I happened to look at the top of our boiler on Sunday morning a noticed a few small drips of water coming out of one of bends in the boiler flue (Glowworm Ultracom HXi24). It looked like it had been happening for a while as there was a fair amount of red rust under the drip.
I immediately turned off the boiler and rang the chap that installed it 5 years ago. He came out pretty promptly, took the flue off the top of the boiler and found that the seal that joins the elbow that comes of the top of the boiler to the next straight section had a slight fold in it and that fold was right at the bottom of the flue, exactly where condensate would run over it as it ran back into the boiler.
The seal had obviously been like that from installation and it wouldn't quite go back to the correct shape. The installer said that he couldn't get a new seal that day so he rotated the seal so that the damaged part was at the top of the flue and reassembled it. He then said it would be fine like that and but rang this morning to say they wouldn't be able to get back to me for a few days.
However, i didn't see him do any tests on the flue. He just screwed it back together, let the boiler run for a while (with no sign of a water leak) and then said it was ok. Certainly no tools other than a screwdriver came out of his bag.
I'm not sure i'm comfortable with this. How should have he have tested that the seal was working correctly? I did ask the installer this question this morning on the phone and his response was that it will be fine because the flue is open to atmosphere and not pressurised and he could feel from how the flue went together that the seal had seated correctly. However, if that was the case surely the seal would have been fitted correctly when he installed it in the first place.
Since yesterday i've had the carbon monoxide detector sat on top of the boiler next to the flue (its a digital one that tells you the peak figure its seen) and its not registered anything but when he comes back to fit the seal how should be check to make sure the flue isn't leaking?
Edit: I should add that there was evidence of this having happened before when we bought the house. The previous owners told us that they'd had it fixed. Looks like they either lied or the same chap has looked at it before and not fixed it!
I immediately turned off the boiler and rang the chap that installed it 5 years ago. He came out pretty promptly, took the flue off the top of the boiler and found that the seal that joins the elbow that comes of the top of the boiler to the next straight section had a slight fold in it and that fold was right at the bottom of the flue, exactly where condensate would run over it as it ran back into the boiler.
The seal had obviously been like that from installation and it wouldn't quite go back to the correct shape. The installer said that he couldn't get a new seal that day so he rotated the seal so that the damaged part was at the top of the flue and reassembled it. He then said it would be fine like that and but rang this morning to say they wouldn't be able to get back to me for a few days.
However, i didn't see him do any tests on the flue. He just screwed it back together, let the boiler run for a while (with no sign of a water leak) and then said it was ok. Certainly no tools other than a screwdriver came out of his bag.
I'm not sure i'm comfortable with this. How should have he have tested that the seal was working correctly? I did ask the installer this question this morning on the phone and his response was that it will be fine because the flue is open to atmosphere and not pressurised and he could feel from how the flue went together that the seal had seated correctly. However, if that was the case surely the seal would have been fitted correctly when he installed it in the first place.
Since yesterday i've had the carbon monoxide detector sat on top of the boiler next to the flue (its a digital one that tells you the peak figure its seen) and its not registered anything but when he comes back to fit the seal how should be check to make sure the flue isn't leaking?
Edit: I should add that there was evidence of this having happened before when we bought the house. The previous owners told us that they'd had it fixed. Looks like they either lied or the same chap has looked at it before and not fixed it!
