Grant Oil Combi heat exchanger wont stop leaking!

[andycharger]

Hi Guys,

Im at wits end with my boiler and need some assistance/advice on next steps.
I have a Grant Oil Combi boiler outside and every year or so we have to remove the heat exchanger and descale it/replace it.
We have a scale inhibitor in place but it makes very little difference.
However, that is not the problem at the mo! Instead, I cannot get it to stop leaking from the fittings!
I have used fibre washers as recommended for all connections but it still leaks out of the connections.
Yesterday we tried again with some plummers mate in the joints as well and the same outcome.

Any suggestions as what could be the problem? All connections seem tight and although it is a tight fit in there, i cant see why is wrong with it.
After speaking to a plumber on the phone, the first few comments were Boiler is old and uneconomical/replace with a newer one which could just be a sales pitch. It was fitted around 2004. I just thought I would throw this open to the floor and get opinions on 8 year old Oil Combis and what my options would be. I was roughly quoted as £3k for a new one and £1k to fit (same guy). This may be totally accurate but thought I would find out from the font of knowledge on here as you have all been very helpful in the past!

Andy

 

[SimonG]

Shouldn't use plumbers mate, needs some paste on the fibre washers and make sure the seats are perfectly flat. Or with it being on and off so often you could have knackered the flanges under the nuts. Seen that before.

8 year old boiler 'shouldn't' need replacing, but it is a grant you have which in my book are a pile of excrement (stands back and waits for the 'I love grants' brigade).

 

[jtsplumbing]

What sort of water softner are you useing ? I used to fit Combi-Mate , never had any problems (Barkshire / Surrey) moved to a soft area now, Plumbers mate no good if you get this in system can cause more problems , try somthing like LSX

 

[kimbo]

I would have thought a thousand pound to replace the boiler was a bit steep as it is only swapping one for one so there would be very little in materials. I wouldnt recommend a combi boiler anyway every make gives problems and the main one is water leaks.
I have replaced a number of heat exchangers on these and never had a problem, I would get a grant approved engineer out to do the job.
Everyone has their own favourite boilers for whatever reason, if I fit a new boiler i look after it so I would only fit something I have confidence in.
Water leaks are all part of having a combi boiler i,m afraid.

The boiler should not need replacing, it is only 8yrs old, all the parts can be replaced, get a good engineer on the job.

 

[Destroyer2813]

Now im no oil enginner but 3 grand just to supply is a mountain step to me

 

[SimonG]

Now im no oil enginner but 3 grand just to supply is a mountain step to me

Have a look at prices of oil combi's and flues you might get a shock 🙂

 

[Destroyer2813]

How comes so much more than gas then Simon

 

[SimonG]

It'll be the 176kg of metal in one that does it.

 

[Roger Welton]

Bearing in mind the boiler will be the best part of £2k but it shouldn't need replacing, all this talk of £1k seems a bit far fetched.

If the plate is scalling all the time now, the same will happen again, you need to address the root cause, either fit a softener or try a differant scale reducer.

Worst case to stop your leaks would be to order up the connecting pipework pipework and replace the washers again.