Leaking Pipes After Combi Boiler Installation

HanCan

Hello,  me and my partner are looking for some advice after having a Combi boiler installed. 

We have gone through BOXT and the whole installation has been something out of a nightmare.  The first engineer who came out damaged the property, cracking our hallway walls and caused a leak due to not removing the old water tank correctly.  The leak caused water damage to our hall ceiling.  They sent a new engineer out to fix the other issues left by the original installer and BOXT paid for the damages and even admitted the work was rushed and sloppy.  

We thought this would be the end of our problems but 4 weeks on we have another leak that has caused the ceiling in our kitchen to bow and needs to be removed and repaired.  The shower has been ripped out by an emergency plumber to find the source of the leak being the pipes feeding the shower.  To back track… when we first enquired about the boiler install, the engineer on the phone warned us that our shower may not be compatible with the boiler, as it was a gravity fed shower.  He urged us to check with our installer before going ahead, which we did.  The first engineer installing the boiler said it would be fine, and obviously his work was not of a good standard or one we trusted, so when the second engineer came to fix the problems, we asked for his opinion.  He said that if the shower was going to blow, it would have done it straight away and we would have already known about it.   

The plumber not connected to BOXT said that the issue was that the shower was not compatible with the boiler and the engineer that BOXT sent out today have said it’s an issue with our pipes and the change in water pressure that has caused it, which “they see all the time” and not an issue with the shower.  If this is the issue… my question is why is it just the shower pipes that have begun leaking and why were we not warned of this before installation?! Surely we should have been told that this was a possible issue that could arise and be asked if we wished to go ahead with the install?  

We are not money grabbing people, we got a new boiler to make our lives easier and now our house that we are trying to make a home is falling apart.  We’re upset and frustrated and feel we have not been properly informed. 

The shower we have is a Aqualisa aquavalve 609 and the boiler we have had installed is a Worcester Bosch Greenstar 4000 30kw. 

Any help or guidance with this would be greatly appreciated. 

km1500

although this is probably a consumer issue and therefore in the right forum you may get a better response if you put it in the DIY forum where there are a lot of knowledgeable DIY and plumbing types

HanCan

Thank you!  I wasn’t sure as we need advice regarding both issues!  I’ll try there 😊

Belenus

Have you contacted your insurance company?  They may be able to help and advise you.

You may be able to claim on your insurance policy for any damage if BOXT and/or the plumber are uncooperative.

How did you pay for the work? Credit card, debit card, cash, bank transfer?

HanCan

We have contact our insurance company and they advised that we can go through them either way, which we are happy to do if necessary. 

My issue is that people are telling us different things and considering the work BOXT originally did was in their own words “rushed and sloppy” I don’t 100% take their word that the shower is compatible and they are potentially trying to avoid having the pay for more damages that could of been avoided if they’d told us the right information. 

HanCan

Belenus said:

Have you contacted your insurance company?  They may be able to help and advise you.

You may be able to claim on your insurance policy for any damage if BOXT and/or the plumber are uncooperative.

How did you pay for the work? Credit card, debit card, cash, bank transfer?

Sorry we also paid by debit card. 

flo22

I'm about to have that boiler fitted in a few week and I also have an Aqualisa shower, no one has mentioned any incapability  however my existing boiler is a combi.  Be interested to know the outcome of this when you have one - good luck

timmy963

I have the exact shower you mentioned and we also went from gravity fed to a combi boiler.

Ours works fine and the manufacturers website says It's compatible with gravity and combi systems.

The problems lies with your pipework which cannot withstand the new pressure.

TELLIT01

When we had a combi boiler installed we weren't warned about any potential problems.  Thankfully the only one we experienced was with the hot tap in the bathroom which started to drip quite fast.  The installer only then explained that because the hot water was now at mains pressure it would show up any problems with the hot taps as the old system was gravity fed.  Despite that he refused to sort out the tap and told me to call in a plumber.  Not impressed, that was British Gas.

ListysDad

Firstly you must have about 15 bedrooms to need a 30kw boiler. It certainly will not be efficient to run as it seems hugely oversized. 

Secondly, and to answer your question, installing a high pressure system should only be done after a survey of your existing system to understand the consequences of the process and it's impact on what's already installed. Most showers etc can cope with the increased pressure but certainly not all - as you have found out.

IF you were fully informed of potential issues & chose to still carry on, then the responsibility, imho, is yours. IF, on the other hand, you were not formally informed then I would say BOXT must take responsibility as they have failed in their professional duty of care.

I totally understand this may not be what you want to hear, but I would immediately engage a good consumer law solicitor and hit BOXT hard. If you don't they will simply wear you down - ask me how I know!!!

By the way, I'm a plumber for my sins... 

Aylesbury_Duck

ListysDad said:

Firstly you must have about 15 bedrooms to need a 30kw boiler. It certainly will not be efficient to run as it seems hugely oversized. 

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.  I have inherited an oversized boiler - it's a 24kW Greenstar Ri boiler, installed in 2007 - for what is a reasonably large 4-bed house.  I have it properly serviced each year by an independent gas chap, and run it with the flow temperature dialled down (about 11 o'clock on the dial).  It runs well and my consumption is pretty low for a large-ish house.  When the time comes for it to be replaced, how does a gas technician assess what size of boiler to install?