Worcester 28cdi - leak

[Pete M]

Folks, I'm new here, and have a quick question.

We have a 28cdi. For some time it has had a very small leak from the left hand side (looking towards the front) with brown treacle like stuff (sticky waxy sort of stuff) collecting in the bottom cover and dripping out. Plumber came yesterday to service boiler. He drained it, stripped the pump, fitted new gasket seals to connectors. There was a lot of banging around with a hammer to undo things. Job done.

In passing he mentioned that the diverter valve is often the culprit and is a pain in the butt to sort out, usually better to replace whole valve rather than just diaphragm - and it's obvious why when you see what needs to be done.

Anyway, expecting all to be ok now the pump was done, I checked under the boiler that evening, and there's a new leak - from a different place - guess where......the diverter valve. This was fine before. Spoke to plumber again today and he reckons it's nothing he's done - just that draining and refilling the boiler has caused the new leak (not the hammering around when he did the first job). So it looks like I'm now in for a new diverter valve.

I have a couple of questions.....
1. is it possible that draining and refilling has caused the leak?
2.could too much hammering around have aggravated the situation?
3. how much am I likely to be looking at to have the valve replaced?

Cost so far has been £75+ vat for service, pump strip and new hasket.

Many thanks in advance.

Pete

 

[ollski]

It's possible but it depends exactly where the leak is from, I suspect it is probably from an o ring seal on a pipe he removed.....anything you undo on this boiler needs a new o ring and a smear of silicon grease on reassembly.

 

[Pete M]

Cheers Ollski.
The plumber did fit new seals to the connectors on the water pump, and there's no sign of any leaking from that area now.
He showed me this evening where the leak is coming from, and I have a couple of pictures I just took. It definitely seems to be from the diverter valve - there is no water on the top of it, just seeping out from underneath. There is also some staining that would suggest the leak has been going on for some time.
Here's a pics

I know from working on my motorbike that it's possible to damage certain types of seals, but not "o" rings. I suppose though if the leak was new then there wouldn't be any staining around the leak.

If the job needs doing then fair enough. I just want to be sure in my mind that this isn't the sort of thing that could be caused to make another job, and also I could do with some idea of what the job should cost. He has replaced a fair number of these diverter valves so I assume he should be quite quick......

Thanks in advance
Pete

 

[ChrisR]

If it were diy it might be worth spending the time to save some money, but I wouldn't want to do it commercially

Expect to pay:
Partscenter -Selected Product:480688

Description WORC 87161567460 DIVERTOR VALVE V37
24CDI OF,24CDI BF,24CDI RSF,26CDI EXTRA,28CDI RSF, 28LE
E04573
Price
(Excluding VAT ) £105.40
Plus an hour's labour.

 

[2face]

common sense here m8.

isolate the boiler and drop the pressure out (not by the PRV)
do not turn off the isolaters on the pipework .they always leak wen touched.
remove the nuts 1 by one and remove the valve/disconnect the micro switch from the top and replace using all new fibre washers. (clean the faces wen putting back together.) an easy diy job. it might be worth the effort to just service the valve/remove all the screws split and replace all the old with the new and rebuild. remember to take ur time ..

 

[HarrogateGas]

common sense here m8.

isolate the boiler and drop the pressure out (not by the PRV)
do not turn off the isolaters on the pipework .they always leak wen touched.
remove the nuts 1 by one and remove the valve/disconnect the micro switch from the top and replace using all new fibre washers. (clean the faces wen putting back together.) an easy diy job. it might be worth the effort to just service the valve/remove all the screws split and replace all the old with the new and rebuild. remember to take ur time ..

You could do as this guy says but your leak would be worse seeing as on the CDi range the divertor valve is all on O-ring seals and not fibre washers as stated.


I also beg to differ when he says its an easy DIY job..........they are a pain to change and if you have no plumbing experience OR experience in replacing boiler components then you will struggle.

Id get someone in who knows what they are doing and knows the difference between fibre washers and O-ring seals.

 

[HarrogateGas]

He also states to remove the nuts one by one........I can only think of one nut that needs to be undone at the back of the plate heat exchanger. The rest of all the required joints to be dismantles are on O- ring seals and simply push together and are heald in by clamps or clips or by the componet itself once in situe.

 

[ChrisR]

After my diy encouragement above, have had second thoughts. First time you try, if you take the diverter section part you're very likely to suddenly find you have bits dropping out and not much clue how they go back in. Better to avoid the hassle.
And the glands, assuming you can get them, (yours are leaking) are hard to change too.

 

[Pete M]

Thanks all. I'm expecting a call today from the man with price.
How come these glands start leaking so easily? Could a drain and represurise cause it after less than 2 years? It just seems mad that the boiler cost £800 two years ago, and I'm already going to be close to (or more than) £300 in parts and labour for one poxy leak. I had an ancient (20+ years olf) floor standing Potterton before this and the only thing that ever went wrong with that was the thermocouple needed replacing once. I'm right ****ed off with this and feel like getting my sledge hammer on to the boiler, calling the insurance co and saying one of the kids damaged it!

Pete

 

[Pete M]

Happy today. Boiler just checked again by another plumber (British Gas bloke). Central heating pressure was too high - even though pressure was only just over 1bar when cold, it was going close to 3bar when hot. Prssure vessel needed recharging (should have been checked by plumber number 1 when the boiler was serviced on Monday). Now only a very slight rise in pressure when heating on, and no drip.
Boiler has clean bill of health, and I now have a service contract costing £12/month, which is cool as my wife is a registered childminder and one of the conditions is that the boiler is serviced and inspected every year. We had been paying about £70 a shot for this anyway.
Phew.
Thanks again to all who took the time to offer advice.
Pete.

 

[rsagoo1]

Hi need alittle help
have a worcester 28cdi boiler, the hot water only comes on alomgside the heating otherwise does not come on at all, looking at the manual i'm guessing it may be the micro switch but need help to find out what may be causing this, been without normal hot water for ages and fon't want to keep putting the central heating on to get hot water !!!

 

[nickso]

diaphragm is stretched. nasty job for a beginner, get someone in to do it.