Is it time for a new boiler

[Mike155]

I have a Worcester 9.24 combi boiler that was fitted in 1990.
It has served us well requiring only a diveter valve and an overheat thermostat replacing in its time.
I now have a problem that sometimes the boiler trips out on overheat when taking a shower but only if the rest of the heating system is off.
I am also loosing pressure and need to top the system up weekly and vent a radiator. The pressure gauge goes to about 2.5 bar when the central heating is on and the PRV passes water. Once the system cools down the pressure is 0.
A plumber I contacted said I would be best off buying a new boiler as I would probably need
PRV
Air valve
Expansion vessel
Heat exchanger.
I live in a hardwater area in Lincolnshire but do have a water softener !
Is it time for a new boiler?

 

[Softus]

A plumber I contacted said I would be best off buying a new boiler as I would probably need
PRV definitely
Air valve possibly
Expansion vessel probably
Heat exchanger. very likely

Is it time for a new boiler?

The repair might be expensive, but it would be less than the cost of a new boiler/installation. But a new boiler would have a warranty, and possibly quite a long one. Only you can make this decision, but you need the facts (costs) first, and I'm not sure that you have those yet.

Note that when you replace either the heat exchanger or the entire boiler, you should assess the state of the water in the rest of the system. Given that you've had a leak and regularly introduced fresh water, there will be some corrosion, and the products of that (rust and Magnetite) must be removed so as not to block a new heat exchanger. How much corrosion there's been depends on for how long you've been losing water, and how much inhibitor was in there originally.

I live in a hardwater area in Lincolnshire but do have a water softener!

Does that make up for having to live in Lincolnshire?

 

[ChrisR]

Just removed an 'Electronic' one, now in the van on the way to the scrap.
It only died because water from a waste pipe above was regularly filling it up!

PRV £peanuts
Air valve £peanuts
Expansion vessel Possibly, may just need pumping up. Or it's cheap to add another one, to any heating pipe.
Heat exchanger. Doubtful it needs changing. They can be cleaned. Assuming he means the secondary h/ex, this one has already gone in the bin I may have a new one somewhere, not sure if they changed type with different models.


I wouldn't be surprised it it could be sorted out for a few more years.
New ones are much smaller, which can matter.

 

[Agile]

Many plumbers like to suggest that a boiler needs replacing just because that a nice big job for them.

Renovating an older and rather neglected boiler like yours will take 2-3 hours and perhaps cost £200-£250 at most from a reasonable boiler engineer.

It would still be an old boiler but would have a good chance of giving another 2-4 years service without major problems.

Tony

 

[Mike155]

Thanks for the advice.
Well as a cheap fix for now the expansion vessel was repressurised and a new PRV & vent valve fitted.
Now the pressure only goes up to 1.4 bar when the heating is on. Guess the expansion vessel wasn't doing its job before.
Question is should new corrosion inhibitor be added as what had been in there will almost certainly have been diluted away.

 

[Softus]

Question is should new corrosion inhibitor be added as what had been in there will almost certainly have been diluted away.

Yes. Or you buy a kit to test the concentration.