120kg boiler on wall - cracks

[alphagario]

Hello. Had a boiler fitted four months ago onto an exterior wall in my bungalow, and it's a very heavy storage combi, weighing in at 120kg when full. The installer assured me that the wall was strong enough at the time of quoting and installation. Looking at the instructions Fischer sx10 x80 and bolts are supplied, and I believe four are used to secure a steel plate to the wall and the boiler basically hangs on that. My concern is the wall is black ash mortar and is also a bungalow, so there is only about 5 courses of brick and then the roof atop that wall. The flue also exits above the boiler.

I've noticed cracks in the plaster emanating from where the bolts are drilled, and these are hairline and may have happened when the boiler was mounted. There is also a hairline crack on the ceiling above the boiler, in line with a wall crack.

I'm obviously concerned but unsure what to actually do beyond draw pencil lines and see if the cracks are actively expanding? I don't want to get the installer back without knowing there is an issue first.

Also I do understand the majority of the weight is bearing down the wall, so I'm perhaps overly worrying.

Thanks

 

[noseall]

Hello. Had a boiler fitted four months ago onto an exterior wall in my bungalow, and it's a very heavy storage combi, weighing in at 120kg when full. The installer assured me that the wall was strong enough at the time of quoting and installation. Looking at the instructions Fischer sx10 x80 and bolts are supplied, and I believe four are used to secure a steel plate to the wall and the boiler basically hangs on that. My concern is the wall is black ash mortar and is also a bungalow, so there is only about 5 courses of brick and then the roof atop that wall. The flue also exits above the boiler.

I've noticed cracks in the plaster emanating from where the bolts are drilled, and these are hairline and may have happened when the boiler was mounted. There is also a hairline crack on the ceiling above the boiler, in line with a wall crack.

I'm obviously concerned but unsure what to actually do beyond draw pencil lines and see if the cracks are actively expanding? I don't want to get the installer back without knowing there is an issue first.

Also I do understand the majority of the weight is bearing down the wall, so I'm perhaps overly worrying.

Thanks

You could probably hang the weight of the boiler off one of those fixings. I doubt that weight bearing down on the wall is an issue. 5 courses above the last fixing should be fine

 

[alphagario]

Thank you, hope you're right. I will monitor the cracks just in case. I am not certain there are five courses above, maybe four, and as I mentioned the flue exits above the boiler, immediately above where the left hand bolts are.

I've measured the gap between the boiler and the ceiling too, and will check periodically.

Thanks

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Put some of these across the cracks if you like...

Acrylic Crack Monitor Fashion Crack Ruler Exquisite Gap Gauge Wall | eBay

WHAT YOU GET: 1 piece/5 pieces Crack Ruler. Material: Acrylic. Color: Transparent.

www.ebay.co.uk

You can glue them with epoxy glue instead of drilling holes.