worchester highflow 3.5 combiboiler leak

[foolishman]

Disaster
always had problems with demand valves and overflow leaks in the past.
tonight the input pressure went above 4 bar and I couldn't bleed in time
Result: leak red water then black water on floor then no hot water at all whilst the pilot light carries on

mains water pressure high 3.5 easy

Might change to condensor boiler but will have to move it next year with extension.

Would like to get it fixed asap
Doubt its within my remit to achieve this

Help

 

[scatmanjohn]

Doubt its within my remit to achieve this

If your username is an accurate description of you, then you are probably right

 

[foolishman]

bit of kettle calling pot black

looking for helpful suggestions!

 

[scatmanjohn]

looking for helpful suggestions!

The most helpful suggestion i can give is: Re write your original post.

Its just confusing. Thats why you have no replies. But hey wot do i know

 

[kevplumb]

tonight the input pressure went above 4 bar and I couldn't bleed in time

input pressure

Result: leak red water then black water on floor then no hot water at all whilst the pilot light carries on

where from

 

[foolishman]

Apologies to all for my lack of clarity
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1 old (pre 1995) worchester highflow 3.5 boiler
2 high >3bar mains cold water supply
3 pilot light often cuts out if i have the hot water running full for more than 4 minutes
4 recently changed the flexible inpipe (apologies for not using technical terms) from the mains (before this had water continuously being bled from what i presume is the water overflow system, to a runoff pipe onto the road.
5 New shower without separate flow and temp controls put in to ensuite
6 frequently pilot light goes out (I presume the same as step 3 above)


Last night I was repressurising the system before relighting the pilot light (ie 6 above had occurred) by opening the tap on 4 above ( as instructed by everybody!)
Instead of pressure rising to 1-1.5 and me closing the valve, it stayed open and the pressure guage climbed to 4.7, while I tried desperately to turn off the mains to reduce the pressure.
as you can imagine there was a noise and then I presume a gasket blew directly under the heating part of the boiler
At moderate pressure red and then black water came out and my boiler died
I havent tried to do anything with it and know I need an engineerr.

My simple question after all of the above description is
1) there is something wrong with the pressure control
i understand that the hot water and the radiator water pressures are different and at different temps in the highflow 3.5.
Is this because I am in a hardwater area and something has clogged a pipe
If so is it a major job

2) the gasket that I presume has blown directly under the boiler ( not underneath the insulated small hot water reservoir to the left): Is it an easy job to fix this


3) as I want to put in a condenser boiler that can handle the 4 beddroom 2 bathroom house in the next year when i extend the kitchen, do i bite the bullet and do it now. If so can it be moved at a later stage easily


Finally anyone recommend a qualified corgi worchester service engineer for this daunting task in the South East Wales area


hopefully this is detailed enough

thanks in anticipation

 

[scatmanjohn]

Morning.

Sounds like you have a few issues going on.

The worst problem is the "black" water that came from the boiler.

You have a sludge problem that will require a thourough clean of the system (probably a powerflush).

The pilot light going out will be caused by the boiler overheating. This is most likely related to the black water along with the hard water scale.

The fact that you are repressurising it on a regular basis indicates that you have a leak or more likely you have a problem with the expansion vessel. This will be contributing to the "black" water problem"

Not sure were your current leak would be coming from so hard to say if it is easy to fix.

Are you sure its not coming from above and running down into the bottom part of the boiler?

When was the last time it was serviced? Is it done every year?

 

[foolishman]

In the past leak was above the heater part of boiler at the right angle (with an automatic valve) (lets call it A)that bled to the wall outside: now sadly corroded

Are you sure its not coming from above and running down into the bottom part of the boiler? Might be, but when it happened not visible except as pooling, I heard no splashing. There was no water on top of the boiler( ie at A)

You guessed correctly that I deserve everyhing I get cause its been a while since service ( only moved back to this house last year and before that was 4 years ago)
Please not to many recriminations