Heating question - major flood after service, what’s gone wrong here?

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My son had a new boiler fitted into the house he rents a couple of years ago. Landlord arranged it and didn’t use her regular plumber/heating engineer as he was 'too expensive'. She had it done on a fixed price by BOXT who I’ve heard nothing good about. Don’t know what make but it’s a conventional vented system. My son reckons a 17 year old came and fitted it. All been fine and her regular engineer has been servicing it. It was supposed to be serviced in December but the regular guy 'forgot'. Anyway, my son phoned him yesterday to remind him, he said he had a cancellation and came round yesterday and serviced it. This morning at 5.00 my son was woken by hot water ****ing out of the landing ceiling, the ceiling has come down, carpet and wallpaper ruined, even the downstairs is flooded. Called the 'forgetful' engineer out and he was straight round on an emergency call out. Basically switched the water off and is coming back later and says the installation is at fault and he's got to cut some pipes out and replumb it. Sounds like bullshît to me but could he have done anything during the ‘service' yesterday to cause this? It’s not going to cost my son anything as the landlady is insured up to the hilt on that house but just curious. Any ideas or just bad luck/co-incidence?
 
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I’m not sure what or why you think it’s bullsh*t.
 
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Do you know where the water was actually leaking from?
 
Was it the expansion tank in the loft (possibly warped from pumping over,)
WE NEED MORE INFO!
 
It’s my sons house. I’ll know more when it’s been done. It must have been something to do with the expansion tank because it was hot water that was coming through the ceiling.
 
It’s my sons house. I’ll know more when it’s been done. It must have been something to do with the expansion tank because it was hot water that was coming through the ceiling.
The F/E tank shouldn't be hot if the system was working properly. It would get hot if it was over-pumping.
Somebody should look at it before it's "been done", or it might not be possible to find the reason for the leak. Not for a witch-hunt, but to avoid recurrence. And interest.
 
All I got from my son was that the plumber said that pipes were blocked and can’t be cleaned so will need cutting out and replacing. I have no idea what pipes he was talking about and neither does my son. I’ll come back and tell you what has been done.

I've just been told by Mrs Mottie that the plumber is a....Covid denier! According to him, the government are injecting us so that it softens our bones and will make it easier for aliens to eat us. :eek:
 
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He might have adjusted the pump speed which, if piped incorrectly could cause it to pump over
(Pump over means it sort of turns the expansion tank in the loft into a radiator, same heat, thin plastic tank can lose its shape & burst or split)
IF that is the case, it’s not the blokes fault really. It is a remarkable coincidence but occasionally coincidences do happen.
You can either tell him beforehand that you are “connected” & will 100% find out if he is telling the truth...... or....... let him tell you what it was, run it past us & we’ll tell you if he’s making it up.
But, it is what it is,on the positive side, it’s insured & no one got hurt. (Which has caused deaths before, similar thing)
 
Come on Mottie, you know the score. We need pictures please.

Andy

Pictures attached.

Do you know where the water was actually leaking from?
No


He might have adjusted the pump speed which, if piped incorrectly could cause it to pump over
(Pump over means it sort of turns the expansion tank in the loft into a radiator, same heat, thin plastic tank can lose its shape & burst or split)
IF that is the case, it’s not the blokes fault really. It is a remarkable coincidence but occasionally coincidences do happen.
You can either tell him beforehand that you are “connected” & will 100% find out if he is telling the truth...... or....... let him tell you what it was, run it past us & we’ll tell you if he’s making it up.
But, it is what it is,on the positive side, it’s insured & no one got hurt. (Which has caused deaths before, similar thing)
Just found out the fabric is insured as well as the boiler but not the actual heating system - only for leaks, not the system itself. The landlady is paying the plumber direct. My son suspects he may be ripping her off.
Well, I’ve just had a look when I took my grandson back. The 'plumber' has been round, fitted a new pump and some sections of pipe near to the pump and......no effing difference! It runs for a short while before water starts coming out of the loft ceiling. The 15mm painted pipe going up to the loft gets too hot to touch. He’s coming back on Saturday to powerflush it. Doesn’t seem right to me. It’s a Worcester boiler they have fitted with a mag filter. One thing that seems odd to me is that although all pipes going in to the three way valve are cold, the valve electrical bit is quite warm. Also the little lever you use when filling/bleeding the system doesn’t seem to be connected to anything, it’s just flopping loose. Any idea's? A few pictures:


ED0BDB4B-7602-4C09-9057-DAACAEE9449E.jpeg
B51E6BB0-0171-4703-841E-5BBF512B1730.jpeg
0129D34E-1F82-408F-9178-A6EFA0DDB37E.jpeg
25C9393D-2B06-49C7-84D0-1CE0831ED7EE.jpeg
215EA03C-55BB-4AA1-AA7F-EEE6C7A38089.jpeg
0B1D6E98-FA33-46DA-BE3D-EE97EF99D22E.jpeg
 
Floppy lever is either a demand on the system or heating was on last. The 15mm pipe seems like it’s the cold feed pipe, and before pump, so unclear as to why it gets too hot to touch. Also the pump valves don’t look fully open, especially the first one.
 
Possibly pump speed was turned up, looks to me like the cold feed is before the vent and too far away, so the required 'Neutral point' isn't created, causing the system to pump over. F&E cistern possibly then either over topped as vent pipe putting in water faster than it can get back into the system/down the overflow, or cistern has got too hot, softened and collapsed.

Thank god there wasn't anyone underneath it.
 
As above. Mottie, a 3 port valve will always have clear route. It can only close 1 port at a time. Water enters valve in middle splits one way for heating, the other for hot water or middle for both. Does it pump over for heating & hot water or only on one or the other?
 
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