Gas Engineer help please

tired_of_it_all

Can someone please help? A few months ago I bought a 2 bed house with a Ferroli Modena 102 boiler. A couple of weeks later the outside copper pipe froze bursting the (pressure relief?) valve underneath the boiler squirting water all around the airing cupboard.

A heating engineer replaced this unit and I thought all was ok but recently I have noticed water is dripping constantly from the outside pipe whether the heating is switched on or not (roughly one drip per second). I have put a container underneath the pipe and this is full every day. Did the engineer not fit this unit properly? Will it need replacing again?

With the temperature dropping and the amount of water coming out, it seems inevitable that it is going to freeze again. As a female who is no spring chicken I am really worried about this and am becoming too scared to put the heating on.

I would really appreciate it if someone could give me some advice about this problem?

Thank you

jobdone1

Best thing is call the engineer back. They will have no problem with fixing it if they are a reputable and gas safe registered company. And if its a fault with that part fitted then their should be no charge as that part would be warranted.

tired_of_it_all

thanks I will call them back. It sounds as though this is not a huge job - is that right? Is it likely that I would need another unit?

tired_of_it_all

Sorry - didn't see the second part of your reply!

jobdone1

keep us posted on the results good luck

unclebulgaria

This is only a guess as there isn't enough information in your OP.
If he has replaced the pressure relief valve (it usually has a red cap on a brass body) and its still leaking then either the valve seat isn't closing properly or the expansion vessel isn't controlling the increase in pressure when the boiler is working.
The pressure relief valve may have been new and fine when fitted but if the expansion vessel has failed it would cause the PRV to operate regularly and its possible debris has lodged in the valve seat making it leak continuously. Sorry might be a mouthful but I can't put it any differently.
If its running then yes it may freeze when the temp drops low enough.
If you were happy with his work give him a ring and ask him to carry out a check on his work.
Just a tip, if the expansion vessel has failed then the pressure gauge on the boiler will rise as the boiler heats up, it will rise quite fast and go right up to the 3 bar mark. Also check your filling loop hasn't been left in the on position and is filling the central heating circuit continuously.

tired_of_it_all

Thanks for that info. The pressure gauge has gone up to around 2.5-3 from 1.5 before so it sounds as though the expansion vessel has gone wrong. Would this mean a new unit or another part being replaced? Sorry to sound so ignorant but I haven't the faintest idea what all of this means.

I don't know what the loop is that you mentioned but presumably the engineer will (i hope).

I suppose ignorance (and age) costs doesn't it?

unclebulgaria

tired_of_it_all wrote: »

Thanks for that info. The pressure gauge has gone up to around 2.5-3 from 1.5 before so it sounds as though the expansion vessel has gone wrong. Would this mean a new unit or another part being replaced? Sorry to sound so ignorant but I haven't the faintest idea what all of this means.

I don't know what the loop is that you mentioned but presumably the engineer will (i hope).

I suppose ignorance (and age) costs doesn't it?

The filling loop is the bit that you top up the boilers pressure with. If its open it will continually pressurise the heating circuit and overflow from the pipe you said is dripping.
If its faulty (the expansion vessel) then yes it will need replacing. There is another way to solve it that may be cheaper but if you could give us the boiler make/model and maybe a pic? It would help a lot.

tired_of_it_all

It is a Ferroli Modena 102. The previous owner didn't leave me any information or instruction manual for it (or anything else for that matter). Sorry.

Been looking on their web site but that doesn't tell me any more either.

Is the expansion vessel difficult and/or expensive to replace?

ollski

It is very unlikely to need replacing just pumping back up with air. There are an incredible number of rgi's who don't know how to do it correctly though.

tired_of_it_all

That doesn't fill me with confidence. How would I know if the engineer knew what he was doing? If he did it wrong, could he b*gger it up completely? The company I used is registered with Age Concern so I'm hoping they would know.