Worcester burner gasket failure 6 months after service

[worzel]

Hi,

The boiler in our recently rented house needed some unrelated work. Upon completion, the gas fitter noticed the gasket on the burner had failed such that we could actually see an orange glow and the electrics above had burn damage from intermittent flashes. Of course he stuck "IMMEDIATELY DANGEROUS" stickers on it, made sure we couldn't use it, and replaced all the affected parts the next day. The unrelated fault was quite fortuitous.

The gas fitter asked me if I had taken it apart because the likely cause of the gasket failure was failure to replace the gasket on reassembly. I hadn't touched it (and wouldn't attempt any sort of work on a boiler). The property management company is now telling me that the boiler was serviced in August last year and so the fault must have developed since then.

My understanding is that a service requires opening the burner, and opening the burner requires the gasket to be replaced on re-assembly. So my question is, is it conceivable that the gasket failed such that flames were actually escaping from the burner only six months after a proper service?

The boiler is a gas Worcester Greenstar system boiler approx 7 years old.

Thanks,
Mike.

 

[snowhead]

So my question is, is it conceivable that the gasket failed such that flames were actually escaping from the burner only six months after a proper service?

Mike.

Yes possible.
If the old gasket was reused and or not fully tightened.
It may be that the old gasket had been reused many times.

If a new gasket was correctly fitted, it shouldn't have failed.

 

[worzel]

Thanks snowhead.

So if I understand correctly, it is very unlikely that it would have failed like that if the gasket were replaced and fitted correctly when it was serviced six months ago.

I need to check, then. Is my understanding correct that a service requires opening the burner, and opening the burner requires the gasket to be replaced on re-assembly?

 

[Paulplumb]

The information you require should be in the installation and servicing manual of your boiler. Generally most modern Worcester Bosch boilers only require stripping and cleaning of the heat exchanger if they fail the fan pressure test.

 

[Destroyer2813]

As Paul said it may have never failed the fan pressure test in those 7 years has hasn't had a full stripdown service, but they do have a tendency to corrode over years quite a few guys hear change them after 4-5 years to prevent this occurring

 

[worzel]

Ok, thanks for the info. I've checked the manual and it confirms what you are saying.

Sorry for all the questions, but I guess my real point is: how much danger were we really in?

When discovered, the gas fitter took this very seriously. Had this not been discovered while doing other work, how likely would this fault have caused a fire between now and the next gas safety check?

As the only legal requirement is a gas safety check, would a gas safety check pick up this fault?

My first fear was that we were put in extreme danger due to bad maintenance. My fear now is that we were put in extreme danger due to design and procedure despite proper maintenance that went beyond the legal minimum requirement.

 

[Rickster123]

And where there's blame there's a claim! Jeeeeez

 

[REDSAW]

common fact on these boilers... the seal fails and is a known fault

 

[worzel]

I have no interest in making any sort of claim, APPlumbing.

It just seems odd to me that if this particular failure is as dangerous as the gas guy who was here seemed to think, that following the regular service instructions could easily result in it occurring.

Maybe it wasn't quite so dangerous as I was led to believe. Enlighten me!

 

[Rickster123]

I have no interest in making any sort of claim, APPlumbing.

It just seems odd to me that if this particular failure is as dangerous as the gas guy who was here seemed to think, that following the regular service instructions could easily result in it occurring.

Maybe it wasn't quite so dangerous as I was led to believe. Enlighten me!

it may very well have nothing to do with the service. A service isn't a guarantee that the boiler will remain safe for 12 months. There's no guarantee for that. You must forgive me but from your posts it seems you're looking to point the finger of blame. As Jesus once said, sometimes **** happens.