An interesting ID :)

[LPC]

Went to a no heating/hot water today on a Vaillant Turbomax 242. As soon as I unscrewed the first screw holding the combustion chamber on, water started ****ing out from the seal. Got a good quarter bucket of water out of it before I could get the cover off. Pressure was fine so heat ex couldn't be perforated. The inside looked like this:

http://i.*********/2uxQQiJ.jpg



So i'm pretty puzzled at this point. Couldn't see a leak or anything. Then I spot it; the PRV going through the flue hole, directly next to the flue. I've seen quite a few PRVs going up before so didn't think much of it before, until I saw this.

http://i.*********/yQ0NUxs.jpg


So I went out of the flat and round to have a look at the flue. It's 3 storeys up so I couldn't get a picture today but i'll try and get one when I go back, but this drawing shows exactly what is there:

http://i.*********/eCGLaFQ.jpg

The PRV runs directly alongside, and terminates outside directly next to the air intake of the flue. The prv had obviously discharged and the boiler had sucked the whole lot into the combustion chamber. The end of the PRV pipe is exactly as this shows, right next the air intake holes, and even closer than this drawing shows.

ID'd is obviously and going back Wednesday to move the PRV under the boiler and clean it up a bit. All this because the installer was too lazy to drill a 15mm hole.

Funnily enough this passed a landlords safety inspection 4 days ago (not me obviously) 🙂

 

[SafeGasInstall]

But I can see rust below burner ...... Isn't a sign if rust on the burner chamber bottom ID ....
i would not even have a attemp to put it right , looks to bad from the pictures

 

[LPC]

There is rust yes, but isn't anywhere near rusted through. I'll know more when I clean it up a bit. Problem is that this is for an agent that I get lots, and lots, of work from. They have made it pretty clear they don't want a new boiler so if I can salvage this I will.

 

[lame plumber]

personally Id ar it due to the corrosion, water damage and state of insulation at the rear. it will fail shortly anyhow, just find something else wrong, just cos they dont want to pay doesnt mean you need to put your bum on the line, they wont do anything to help you if things went wrong.

 

[LPC]

The insulation on the back and sides is actually in pretty good state. The front panel insulation is a bit ropey but it'll hold up.

As much as i'd like to ID it and move on, once i've cleaned it up I don't really see anything that warrants an AR/ID to be honest. As long as there isn't any significant corrosion (rather than a bit of surface rust) or any danger of the chamber being compromised it'll be fine. Piece of crap won't last the winter, but that isn't my problem.

 

[LPC]

^ Pretty much my thoughts. Except I had to ID it today because I didn't have time to move the PRV today!

 

[lame plumber]

just wash the pcb through and job done

 

[Ermintrude]

The insulation will be fked. You should replace all the burner insulation as when it heats the water in it will pop and insulation cracks and falls on burner.

Also why was prv going off ? Must have been frequent and prolonged? Small bit of water would just evaporate . Fan will also be a mess.

I'm going to say what I think so apologies in advance. , your landlord is a tightarse. When your in prison , perhaps not for this job but another cost saving exercise. He will simply get another GSR with less backbone.

I would be charging for a all new insulation, full strip down, finding why prv went off and checking the gas line for water and relocate prv. LL obviously employes some rse holes (ones who did cp12) so he clearly has no alliance to you .... I suspect your his go to man when his muppets can't sort it, good luck.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

The insulation will be fked. You should replace all the burner insulation as when it heats the water in it will pop and insulation cracks and falls on burner.

Also why was prv going off ? Must have been frequent and prolonged? Small bit of water would just evaporate . Fan will also be a mess.

I'm going to say what I think so apologies in advance. , your landlord is a tightarse. When your in prison , perhaps not for this job but another cost saving exercise. He will simply get another GSR with less backbone.

I would be charging for a all new insulation, full strip down, finding why prv went off and checking the gas line for water and relocate prv. LL obviously employes some rse holes (ones who did cp12) so he clearly has no alliance to you .... I suspect your his go to man when his muppets can't sort it, good luck.

agree +1,however what if the prv had not gone off 4 days ago what if the tenant had left the loop on?

 

[LPC]

I should make it clear that I do not know the landlord. This was through an estate agent who use me exclusively for all of their plumbing and heating work.

New insulation is 3-5 working days from Vaillant. I'm not about to tell the tenant that she is not going to be able to shower for 5 days on the chance that the insulation is compromised.

I've of course told them them there is a separate issue causing the PRV to discharge in the first place. They don't care. Their job is to make sure that the tenant has a functioning boiler. Again, I don't know or deal with the landlord.

The fan is actually fine! Bit of rust on the outer casing, but blades etc all look perfect.

I can only weigh up the safety aspect of this and cover myself. I'm pretty confident that with a bit of a clean-up and inspection this boiler will be good to go. Not all of this agents landlords are like this, i've fitted loads of boilers for them. Some landlords are just cheap and want to keep chucking money at old crap boilers, but that's up to them and not my concern. As long as i'm covered and the tenant is happy (because I actually do care, whether the agent/landlord does or not).

EDIT: I should add, if I just walked into this job and it was a singular customer, not an agent who I rely on for a great deal of income, I would have ID'd and washed my hands with it, for sure.

 

[Nostrum]

Looks like the average social housing boiler to me.

cant see any reason to I.D. It's shagged but it's presumably not spilling into the room and there is no gas leak so how can it be I.D?

How's it discharged and kept pressure though? If the expansion vessel was knackered it would have dropped when cold and if the filling loop was open it would still be up around 3?

flues not pointing to the moon is it? I've seen rainwater cause that much damage, looks like it's been doing it for a while to me, unless they've been topping it up every day for a couple of weeks or more?

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

AR in my opinion

 

[Barry98]

If it's less then 6 years ring gas safe they'll get the original engineer back , regardless if anyone else has touched it or altered it

 

[Rickster123]

If it's less then 6 years ring gas safe they'll get the original engineer back , regardless if anyone else has touched it or altered it

Are you snarling as you say that?!

 

[Dotty]

He was.

 

[Barry98]

just a tad , its pathetic .

i feel sorry for them because there work load is going to double

 

[Dotty]

That's my boy! I was waiting for you to come out fighting!

 

[Barry98]

Game on