Buderus 500 28C leaking

[Classic40]

Hi,

My parents have the above boiler which was installed in 2007, however they have noticed it is leaking.

The leak appears to be coming from pipe area at the bottom of the boiler.

The water is coming from inside the boiler and not the pipes going up to it.

Is there anything common to go wrong with this boiler? I am wondering what is best to do with regards to this.

Thanks.

 

[boilerdoktor]

its a common fault...worcester bosch must be gutted at having bought them out!! although their commercial boilers are very good, the domestic ones are crap!

if you phone Worcester they ll do it for a fixed price!

It'll be the plastic bottom manifold

 

[Classic40]

Thanks.. any idea on cost of part or the fixed price repair from Worcester?

This is the first fault with the boiler, been installed for 8 years so it's done pretty good.

 

[Biggles..]

It's likely to be the hydrobloc which is a plastic interconnecting bloc at the back of the boiler.
You can get the tray with block in place, cost is around £150plus vat depending on your engineers pricing terms.
Worcester book it in as a four hour repair, first timers will take that and maybe more, if you've done a few that time can be a lot less.

Fixed price repair is unfortunately probably the cheapest option for yourself, if they still do it on those boilers, a guy out the phone book will probably be £300-400

 

[Classic40]

Looks like a WB fixed price repair maybe the way to go at around £300.

If the part costs at £150 ex vat and is around 4 hours to fit a fixed price repair sounds like a bargain.

 

[Paul Barker]

You pm'd me on this, but I am putting the answer here.

As others have said and you now agree. fixed price repair.

 

[Classic40]

Thanks Paul.

My parents have rang somebody to look at it, they said something about needing a gasket and turned off the water to the boiler so it's stopped leaking.

Person who came out said he didn't have the part on his van but would get it ordered.

Will update you once we hear back.

Any idea how much the fix price repair is? I saw a thread saying around £300 but that was a couple of years ago.

Thanks.

 

[Classic40]

Hi,

Well the person came and fitted 4 new O ring's to the heat exchange; it's leaking even more now! I have drained some water from the system so it's reading zero on the pressure gauge to stop it dripping.

WB fixed price repair was £262.50 one off or £25 a month for 12 months for 1 year (£500 first month and £1000 for the other 11 months limit on claims).

Took out the 12 month policy and someone is coming to fix it on Monday.

The part looks like this;

Thanks all.

 

[Biggles..]

That's the hydrobloc, WB will have that already mounted to the bottom tray.

Your boiler will be in a thousand pieces when they fit, will probably need the top seal to the burner as well.

Might have been better with the one off as parts and labour on these can easily run past £500 in a single visit, thankfully I have every single part in stock in the garage as some are obsolete.

 

[Classic40]

That's the hydrobloc, WB will have that already mounted to the bottom tray.

Your boiler will be in a thousand pieces when they fit, will probably need the top seal to the burner as well.

Might have been better with the one off as parts and labour on these can easily run past £500 in a single visit, thankfully I have every single part in stock in the garage as some are obsolete.

Turns out that they are coming on Tuesday now as the deadline to order the parts was missed on Friday, needless to say I am very mad with them and have registered a complaint.

Women on the phone said it's a 3 hour job plus the drain down (I told her that I have already drained enough water from the system to stop it leaking).

If it turns out cost more then £500 WB will be footing the bill for the remainder due to the messing about!

Fingers crossed it's all good for another 8 years after the repair! Been totally faultless since it was installed in 2007.

 

[Biggles..]

If you get another 8years out of it, I'll eat my hat!!!

 

[Classic40]

If you get another 8years out of it, I'll eat my hat!!!

Can only hope.

Anything else common to go wrong with this model?

 

[Biggles..]

You really don't want to know!

Common faults.

Failed Hot surface igniter
Failed ionisation probe.
Leaking gas seal to both the above and the top of the gas inlet assembly
Dodgy fans
Dodgy PCB's
Failed flue stat
Flow turbine is unreliable.
Blocked condense trough oxides.
Hydrbloc

Bout covers the faults I saw regularly on them.

When it's fixed, ensure it gets a proper service, burner pulled out and the coil heat exchanger flushed out, then turn off the hot water preheat as that's what kills the hydrobloc

Fitted hundreds not far from you, around the same time as yours!

 

[Classic40]

Thanks.

Preheat on the hot water has always been turned off... Maybe that's why its managed 8 years.

WB came out to it in 2009 to do a burner upgrade, it was listed on the notes when I booked the repair.

Fingers crossed