Any views on what caused this Baxi to fail?

[MRF]

Hi,
A mate of mine's daughter's boiler failed.
Info from him in the quote.
Any thoughts on whats caused this?

Baxi Combi 80 HE Plus, Daughter rang this morning asking how to fill up the boiler as the red light was on and it had no pressure, talked her through top up, in a panic says theres water gushing out and the carpet looked to be already wet, I called in ASAP -took the outer cover off and this is what I found. Now fortunatly for her she is on a Baxi contract for service and maintenance and they will be out Friday between 08.00 and 10.00.
It was installed 09/2007.
last service 04/2015
is it fixable???? and what caused it????, she put the central heating on last night to dry some clothes-just back off holiday.This morning,no hot water and the red light warning. Last night was first time heating has been on since Spring.Baxi beefed a while back regarding replacing the heat exchanger and said some part or other was obselete and if it went the Boiler would be scrap, What a 7 Yr old system??
Red, square/oblong Pressure Vessel, got 5108975 and a load of Italien writing on it.

Its definatly the pressure Vessel, (Thats whats written on it.) might well be part No 240388 now

I`m guessing some sort of safety valve should have maybe kicked in??

There`s a copper expansion pipe comes off the system from the middle right hand side, on the bottom - the pipe is clear, and the condensate drain on the back left- it too is clear

some canny pressure as its quite thick metal and my hands wouldnt twist it back.

It was power flushed and Fernox included last year, but the lads who did it said it was clean and had already had an inhibitor in.

 

[Sharp Point]

Hi,
A mate of mine's daughter's boiler failed.
Info from him in the quote.
Any thoughts on whats caused this?



View attachment 22975View attachment 22976

I would hazard a guess that the expansion vessel has depleted it self of pressure on the nitrogen/ air side and the pressure relief is broken and hasn't opened itself up on system pressure rise and that seems to be the weak point.

All I can say is wow!!! That is horrific, the temperature of the water in that boiler would of been that of higher than steam! God job, no one was nearby..

 

[ShaunCorbs]

All depends what damage the water has done eg water and elecs don't mix of it's just the expansion tank it's an easy fix if they still have them or not a separate one could be fitted external of the boiler at worse caseBut really you shouldn't of taken the case off as your not gas safe registered

 

[MRF]

I didn't, as mentioned mate sent the pics to me..

Kinda sad state of affairs when taking a casing off is judged to be more dangerous than letting water pour out everywhere...

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Rules are rules just turn the mains to the boiler off ISO valve on the underside even have access with the case on or stop filling

 

[jonnyswamp]

I didn't, as mentioned mate sent the pics to me..

Kinda sad state of affairs when taking a casing off is judged to be more dangerous than letting water pour out everywhere...

I understand that you didn't remove the casing, the plumber who is quoting to replace it and who took the photos did
But, that casing could have quite easily been kicking out 240v after that exp ves split and spat water everywhere
If you had been there at the time, would you have checked to make sure the casing hadn't been live? or just tried to remove it to stop the leak
Not trying to be over dramatic, but people (plumbers) have been killed when a boiler case/framework became live through an electrical fault

 

[ShaunCorbs]

I understand that you didn't remove the casing, the plumber who is quoting to replace it and who took the photos did
But, that casing could have quite easily been kicking out 240v after that exp ves split and spat water everywhere
If you had been there at the time, would you have checked to make sure the casing hadn't been live? or just tried to remove it to stop the leak
Not trying to be over dramatic, but people (plumbers) have been killed when a boiler case/framework became live through an electrical fault

nope his mate took the case off

"Baxi Combi 80 HE Plus, Daughter rang this morning asking how to fill up the boiler as the red light was on and it had no pressure, talked her through top up, in a panic says theres water gushing out and the carpet looked to be already wet, I called in ASAP -took the outer cover off and this is what I found. "

"Now fortunatly for her she is on a Baxi contract for service and maintenance and they will be out Friday between 08.00 and 10.00."

no gas safe person took the case/cover off

 

[mfgs]

wow that's impressive, I have never seen an expansion vessel like that! I can only imagine the PRV didn't open like it should have done.

 

[MRF]

I understand that you didn't remove the casing, the plumber who is quoting to replace it and who took the photos did
But, that casing could have quite easily been kicking out 240v after that exp ves split and spat water everywhere
If you had been there at the time, would you have checked to make sure the casing hadn't been live? or just tried to remove it to stop the leak
Not trying to be over dramatic, but people (plumbers) have been killed when a boiler case/framework became live through an electrical fault

well being a sparky, I would have done safe isolation first..and tested my kit with proving unit and then checked the casing for voltage...

I would hope a gas safe engineer would do the same... you do own a proving unit?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

well being a sparky, I would have done safe isolation first..and tested my kit with proving unit and then checked the casing for voltage...

I would hope a gas safe engineer would do the same... you do own a proving unit?

yep and a mft 😀

 

[jonnyswamp]

Does your mate

 

[MRF]

yep and a mft 😀

calibrated? 😉
Shame most of the "engineers" installing GCH round here don't have a clue...lets just say some of it looks like it was wired by stevie wonder on a bad acid trip...including one where they decided the earth core would be ok to use as a live core...

 

[ShaunCorbs]

calibrated? 😉
Shame most of the "engineers" installing GCH round here don't have a clue...lets just say some of it looks like it was wired by stevie wonder on a bad acid trip...including one where they decided the earth core would be ok to use as a live core...

of course and thats one of my pet hates on t+e using the earth as a live and esp when they forget to change it going to earth so trips rcd

 

[MRF]

I'm just doing some digging on behalf of a mate, all he is concerned about is making sure Baxi don't take the michael out of his daughter...which he gets a feeling they might try...

 

[joni os]

Seems a good argument for ensuring all casing is earthed. As for using earth in T&E as conductor, found this very common on overrun extractor fans. Especially deadly when sheathed in inappropriate colour.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

I'm just doing some digging on behalf of a mate, all he is concerned about is making sure Baxi don't take the michael out of his daughter...which he gets a feeling they might try...

well come back to us once they has said whats wrong but i have a feeling the pcb is wet and would be toast

 

[Rickster123]

I wouldn't throw any money at repairing that.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

its failed because the ev is square,they are more prone to failing for some reason,seen a few do it but ultimately caused by a flat vessel,never seen a round one do it,boilers tat by the way and not worth repairing

 

[Nostrum]

Never seen this, must be a manufacturing fault to cause that surely?

 

[AWheating]

A sparky with a proving unit, now that's rare. Almost as rare as one that can wire a heating system correctly. Lol