/wires enter bottom of combustion box.

Do not open this box unless you are competent to do so, since it is important that it is properly sealed when refitted. If the noise dates from the repair, it's probably caused by the engineer not properly tightening or sealing the joints in question. However you might find it difficult to prove that.

 

[Agile]

This is actually an interesting consumer post!

My interpretation is:-

The boiler was never serviced and failed on public holiday.

Owner resents paying £150 for a public holiday call out.

Something dripping inside but they dont seem to want to call installer.

They perceive they "cannot get a plumber" in their area.

My conclusions:-

If they got it serviced regularly the breakdown would not have happened!

If they dont get it checked it will probably fail again.

If it does not fail soon it may eventually be irreparable.

Dont call a plumber call a boiler engineer familiar with the model. 820 ?


A final comment! there is a public perception that you cant get a plumber. Yet plumbers spend thousands advertising and wait beside silent phones for a call every two days.

Now why is there this discrepancy in perceived availability. I know that there ARE competent boiler engineers and at this time of year there is not so much work and they can all do another repair.

This poster says she is in the UK, pretty wide area, there certainly are engineers in the UK, in fact we are based in the UK too now I think about it.

Sounds as if either the heat exchanger is leaking, about £230 to fix or a flange joint is leaking and can probably be tightened for about £65


Tony Glazier

 

[bennytheball]

Thanks for the help, once we have found a plumber our only problem is accessing the pipework which has been plastered in, but that's a problem for another forum...

Interesting comments about plumbers; in fact we moved in to the house only 4 months before the problems started, and I suspect the boiler had not been regularly serviced. Since moving in we had been trying to get a someone to service it, we had left many messages on answerphones which were not replied to, and any plumbers/engineers we managed to speak to in person said they did not touch combi boilers. I am not exaggerating, I am talking 20 or more phone calls.
On Good Friday when we realised we had no hot water (and a small baby in the house) we went through the Yellow Pages and Thompson's Local, and eventually contacted one agency-type company who agreed to send a plumber the next day. They phoned the next morning to say the plumber had cancelled, sorry and everything but there was nothing else they could do. We eventually found someone who came via another agency-type company from 50 miles away, who charged £100 per hour plus call-out fee.
Now I used to be a GP, so I fully understand the frustrations of dealing with the general public, especially out of "normal" working hours, and I do not resent anyone charging as much as they like for their time; I was desperate, he was working on a Bank Holiday weekend, fair enough. My point is simply that it is not easy to get a plumber in semi-rural Hertfordshire to come to your house at all, let alone on a Bank Holiday!

 

[ChrisR]

Don't lose heart. I fixed a boiler 8 miles away at 9pm last Christmas eve for £50 + plus a mince pie.

 

[bennytheball]

....how does £150, a nice cup of tea and a pack of chocolate digestives sound?

 

[ChrisR]

No way , they'd have to be Hob Nobs.

 

[Agile]

AlanE who visits here is based in Herts. There should be absolutely no problem finding a boiler engineer. We sometimes go to Herts when we feel the client has been ripped off by someone else.

Last Christmas Eve I had a call from someone with a failed boiler, he wanted to make a date for after the holiday. I could not fit him in that day so went Christmas morning and as we carry most spares was able to restore his boiler and we only charged our standard diagnostic fee of £84.

Perhaps you are looking for a "plumber". Try looking under boiler engineers or central heating. Or call Ravenheat and ask for John Wilson's secretary and she will give you details of their local service agent. While calling, ask her why she has not added us to her list in spite of a couple of emails!

Tony Glazier

 

[ChrisR]

AlanE is Colchester I think!

I suppose Benny isn't Ware in Herts? It just amuses me

 

[bennytheball]

No, Tring. Almost as funny.