Boiler replace/repair

We have a combination boiler. It's only 7 years old, but lately it has been losing pressure through the over-pressure valve.

That should have been a cheap, quick fix, but it turns out that it's not that, it's probably the expansion vessel.

The plumber says it's very hard to get to on those models (it's a Baxi) and says that replacing the whole boiler (£1200!) is probably going to be less trouble in the long run than taking the whole thing off the wall, repairing it, and putting it back.

How long is a boiler supposed to last? More than seven years, I should think. And what boiler manufacturer doesn't make its bloody £$!£%%! boilers too awkward to repair when a part wears out?

Daniele

Reply to
D.M. Procida
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Can he not add an external expansion vessel extremely cheaply?

Reply to
GB

In article , D.M. Procida writes

A cheap workaround is to leave the faulty expansion vessel in place and add another one elsewhere on the system. This will work for all but a perforated casing on the existing vessel. A faulty diaphragm can be ignored and a leaking valve stem can be sealed with a metal car valve cap.

If your plumber doesn't know about this trick then he's clueless and if he knows and hasn't told you then he is a crook.

Reply to
fred

The easy and cheap option is to let out all of the air in the internal tank, then fit an external expansion vessel. They are around £30, add £20 for the fittings, probably an hour, maybe 2, to fit it is reasonable.

Reply to
A.Lee

That was the third option, but it's not at all clear where this thing will go, at least without a lot of trouble. And if it takes a lot of work to install an external vessel, it may not be worth it.

Daniele

Reply to
D.M. Procida

It can be fitted anywhere linked to the circuit so positioning shouldn't be too much of a problem usually. It's an easy job. My boiler is in my loft, the expansion vessel is in my garage.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

It could go more or less anywhere provided it is not possible to cut it off with a valve.

Reply to
Tim Watts

+1 Or the old expansion vessel can be removed and the pipe blanked off and a standard expansion vessel fitted elswhere in the house.
Reply to
harryagain

A whole new boiler just for an expiation vessel? Babies and bath water, literally.

What route does the pipe work take to the radiators? Is it a flat?

Reply to
Graham.

Quite likely...

Sod that for a game of soldiers. Just add another expansion vessel elsewhere in the system and forget about the one in the boiler.

minimum 10 years really - plenty more if you get a decent one.

Some seem to manage to make nice compact boilers that are also easy to work on. (others seem to manage to compress the greatest amount of disorganisation possible into too much space!)

Have a look at this Vaillant Ecotec 800 series (824 in this case) combi for example:

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Very easy layout to work on. Expansion vessel on the right hand side, pump bottom right, PHE bottom left just above the diversion valve. Fan and gas valve in the middle and combustion chamber to left quarter.

Reply to
John Rumm

Right! So an expansion vessel can be had that's not a large cylindrical tank?

Daniele

Reply to
D.M. Procida

Have you checked online for the exact model?

Reply to
Andy Burns

I suspect that rules make this obvious way out a non starter. In the old days of course people did make do and mend stuff, but these enlightened times of health and safety type approval etc, seem to conspire against such activity. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

More like a tradesman preferring to make a quick buck. That's as old as the hills. But the excuse of H&S or other regs can make it more plausible.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Size is determined by the approximate water volume of the CH system. I've only ever seem cylindrical external expansion vessels. In general around

300mm diameter. Other shapes may be available but I guess they would cost a lot more.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

Most standalone ones are cylindrical (or spherical). The ones designed to go in combis tend to be flattened. A combi spare will probably cost more than a generic normal one though - even if you don't fit it in the combi.

Reply to
John Rumm

They were certainly fairly inaccessible on my Wickes-branded Halstead. I have quite a lot of sympathy with the plumber view given that by now the DHW heat exchanger might be beginning to get blocked, plus the O rings in the gas and diverter valves getting tired.

They don't currently have a particularly strong incentive. In contrast to motor vehicles, where a decade or two ago fleet buyers started looking at servicing and maintenance costs, so that potential running costs started becoming to be a selector for supplier.

Reply to
newshound

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