My Worcester Combi Boiler has drained water.....

alice's_mum

:mad: As above, my less than 3 year old Worcester 28i combi boiler, made a strange noise this morning and when i went to investigate, there was water coming from the bottom of the boiler all over the floor of my back bedroom cupboard. This is the 2nd time this has happened!!!!!! the first was after only 4 months or so. My cousin is a gas fitter and he fitted the boiler and he services it regularly. When it happened the first time he just fixed it and said it was most unusual. Now its happened again.:eek: I've left a message on his ansaphone but now I'm left with 3 problems, no heating, no hotwater, and what should I do about the boiler. I'm starting to have no confidence in it. From what I know about central heating systems, if my boiler wasn't in the back bedroom up on a wall (in a cupboard) then all of my radiators would have drained as well - am I right. I now have 3 damp patches over my head as I type - on the dining room ceiling and the laminate flooring in the cupboard is wet - not as wet as it could have been coz after last time I put some old towels down and they have collected most of the water.

anyone have any ideas what I can do about this. Should I get on to Worcester as there must surely be a fault or should I wait for cousin to get back in touch and fix it again.

Thanks
L

Tallymanjohn

I'd have thought it was a guarantee job - I'm pretty sure our Worcester has a 5 year manufacturer's guarantee (though it is a conventional boiler).

alice's_mum

Thanks but my booklet says 12 months from the date of installation - obviously should have chased it when it happened the first time - but that was before my MSE days and I just accepted what I was told and paid it!!!!

secretdancer

We have the same model or almost the same and this happened to us recently after draining the system down and refilling in order to change a radiator. Water all over the cupboard of our spare bedroom!
Anyway, plumbers out there feel free to correct me but we were told that there is some kind of air valve that is supposed to have a screw in the top of one of the inlets. Screw was not there or became dislodged during the refilling of the system, so water was getting where it shouldn't causing some kind of failure. Only took 5 mins to repair.
Now having just read that back I have absolutely no idea if that will help but I guess a plumber would know what I mean! Good luck.

Mr_Proctalgia

It sounds as though the expansion vessel has lost its air and you are losing water from the overpressure safety valve. I had to pump mine up to around 15psi once a year as the boiler got a little older (used a foot pump) Is the water coming from an open pipe under the boiler and has said pipe got a grey knob or a metal lever on it? or is it coming from what looks like a small "cup" with a normal tyre valve cover on it? More information is needed!

alice's_mum

Right have just been upstairs to have a look and there is absoloutely nothing on the bottom of my boiler. The front bottom 6 inches is grey with the max/min dial and the pressure gauge on. and the underneath is a neat white grill of metal no pipes or anything and the water is still dripping thru the white grill. By the way the pressure gauge is showing 0 pressure! Is this of any further help.

And we have had no work done on the radiators of anything recently so noone has touched it

happyhero

Hi I have a Worcestor Bosch combi and they seem quite highly rated as far as boilers go and supposedly do not go wrong much at all, in comparison to other makes I have been told by different people, however I have had a problem a couple of times with the pressure dropping in the radiator side, which actually may not be a fault on the actual boiler but rather the boiler reacting to a weakness in my radiator connections.

Anyway the reason I am putting my bit in here is that after a recent problem where I could not reset anything to cure it, I decided to take out their callout service and I am impressed. The original garantee lasts only 12 months, I have never heard of a longer one unless it was a special offer. The callout plan I took out is one where you pay for two years at the time and I think it is cheaper than British Gas who I will never ever take a callout thingy with again. I thought they were terrible after many experiences with them. The Worcestor Bosch man I had seemed exceptional. They were like chalk and cheese in comparison.

Its great now, any problems you just make a phone call and they are with you (I think it is within 24 hours but not sure). You look at the cost and wonder but once you have it you wont regret it.

But beware if you call them out in the first 30 days, you have to pay for the parts. Understandable as you know what people will do - only join when they already have a problem.

Hope I have been of some help.

happyhero

the gauge is showing the pressure in the pipework including where it goes through the boiler for the radiator side not the hot water side so this is showing that you have lost all pressure in that part. Normally it stays at about 1 and goes up toward 1 1/2 or 2 as the boiler kicks in for heating.

So seems to me you have a leak on the heating side which is why the pressure has gone. The boiler cannot be reset to give you hot water if it does not see this pressure in the heating side even if it did stop leaking water, so the first thing you must figure out is where the water is coming from accuratly.

Since you have had no work done recently, one can only assume something has given up or come apart, possibly a connection was not made 100% when last worked on.

alice's_mum

Thanks Happyhero, but I have my cousin - who was once a BG man and to be honest he is brilliant - will come round asap if he can to help sort things. I've spoken to him this morning and he will be round later this afternoon. Can't ask for better than that.

alice's_mum

oops crossed posts hh, I have no accurate idea where the water is coming from as the bottom bit of the boiler does not seem to come off, the big top white panel has come off but it leaves me looking at a mass of copper water pipes and wires and an obvious motor.

As I look at it on the left there are two copper pipes one from the front of the box/boiler above which has electric yellow wires attached, presumably to earth it, this is ok. at the back on the left there is another copper pipe which is the one the water has come from as it is still wet around it's joint and all the wiring underneath is wet. Does this make any sense. I have no idea about boilers and such things but that is what I can see.

happyhero

doesn't sound like there is much you will be able to do until your cousin arrives. Seems you have found the leak, ie a leaky joint. I would be wrapping a towl round this to collect the water and changing this as you need to. You wouldn't really want to try and turn it on anyway considering some electrics have got wet until a professional such as your cousin has looked at it.

I meant nothing bad about your cousin, I'm sure he is great, I know they must have some good people but I was unlucky and probably had the beginners, they were quite often very young.