Ideal Logic Combi 35 constant F1 fault

[pjgtech]

Is anything dripping outside when you top it up ?

No, not as far as I can see.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

You have a leak possibly or needs a new boiler

 

[cjg]

under you boiler where the condence pipe comes out is it not on a rubber elbow, pull it off,
top up boiler to 1.5bar and see if it drips after its been left off, if so , as pre. post cracked heat exchanger

 

[pjgtech]

Ok, so at least I know what the problem is. We have a leak. The leak was not showing, no damp anywhere?
Some numpty (presumably the original plumber when the house was built) has put a push fit elbow on one of the CH pipes (10mm microbore poly) inside a stud wall, between the GF wc and the utility room. The elbow is leaking inside the stud wall. Hence the boiler pressure drop.

We called in a boiler engineer and as soon as he topped up the system we both could her loud running water p*ssing out, we immediately went to where the sound was coming from, eg: wall in utility. I think I did not hear water before this as it was a small leak, dripping maybe, but when the boiler guy came, I think he topped the pressure right up, eg; 2 or 3 bar (whereas I only top it up to just under 1 bar) and this extra pressure made the leak worse, so we could hear the water. He could not do anything apart from drain the system and turn off boiler to stop the leak, (eg: heating guy, so did not want to start pulling out utility sink, worktop, make holes in wall, etc, etc) and advised to use insurance.

So we lodge a claim with insurers (on Monday). Its now Friday, had no HW since last Friday, and its still not fixed. [Sigh!]
1st guy came on Tues, emergency plumber, despite me telling the insurers the water was off an no current leak. He came, looked, said sorry mate can't do anything else you need the trace and access people to find the leak.
2nd guy came on Thursday, trace and access guy, he cut hole in the wall, put his camera down, connected air line, found the leak, but said he only finds the leak, he does not fix it, thats another company.
3rd guy is due today, a heating engineer apparently as they can't use a normal plumber cos its connected to the boiler. He's due anytime up to 5pm today?

So, so far its been a week without hot water and the leak has been found, but its still not fixed.......[sigh].

 

[pjgtech]

Update: insurance company plumber capped the leaking fittings pipe, (on Friday) so HW is now back on, but defective fitting (CH microbore elbow) still not replaced, not a job for the emergency plumber apparently!
Rang insurers this morning, they do not cover fixing a leaking fitting/pipe? WTF?
So I have bit the bullet and ripped out the utility room sink top, worktop and base unit, cut holes in wall plasterboard to give access to the leaking pipe. Am now waiting for our regular CH guy to come and service the boiler and fix the leaking fitting at the same time. I will re-instate the utility sink, worktop, etc when he has done the repair.
Fecking insurers are less than a waste of space!!!

 

[ShaunCorbs]

They will only cover the damage to get the leak repaired and not repairing the leak

 

[exedon2]

Unfortunately most household insurance policy's cover you for the damage caused not repairing the leak its self.
We spent many years subcontracting to a specialist insurance contractor got to know a lot about how claims work.
I would urge anyone who has a insurance claim to engage a loss assessor (total different from a loss adjustor)
Assessors work for you and run the claim there cost is paid by your insurance company.
Have seen many successful outcomes run by assessor's.