Boiler tripping due to leak onto it

[dl8860]

Had a bit of work done in the bathroom upstairs including a new sink put in. The cold water in feed valve under the sink has been fine in the 2 years we've lived here so far. It turned off fine to shut off the supply to fit the sink, and appeared fine immediately after installation and being turned back on.

It was turned back on and all looked OK Friday pm. Saturday 11am ish I notice water dripping from the ceiling and as luck would have it, straight onto the boiler. Boiler was still on at this point so I immediately switched it off at the isolation switch.

Managed to identify the valve upstairs as the source of the leak and switch it to off position, where it stopped leaking. So it leaked while in the on position, despite having not leaked from the on position for a long time prior to this job.

At no time was there any significant amount of water, just a slow steady drip, probably for about 20 minutes.

The next day the boiler looked completely dry, couldn't see any moisture inside or out or behind it so I tried to turn it on. Immediate 'clack', and the fuse in the boiler went. Bummer. That was Sunday morning. The inside cover of the boiler panel had a spare fuse, which I tried this morning (Monday) after another 24 hours of drying out in this ridiculously hot weather, and it did the same thing. This time with the cover off, I could see a flash on this component, circled in red. Boiler fuse is under where the red arrow is.

Fuse says on it T2AH250VP. I assume I can grab anything that matches that when I google it to replace?

Boiler is a Worcester Greenstar 12 Ri

A few questions.

1. I tried to persuade the guy to change the once-leaking valve but he said now it's all OK in on position, that best off not moving it again because it was fine for ages and now having not leaked for 48 hours we're clear. Should I be happy with this? Are all valves a bit like this and once they're in the right place they're fine? Or should he definitely be replacing this?
2. What is that component in the boiler, and what is the way to fix it? I suppose I just have to call out a boiler specialist?
3. I have British Gas homecare cover, which says it covers boiler breakdowns for parts and labour. It is not clear whether I am covered for situations like this, does anyone know the answer? It seems to say I'm covered if my boiler breaksdown, but doesn't mention anything about cause.
4. How much can/should I pin this on the guy who carried it out? It's a bit of a mystery how it happened a while after it was installed, thinking about it it might have been when we first ran the taps upstairs. Is that something he should have tested more thoroughly and found? I've not paid the last 20% of the bill yet, should I withhold that for the time being?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Gasguru]

Ball valves especially the cheap and nasty 15mm often leak...and it's hard to find anything of quality.
Water can normally only enter the boiler via the outer flue duct from outside but there's a seal where the flue elbow screws onto the boiler.
It's possible the seal is not 100% and water has crept under it and into the boiler.
The water would then need to drip onto the banana (the curved aluminium piece) and then run onto the fan protection tray....the plastic guard above the fan.
However, these were fitted as standard some years after the boiler was launched specifically to prevent water ingress to the fan pcb so you'd have to be very unlucky.

More likely the fan pcb failed when you turned the boiler back on....that's a common fault on the earlier designed fans (which you have). The replacement fan pcbs have been completely re-engineered.

There should be no reason why BG should not replace the fan as it's a common failure and not related to any voiding small print (ie. system water quality).
Turning a boiler on/off is a normal occurence.
Pop the case back on being very very careful to locate the lower screws. Wind the screw anti-clockwise until you feel it lock into the thread and then tighten. It's easy to cross-thread them. Then replace the top screws.

 

[dl8860]

Ball valves especially the cheap and nasty 15mm often leak...and it's hard to find anything of quality.
Water can normally only enter the boiler via the outer flue duct from outside but there's a seal where the flue elbow screws onto the boiler.
It's possible the seal is not 100% and water has crept under it and into the boiler.
The water would then need to drip onto the banana (the curved aluminium piece) and then run onto the fan protection tray....the plastic guard above the fan.
However, these were fitted as standard some years after the boiler was launched specifically to prevent water ingress to the fan pcb so you'd have to be very unlucky.

More likely the fan pcb failed when you turned the boiler back on....that's a common fault on the earlier designed fans (which you have). The replacement fan pcbs have been completely re-engineered.

There should be no reason why BG should not replace the fan as it's a common failure and not related to any voiding small print (ie. system water quality).
Turning a boiler on/off is a normal occurence.
Pop the case back on being very very careful to locate the lower screws. Wind the screw anti-clockwise until you feel it lock into the thread and then tighten. It's easy to cross-thread them. Then replace the top screws.

Hi Gasguru, thanks so much for the response. That's interesting about the valves, quite awful that it's a regular failure point.

Really annoying if I've just been unlucky, I suppose the way forward is to bite the bullet and called BG and it should only cost me my excess, which is about 90 quid.

Do you think fair to ask the guy who did the work to stomach the cost? Or perhaps half? Would love your thoughts as to if you think it should be par for the course for him to have tested fully enough to find if the valve could possibly leak or not? He's a good bloke and I don't want to pay him short for something unlucky like this but at the same time if he's done the work and a day later my ceiling is leaking... then it's on him?

 

[ianmcd]

Doesnt really mean that the water ingress caused the fan to fail, to be honest external water dripping on to the boiler shouldnt be able to get inside the boiler, as advised is common when you cut the power and then turn it back on again , then the fan fails

 

[terryplumb]

There is no indication that the boiler fault has anything to do with the leak , given the fact that you told us the boiler looked " completely dry" .

 

[dl8860]

I sort of see where you are coming from, but boiler works fine for years without any issues and plenty of on/off switches (I did a LOT due to central heating controls playing up for ages), then gets water leaked onto it and all of a sudden it's blowing fuses.

Will BG not raise eyebrows if there's obvious water damage above the boiler when they come out to change a part that I'm claiming is a routine failure?

 

[ianmcd]

I sort of see where you are coming from, but boiler works fine for years without any issues and plenty of on/off switches (I did a LOT due to central heating controls playing up for ages), then gets water leaked onto it and all of a sudden it's blowing fuses.

Will BG not raise eyebrows if there's obvious water damage above the boiler when they come out to change a part that I'm claiming is a routine failure?

no they wont bat an eyelid, if you think about it, the white cover you removed (naughty naughty) is the seal that stops any of the products of combustion from enering your room, so if water could get in, fumes could get out , that cover forms a room tight seal

 

[dl8860]

no they wont bat an eyelid, if you think about it, the white cover you removed (naughty naughty) is the seal that stops any of the products of combustion from enering your room, so if water could get in, fumes could get out , that cover forms a room tight seal

Sugar OK I hadn't realised that. At least it won't be firing again until BG come and sort it out so I'm sure they'll put it back on properly. At least I've learned something! Thanks all for the advice, I've paid the guy in full and will call BG now to schedule a callout.

One last question, should I tell BG I tried swapping the fuses myself? Or should I really not be going in there myself and might that void anything? If they serviced it before would they have checked the spare fuse was OK at that point?

 

[Gasguru]

What's he supposed to do...come back twice a day and check the valve for the next month?
I always tell the customer to check for leaks etc over the next week or so.

Charge him and he may dump you as a customer or perhaps he'll shove £20 on every job you give him in the future to make up the loss

Sound him out...he may offer to go halves and then you're both happy.

For us in the trade it's always a risk turning a boiler on/off for servicing, I always warn the customer...Vaillants being by far the worst for the pcbs failing.

Stick the cover on...don't give any excuse to wrangle out of the insurance.
You could tell them it went bang and leave it at that.
They won't care about a missing fuse.

 

[ianmcd]

dont metion anything , just say it is not working, as already advised they wont care about a missing spare fuse, no it would never be checked at a service

 

[dilalio]

Jeez! I wish ppl would move away from the "American, who can I blame for a claim, attitude".
Plumbers have to use what's available in the market place, to carry out repairs.
Choosing quality (often British made) parts, over cheap foreign imports, that customers can readily source on the googler, often mean the difference between getting the fitting work, or not!
Trust an engineer, not fleabay or shamazon!

 

[Gasguru]

Come on...if you knew nothing about plumbing or heating you'd be doing exactly the same.
And what plumbing is made in Britain anymore? It's merchants, plumbers and gas installers buying cheap to make the most profit that got us into this mess.

 

[dilalio]

Nope. Don't agree. Not my style.
Buy cheap... Buy twice.
Have this conversation almost everyday with custards. Maybe you don't!

So, despite the "come on", I ain't followin'

 

[Gasguru]

What brand of iso valves are you buying...I don't know any UK company genuinely manufacturing brassware here despite their claims.

 

[dl8860]

Jeez! I wish ppl would move away from the "American, who can I blame for a claim, attitude".
Plumbers have to use what's available in the market place, to carry out repairs.
Choosing quality (often British made) parts, over cheap foreign imports, that customers can readily source on the googler, often mean the difference between getting the fitting work, or not!
Trust an engineer, not fleabay or shamazon!

All of the advice on here has been useful until this.

I don't think I've been hasty to pin any blame at all, I just came on to get some independent advice on whether the fitter should have caught this fault. I came to seek advice and you've called me out for having an American style litigious outlook. Not on really. If as you say it's down to the plumber then surely they should be responsible for recognising and using decent parts, which would mean replacing that valve if it was dodgy. You're making out like I've forced him to use some knockoff parts I've sourced on the cheap, I have no idea where you've got that from.