Vokera excel 80E

[garya]

Hi guys,

I have yet another problem with this boiler of mine, it has now developed a leak, only when the hot water is being called for though (hot tap on, shower on etc), when cold water is used there is no leak. Below is a picture of where the leak is coming from, it is coming from underneath that hexagonal part, i have no idea what that part of the boiler is called, can someone help me out please and give me any idea on what it will take to fix and how much to expect to pay (i am in yorkshire).

Many Thanks


Garya

 

[ChrisR]

Fair probablility of it being Part 6919, front seal, in the manual - have a looksee:

Partscenter part 478750

 

[garya]

chrisr,

thanks very much for that, is that front seal something i can replace myself without seeking a qualified engineer. if so is it simply a case of switching off the boiler and removing it like a regular screw?

thanks again

garya

 

[scatmanjohn]

You will need to drain the boiler to replace that part.

 

[ChrisR]

Not that simple, no. You'd need the manual and through it an understanding of what's going on in the boiler. You could get the part and possibly save a guy some time and therefore you some money . As long as it doesn't turn out to be something else..

 

[garya]

chrisr,

like the edit above "Fair probablility of it being". i think it sounds like this is a job for someone who spent the time to study this area of expertise, i stupidly did an IT degree...boy were my parents wrong when they were telling me to go to university, i should have been a tradesman like i wanted to.

thanks again guys, chequebook at the ready.

 

[ChrisR]

Yeah, sly edit huh? I was in a hurry for me tea.

i stupidly did an IT degree

So did I - but I wasn't very good at it and kept getting made redundant and unemployable every 2 years cos I was out of date...
You have to learn this stuff by doing. When you get wet, you learn, you do again. This might help:

 

[DP]

Why do you think 6919 failed in the first place. What do you think will happen to the new one that will be fitted.

Failure almost certainly is due to lack of proper service and care

 

[garya]

Why do you think 6919 failed in the first place. What do you think will happen to the new one that will be fitted.

Failure almost certainly is due to lack of proper service and care

excuse me mate, but the boiler gets serviced at the manufacturers recommended interval. if the boiler hasn't been serviced 'properly' then i'm afraid that's down to one of your colleagues, i am not able to QA the work the engineer has done after he has done it and charged me a stupid fee, otherwise i would do it myself wouldn't i?

why do i think it failed? probably wear and tear, usually engineers can't wait to replace as many parts as possible when they attend a job, but obviously this part can't be seen so it would probably require someone who knew what they were doing to replace this particular part (i am not speaking for all engineers, i know all the people on here have helped me greatly and i wouldn't want to tar everyone with the same brush.)

What do you think will happen to the new one that will be fitted? - Well i hope that that is indeed the part which needs replaced and my boiler stops leaking, thats what i hope will happen, what sort of question is that anyway?

did you have a bad day?

 

[ChrisR]

did you have a bad day?

Did you?

A rubber O ring seal often wears due to corrosion debris in the system. Corrosion doesn't happen if inhibitor levels are maintained - not part of a boiler service.
Any "colleague" of DP wouldn't have let that happen.

 

[garya]

i didnt have a bad day until i read DP's post, if i have misread the tone or point he was trying to put across i apologise to him and anyone else who took offence, email is never the best medium for trying to grasp someone's point of view.

My understanding of central heating was non-existent before i owned my own home, now that i do and have gathered little bits of information from forums like this from real experts i know a little bit more about the basic simple elements of maintaining a system, unfortunately i know nothing about inhibitor levels and thus wouldn't have considered that this may be the cause of the seal wearing out, down to my ignorance on the subject i'm afraid, apologies again.

In that case, should i be considering getting some inhibitor added to the system? is that the material that comes in a gun and fits onto the radiator bleed tap? How often should this be applied? i have owned my home for 2.5 years and none has been added in that time?

On my particular problem with this leak, should i in your expert opinion be getting a professional to fix this or should i order the part myself and attempt to fix it, it seems beyond my capabilities.

garya

 

[HarrogateGas]

Why do you think 6919 failed in the first place. What do you think will happen to the new one that will be fitted.

Failure almost certainly is due to lack of proper service and care

I disagree entirely...A stuffing box/gland can leak at anytime and service has nothing at all to do with it.

 

[DP]

The area that this stuffing box is fitted to, contains primary water. An installation that has been cleaned with chemicals and then treated with corrision inhibitors will have very little menatite in the system water.

System components within a dirty system will soon get covered with black deposits. Spindles (covered with black deposit) that move within a stuffing box will soon wear out the 'O' ring within leading to leaks.

During service the spindle should be cleaned to bright metal and lubed (with silicon grease). Now the spindle will slide a lot easier wiythin the stuffing box without stressing the O ring. During this service, I would similarly clean flow manifold, diverter manifold, replace domestic diaphragm and flow diaphragm, clean burner, heat exchanger and fan, replaced union seals on the heat exchanger, check expansion vessel pressure and carry out full functional check.

By the way, I carry a stock of aforementioned seal, but the boilers that have been serviced regularly have rarely required this seal.

A service carried out in 15/ 20 minutes is not a service- it is only an operational check.

Aforementioned service (I call it overhaul) is carried out with client present. He is shown boiler operation and service takes around two hours.

95% of my work is service/ repairs and breakdown

 

[scatmanjohn]

DP wrote:

replaced union seals on the heat exchanger

The other things i would agree with , but the fibre washers on the heat ex every 12 mnths is going a little bit too far don't you think?

 

[Agile]

I have to agree with DP about the seals on the primary HE on the PP Vokera models.

Particularly if wrongly operated by the user ( switching off the mains and leaving the pilot on ) it thermally stresses the water connections.

A proper full DP ( ex BT before it privatised and lost its quality ) service replaces these seals and re torques the nuts thus greatly reducing the chance of leakage before the next 12 month service.

A careful engineer ( not BG, or even HG perhaps ) will remove the pin and carefull clean it with wire wool and dry and regrease it before fitting the new gland. Virtually all gland failures are caused by deposits on the shaft and a lack of PROPER servicing to the DP standard ( or even my ex-BBC standards ).

Tony Glazier