Leaking Boiler - Ideal Isar m30100

[nickojacko]

Hi all

I have an Ideal Isar m30100 combi boiler in a first floor flat and I can't quite work this one out

Christmas Eve - Turned my boiler off and went away for Christmas, boiler working fine before turned off

Christmas Day 3am - Person who lives below me notices water leaking down his windows in kitchen, 9am he drills a hole above his sink and water is flowing like a tap (unbeknown to me as I'm away)

My neighbour turns my water supply off and leak stops

NYE I return home to this story, check my flat and there is evidence my kitchen has been soaking wet, and is obvious has all come from my boiler

Taking a risk, we turn my water back on and I turn boiler on - no leaks anywhere? and hasn't leaked since?

I have breakdown cover with Ideal, and following a very unsuccessful conversation with them, they won't send an engineer out because the leak has stopped and they claim there is no longer a problem with the boiler

I'm a little concerned that my boiler managed to flood my kitchen and ruin my neighbour's ceiling, and seems to have now fixed itself

It was last serviced November 2010 where various parts where replaced, including the PCB

Can anybody shed any light on this? I immediately thought it was going to be a burst pipe due to the weather, but there is no longer a leak anywhere

Thanks for reading

 

[Temprise]

Hi all

I have an Ideal Isar m30100 combi boiler in a first floor flat and I can't quite work this one out

Christmas Eve - Turned my boiler off and went away for Christmas, boiler working fine before turned off

Christmas Day 3am - Person who lives below me notices water leaking down his windows in kitchen, 9am he drills a hole above his sink and water is flowing like a tap (unbeknown to me as I'm away)

My neighbour turns my water supply off and leak stops

NYE I return home to this story, check my flat and there is evidence my kitchen has been soaking wet, and is obvious has all come from my boiler

Taking a risk, we turn my water back on and I turn boiler on - no leaks anywhere? and hasn't leaked since?

I have breakdown cover with Ideal, and following a very unsuccessful conversation with them, they won't send an engineer out because the leak has stopped and they claim there is no longer a problem with the boiler

I'm a little concerned that my boiler managed to flood my kitchen and ruin my neighbour's ceiling, and seems to have now fixed itself

It was last serviced November 2010 where various parts where replaced, including the PCB

Can anybody shed any light on this? I immediately thought it was going to be a burst pipe due to the weather, but there is no longer a leak anywhere

Thanks for reading

Did you turn the power off to the boiler?

If you did then I know whats happened.

I would say that one of the seals on the plate Heat exchanger is leaking and it will be the hot water outlet o ring on that heat exchanger.

Your boiler has a pre heat for hot water, which means the plate(hot water) heat exchanger is always hot. By turning the boiler off you have turned off the pre heat, which means the plate heat exchanger goes cold.

The hot water outlet o ring has dried due to being hot all of the time and by turning off the boiler it will not contract because its brittle thus causing a water leak. This problem does not happen on newer Isars as the o rings have been improved.

Turning the boiler back on will stop the leak due to there being heat back in the plate hex.

Hope ive explained this well enough.

The plate heat exchanger o rings need to be replaced by a RGI.

Regards

 

[nickojacko]

Thanks for your reply

Yes I did turn the power off to the boiler so what you're saying sounds like perfect sense

So in theory, if I turn my boiler off again it should leak, therefore I have a good enough reason to get an engineer out

Should boilers be left on at all times to prevent this?

 

[Temprise]

Thanks for your reply

Yes I did turn the power off to the boiler so what you're saying sounds like perfect sense

So in theory, if I turn my boiler off again it should leak, therefore I have a good enough reason to get an engineer out

Should boilers be left on at all times to prevent this?

Yes if you turned it off it probably would leak again.

This situation you have here is not a common scenario. I would hazard a guess your boiler is 7 to 9 years old and the offending o ring is well and truly brittle by now. The new o rings have been improved i have been told in the past.


Boilers should be left on for a number of different reasons, IE for frost protection etc, but not normally to stop leaks.

I would just report that the boiler is still leaking when you call it in again.

mention that it leaked when you switched the boiler off for a time to the engineer that calls.

Regards