Do I really need a new boiler?

sillygoose

Curious now... shouldn't the water going through a boiler be dosed up with corrosion inhibitor? how come a leak ate through the case? Makes me glad my old Ideal is out in my drafty garage.

Gloomendoom

I suggested a welded repair in an earlier post but soutcoastrgi has confirmed my suspicions that it would not be acceptable.

Seems daft, but there you go.

tidus

Thanks for the latest replies.

So, It looks like I was advised correctly, and that the hole is in an area that contains fumes. Anybody still feel I need a second opinion...? Don't want to throw money away.

Its frustrating that such a small hole is such a big deal though. Even if the front panel is rubber sealed and so on, surely its not absolutely 100% air tight 100% of the time. I still feel that any escaping fumes would be so small in volume that it couldn't pose a risk in a pretty big room, but rules are rules regards the registered guys I suppose.

So back to my original post, what would you do?
If the home insurance pays out, it costs me £250 excess, if not it costs £1300. I'm waiting to hear from them. I'm inclined to get it done if the insurance pays out, but if not....

The boiler is running fine at present, so one option is do nothing, but I can't really get it serviced or repaired really and would have to replace it when it eventually croaks. But it would give me time to save up.

I'll ask the plumber about replacing the case but I'm not optimistic about that, nor about contacting Bovis considering I'm outside of the two year guarantee period and I've not had the boiler serviced before.

Any other ideas? Try to seal it and see if they notice when I get it serviced again?

sunshinetours

Get a couple of CO alarms in your house immediately for a start if you haven't already and then chase up your insurance

paulmapp8306

Cant see why a case repair isnt an option - presume its in the regs.

A suitable steel plate patch, bonded to the case with epoxi and sealed around the edge with silicon sealant would be just as "gas proof" as a full case.

espresso

tidus wrote: »

So back to my original post, what would you do?

A gas safe fitter may not repair the boiler casing for you but there is no reason that either you if you are capable or another competent person could not effect a safe satisfactory repair on your boiler casing for very little cost.

Still no picture posted, so everyone is simply guessing about the real extent of the damage! You have not even given a very good description of this "small hole" - exactly how small is small? How far from this "small hole" is there sound metal?

"Do I really need a new boiler?"

No, this is a money saving site, go for the cheapest option and repair it now. You know that it is currently safe, otherwise the certified gas safe fitter would have declared it unsafe to use. You can do what you want to your own boiler casing and surely you can't make it any worse than it is now.

If the casing is properly repaired, then the boiler could not be declared dangerous or unsafe to operate when it is next serviced. Assuming that it was repaired well, most gas fitters would not even notice while doing their annual ten minute safety check.

paulmapp8306 wrote: »

A suitable steel plate patch, bonded to the case with epoxi and sealed around the edge with silicon sealant would be just as "gas proof" as a full case.

Silicon sealant is not required if the patch is bonded to clean sound metal of the casing with epoxy resin.

booty40uk

For your information, the annual 10 minute safety check to a normal house will take about an hour.

I wouldnt advise anyone to try to repair a boiler if they dont know what they are doing. The only people deemed competent by law to carry out such a repair are gas safe registered. A patch up of this type would void any kind of warrenty and the manufacturers would wash their hands of it if it goes pear shaped in the future. If it did go pear shaped in the future and someone became ill or died as a result, the rgi who did the work would lose his ticket and face a jail sentence which is why no reputable rgi would touch it with a bargepole.

Unfortunately, the only real options for the op are to replace the boiler and hopefully persue some form of compensation from the original installer/builder.

Canucklehead

Hi.

See post #6.

Would the MSE diy repair types be prepared to be taken to court, fined or do prison time if the repair fails?

As above that's what we, the GSR ones, face when dealing with boilers etc.

GSR.

tidus

Just thought I'd update this thread for anyone curious....!

So, I got a second opinion. And guess what? The boiler is fine! :beer:

There is no significant corrosion, the outer casing is just slightly stained. The small hole is present but its exactly the same on the other back corner - in other words its always been there, its just a little hole right in the angle due to how the casing is formed. Its not a problem......

You have to wonder about how professional some people are don't you? Won't be using the first guy again.