New boiler causes leaks elsewhere - any comeback?

[peter964rs]

Our old boiler expired in Jan this year and our Gas Safe plumber replaced it with a new Ideal combi and removed the hot water tank.

Since then we have had a persistent small leak from the pipe under the hot tap in the downstairs cloakroom, which had caused a damp patch to appear on the outside of the cloakroom wall. We called the plumber back and he said that a new boiler installation could increase pressure in the pipes and these things might happen.

Today the boiler stopped working with a 'low pressure' warning and refilling it just saw the gauge go up and then slide back down to zero over thirty seconds or so - and then we discovered a massive leak behind the furniture from one of the radiators. The carpet is soaked and heavily stained.

Once again we have had a leak following the boiler installation, albeit nine months later, when the previous boiler had soldiered on for years with not a leak in sight.

One the one hand I can see the argument that everything perishes eventually and it could have just been that radiator or pipe's time to go, but on the other I'm very frustrated that first we had to replace a boiler, then fix a leak and damp in the wall, and now fix another leak and maybe replace a carpet all since the work has been done.

What's the right perspective here - do I have any comeback against he plumber? Were I less grumpy I might be more objective!

 

[FiremanT]

NO!

 

[Dan Robinson]

NO!

We have terms and conditions to protect us from people trying to pull fast ones - or trying to get their house re plumbed and decorated for pre existing problems. I hope your guy does too, but the liability remains the same. Yours.

Annoying though you might find it, it is your system that is up the spout, not the installers work.

Do you blame your car mechanic because the rear chassis has rusted after he replaced the clutch?

 

[ianmcd]

NO the installers new boiler is installed and working correctly the existing pipework and radiators etc. are your responsibility not the installers, you may be able to claim on your house insurance but certainly not the installers responsibility

 

[Biggles..]

I'd love to think that's how it is but experience has taught me that if you've drained the system, flushed the system,worked on the system then for a period of time your responsible for that system.
TC's won't absolve you of this issue.

In dans scenario, if you had to touch the rear chassis to get the clutch out then yep I'd expect a bit of warrenty.

 

[Nige F]

You want absolution Phone the Pope PS .OI ! NO .

 

[dcawkwell]

Modern applicances run at higher pressures than old applicances
because they work better that way.

Old piping fails.

That is how it is. YOu can't go back to the plumber and expect him to fix
old piping.

Your hot tap is leaking because it now has mains pressure. If so you need
to get it fixed it's not the plumber fault that the joints on your old piping
are no longer up to the job.

 

[oldbuffer]

You might want to consider getting the whole system hydraulically pressure tested.

The boiler would have to be isolated, then the central heating pipework pressurised to 1.5 time the normal working pressure. Now while this might be 1.2 x 1.5 = 1.8bar, in a fault situation the boiler pressure could rise to 3 bar before the pressure relief valve operates, so there is an argument for testing to 4.5 bar. However, this is quite high for what sounds like a very old and somewhat flaky system, so perhaps settle for a 3 bar pressure test. Any radiators / fittings which fail during the test could then be replaced under controlled conditions, and the test repeated until the pressure holds.

You could also have the hot and cold water systems tested in a similar way.

Depending on the number of failures it could take a long time and be fairly expensive, but I can't think of any other way you could be reasonably sure the system won't fail again, short of replacing all pipework, fittings and radiators.