Vaillant Ecomax Leak

[freerange11]

Hello!
My Vaillant Ecomax has a problem
First of all about a month ago i noticed a few drops from the base of the boiler and a loss of pressure.
After refilling the pressure a few times it seemed to work fine. On thursday the boiler lost power, and today i opened the boiler up to see that there is in fact a huge leak that spills out once i add some water into the tank.
I'm trying to see where this leak is coming from and it appears to come from the top of the tank.

So i have 2 problems, a leak and no power to my boiler. Have i fried the boiler by accident?

I have also tried a fuse change on the pcb but that didnt help.

Any help would be useful.
Thankyou

 

[CBW]

You may have tripped the mcb on your consumer unit, so I’d look there first. Second I would engage with a gas safe registered engineer to come and have a look. Your leak maybe from the main heat exchanger.

 

[freerange11]

You may have tripped the mcb on your consumer unit, so I’d look there first. Second I would engage with a gas safe registered engineer to come and have a look. Your leak maybe from the main heat exchanger.

Hello and Thanks for the reply.
Is this mcb something i could fix myself? course on monday i'm going to get in touch with a gas safe registered engineer.

 

[CBW]

Yes find your consumer unit (fuse box) and if your central heating is down when all others are up, flick to up.

 

[ianmcd]

I'm trying to see where this leak is coming from and it appears to come from the top of the tank.

Post a pic of what you are calling the tank

 

[freerange11]

Post a pic of what you are calling the tank

Hi Ian - the grey tank? on the right side here, just drops and pours water down its side. i just cant seem to find its source.
thanks for the help.

 

[freerange11]

Hello and Thanks for the reply.
Is this mcb something i could fix myself? course on monday i'm going to get in touch with a gas safe registered engineer.

Hiya, cheers for reply. Yes that all appears to be fine. Could it be water damage to the on off switch? it seems to be very well enclosed though.
Would the use of a multi meter help me define if this is working? (never used a multi meter before but i could go and get one.)
thankyou

 

[terryplumb]

The grey tank is the expansion vessel(EV)
Your first post said that you " added water to the tank". What did you mean ?
The EV has a black cap on the top ,like you have on a car tyre ,to pump air into.
Is water coming from the black cap ?
You need an engineer to visit ,one to establsh where the leak is and put it right ,and two ,to find out why its electrically dead.
Does the electric switch that supplies the boiler also have a fuse in it ? Maybe post a pic . If it does you could try changing the fuse ,it may get you up and running till an engineer visits.

 

[CBW]

If you’ve e no prior experience with a multimeter, I wouldn’t recommend this as a starting point. You could change the fuse in the plug/spur? I feel this fails, then it’s likely going to be a frazzled pcb. The water on that tank will be possible from a split seam which may need a new vessel, @ianmcd will be better on that advice though.

 

[freerange11]

The grey tank is the expansion vessel(EV)
Your first post said that you " added water to the tank". What did you mean ?
The EV has a black cap on the top ,like you have on a car tyre ,to pump air into.
Is water coming from the black cap ?
You need an engineer to visit ,one to establsh where the leak is and put it right ,and two ,to find out why its electrically dead.
Does the electric switch that supplies the boiler also have a fuse in it ? Maybe post a pic . If it does you could try changing the fuse ,it may get you up and running till an engineer visits.

ah , when i say added i mean i re pressurised the tank using the black levers under the ecomax. The most basic way to refill the guage.
Water might be comign from that black cap , yes.
but an engineer visit is a must, just hard to get one this time of year so anything i can do to get it up and running would be good.
thanks for reply.

 

[freerange11]

If you’ve e no prior experience with a multimeter, I wouldn’t recommend this as a starting point. You could change the fuse in the plug/spur? I feel this fails, then it’s likely going to be a frazzled pcb. The water on that tank will be possible from a split seam which may need a new vessel, @ianmcd will be better on that advice though.

yes tried to change the fuse , 240v one. My actual board has just one fuse port. however i found a spare at my house (from the previous owner) and that one had 2 fuse ports so it has been upgraded from its orginal.
anyway, i did try that but no luck.
I got a feeling this pcb board is gone.. and i know that isnt a cheap fix.
Thanks for the reply and help.

 

[terryplumb]

Unscrew the cap on the EV ,and see if any water there.
You have changed fuse on the PCB , I am referring to a fuse within the wall switch ( if you have one )

 

[CBW]

You have changed fuse on the PCB , I am referring to a fuse within the wall switch ( if you have one )

As was I.

 

[ianmcd]

Your expansion vessel needs re-charged , and possibly replaced, supposed to be recharged every year at the service but sadly, not enough so called engineers do this

 

[freerange11]

Thanks all for the replies

Just has someone round, Turns out the expansion vessel has split. So thanks guys, when i found that out i was already aware of what component it was.

Still not sure why it won't power up, pcb board i expect. The fuse on the plug to the boiler is all good.
The engineer did say even if we replaced these things there is a chance it still might have problems.

From peoples experience when a problem like this pops up is it better to get a new boiler? Or cough up the costs of repairing it.