DIY with function over finesse!!

[mickthemaverick]

The lodger sleeps in a bed that miraculously appeared for her in our leanto behind the shed and since she moved in we haven't even seen a pigeon which we used to be plagued with and she has caught and killed one rat so I think they have gone in search of less dangerous pastures!!

A successful kill!!

[mickthemaverick]

A tale of woe greeted me when I arose yesterday morning. SWMBO told me that there was a puddle on the floor in the boiler cupboard so I went to investigate. Sure enough there was a decent puddle there and it had seeped under the partition to spread under the adjacent unit. I removed all the kickboards and was greeted with a load of odds and ends that had slipped off the shelf in the corner base cupboard. I removed all them, hoovered all the spider's works away and dried the area. Then it was time to investigate the leak, click on each picture to see the red arrows identifying the relevant point:

The drip forming below the heat exchanger

The actual joint leaking marks

Shows which joint has failed

Having established the leak and realised it would need a system drain to replace the washers involved I rang our boiler engineer and he is coming later today. That meant I needed to contain the leakage overnight so I used the old fashioned 'put a tray under it' method to catch the water rather than try to improvise a wrapping type cure.

I was a bit surprised this morning when I went to check the tray and discovered the amount of water leaked over one night. As you may have seen in the above diagram it is in fact heating system water that is leaking so I wasn't surprised to find my bedroom radiator, being the highest, not working, the water had to come from somewhere!

The amount of water collected overnight

You can see from the dimensions on the picture that the water volume is 4 x 13 x 20 cubic centimetres (ccs) which is 1.04 litres. A lot for one night's dripping!!

Looking at my radiator I also saw that the TRV was cracked so I went to B&Q for a replacement which I will fit when my boiler man drains the system to do the leak repairs. It occurred to me to get some central heating inhibiter while I was there and that brought about today's posting on POTD.

So hopefully all will be resolved later today but watch this space!!

[Skull]

Inhibitor only works if you put it in the system -

I was suspicious of my installer after one of the plumbers spent the day sorting their van out on my driveway whilst the other one done the majority of the replacement boiler for 2k including controller / flush / refill with inhibitor ..... I examined my recycling bin to see an array of packaging cleared out from the van ... but the inhibitor container was missing with the cost of a new boiler it's ridiculous not to flush through then re-fill whilst adding a suitable inhibitor.

After a week of running the system to allow mixing, I took a sample of the water already in the system before I added my own inhibitor .... a conclusive picture attached .... less than 1 year later

Skull's - result after 10 months

[mickthemaverick]

I must admit the clarity of the water made me think it was the DHW side of the exchanger that had the leak. I thought 'it is possible' but when I went to bleed the radiator upstairs the water was equally sparkling although I was amazed to find water up there considering we had lost 1 litre overnight and I don't know how much in the preceding days before we discovered it. However the system does have a pretty large expansion tank and I think that may have been feeding the leak!! I have only had to re-pressurise the boiler once in the last two years and then it had only dropped a tad. I am waiting to see what the engineer thinks later on!!

[CitroJim]

When I had my new boiler fitted, the plumber set up a flushing rig and left it running for a working day... I have the system fully serviced yearly and when last checked back in the summer, the central heating water was crystal-clear.

Hope your issue will soon be resolved Mick. I had a similar happen on my old boiler years back. One little O ring. Fixed it myself. I had a very soggy attic in the area of the boiler for a while and water ran down the wall...

I was alerted to it by a dripping sound in the middle of the night. Ever since, I take a look at my boiler and the surrounding area weekly - overdue currently as no way can I get up in the attic!

[mickthemaverick]

Well all wasn't resolved last night as the leak was coming from the DHW heat exchanger joint, which warranted removing the heat exchanger. Only 2 mounting screws, should be a doddle!! Woe is me, both screws are difficult to reach but the first came out after 10 minutes hassle and then the real grief began. The screws are M6 with T20 torx heads and made from plasticine. As a result the second screw soon rounded out and became undoable. We spent some time trying different methods but by 11.00pm we decided to call it a day and put the boiler back together with a reduced leak, thanks to liberal use of silicone, and start again today after my man has completed his scheduled day.

So this morning I decided that the only sensible thing to do was cut our losses, drill the screw head off and then pull the heat exchnger out from the back taking the body of the screw with it. I set about that and in 20 minutes I had the exchanger in my hand with the 'stud' still screwed in. It took a rather large amount of torque to get the stud out and then I realised why, it had been cross-threaded on installation and thus defeated all attempts to undo it. I drilled and re tapped the thread ready for the new bolts I have from stock with Cross heads!! In the picture you can see the old stud in the middle and the new bolts ready to remount it. I have stopped at that point because the engineer is bringing super sealant to make sure we don't have a reoccurence of the problem.

Heat exchanger

As I now have no boiler I thought it was the right time to replace the kitchen tap, which has become too difficult for my arthritic SWMBO to turn off properly. Plus the job will be less hassle for me as I will leave it to my man to connect the new one as punishment for cross-threading that screw!! I have removed the old tap and dropped the new one in place but I need another pair of hands to hold it in place at the top while tightening from underneath and making the connections so he can lay in the cupboard while I stand and hold it exactly where I want it!!

The old tap

Further news to follow, I hope!!

[myglaren]

I too have a dripping kitchen tap that I resolved to fix now it has been dripping for most of this year.
Five minute ob to extract the cartridge.
Not. Couldn't budge the damned thing and moved the tap body despite holding it with a huge stilson.
Had to apply lots of elbow grease to return the tap to its original position.
It still drips but greatly reduced but now it leaks when turned on too.
A nightmare to get at to change the whole tap made worse by my having loaned out my basin wrench and it not being returned.

Still waiting to get the gas turned back on. Has been almost three months now. No heating or hot water and no gas for the cooker.

[mickthemaverick]

No gas Steve, what caused that?

[myglaren]

Most houses in this village have a services cupboard with the gas and electric meters in it and also place for bin bags in pre wheelie bin days.
Next door thought he smelled gas in his entrance and called them out.
False alarm but the gas man checked the house, then the empty flat next door, then mine.
Found a leak on the main gas valve and fixed it, then checked inside and the cooker connection to the socket was leaking. Can't have been much as it hasn't been touched since we moved in here in 1987, except for new cookers being plugged in to it.
Shut the gas off and left (didn't check my other neighbour though).

Have contacted the boiler installer a few times without result.
Collared a gas engineer installing a new boiler over the road and they haven't been either.
Getting a bit on the chilly side now. 9°C last night. Has been down to 6°C.
Fortunately, cooking OK with a microwave, and air fryer and a George Formby grill.

[mickthemaverick]

Steve, SWMBO advises me that you should contact AgeUK and they will chase that up and get it sorted .

[myglaren]

I'll get it done - one day.
I have another heating engineer to call on. In a little while.
The biggest stumbling blocks are my reluctance to make phone calls and my adherence to the teachings of that great Greek philosopher Procrastinese.

[mickthemaverick]

New tap installed and much appreciated by SWMBO!!

MTMO

Boiler reassembled but sad to say we still have a much reduced leak from the heat exchanger. Now thinking there may be a hairline crack in the hydraulic block so back into service to measure the leak rate and keep us warm!! Further info to come when more data and decisions are made!!

[CitroJim]

Steve, SWMBO advises me that you should contact AgeUK and they will chase that up and get it sorted .

Definitely need to be sorted ASAP Steve... Get it done and give the old procrastinator the big heave-ho; he's not your friend...

What a game you've had with your old boiler Mick... I'd have said 'bugger it' and got a new one...

[mickthemaverick]

Trouble is Jim, the boiler works perfectly, it's the water distribution paths that are suffering. New boiler is the best part of £3k to cure a leak, alien to my engineering nature!! I'll see how much has collected in the drip tray overnight and then decide whether it is worth giving up 4 potential road trips to save emptying a drip tray periodically!!

[Ednic]

Get a bigger drip tray.......