A daughter has a Main Unvented direct cylinder, with a leak. She says the leak is coming from the top of the electrical box, ie where the immersion heaters go. Having looked the manual up online I am unsure how this electrical box seals to the tank. I would have thought purely aby immersion bosses. If so why water on top of electrical box. Any ideas gratefully received.
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Water leak
- Thread starter Bogart
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View the thread, titled "Water leak" which is posted in DIY Plumbing Advice on UK Plumbers Forums.
The point of escape may or may not be close to the leak, the insulation obscures things. It could be a weld or more likely IME a threaded joint was out of spec or assembled without enough thread packing. Whatever the cause, it's not a DIY repair because it requires someone with a G3 'unvented hot water systems' ticket.
www.mainheating.co.uk
I recommend that, without delay, the cold feed to the tank is shut-off at the isolator and then run off hot water from a downstairs tap until it stops running. This will leave the tank under a small negative (gauge) pressure, which should dramatically slow (or stop) the leak until the cylinder can be repaired or fixed.
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I recommend that, without delay, the cold feed to the tank is shut-off at the isolator and then run off hot water from a downstairs tap until it stops running. This will leave the tank under a small negative (gauge) pressure, which should dramatically slow (or stop) the leak until the cylinder can be repaired or fixed.
I might be missing the obvious but why would not just opening the drain cock drain water out of the tank if the mains is off.
Daughter will open hot water taps on her return. Have also told her about the G3 ticket requirement. Will any plumber attending have evidence of this or is there a national register?
Right a bit of an update. Daughter got a plumber around this morning who said she needs a new tank at an all in price of £1400
Also when she mentione G3 he said he had never heard of it. Alarm bells ringing with me straight away. He said to her he had done one last week. So what if not supposedly to do them seems he does not care. Now more to where the leak is coming from, supposedly. This plumber said was the seal around the bottom of the tank hence needing replacement. Well one is ther a seal as I thought tank is one piece and Main give a 25 year warranty on the stainless steel interior so I very much doubt that has sone as was installed in 2014 so doubt it is a fault. Now she says it is leaking from the electrical box in the position evidenced in photo tank2 but also, and this I cannot figure out from the fixing socket of the front cover as in photo tank1. Am I missing something obvious here? And finally I cannot understand why this plumber says is a 2 man job?
Also when she mentione G3 he said he had never heard of it. Alarm bells ringing with me straight away. He said to her he had done one last week. So what if not supposedly to do them seems he does not care. Now more to where the leak is coming from, supposedly. This plumber said was the seal around the bottom of the tank hence needing replacement. Well one is ther a seal as I thought tank is one piece and Main give a 25 year warranty on the stainless steel interior so I very much doubt that has sone as was installed in 2014 so doubt it is a fault. Now she says it is leaking from the electrical box in the position evidenced in photo tank2 but also, and this I cannot figure out from the fixing socket of the front cover as in photo tank1. Am I missing something obvious here? And finally I cannot understand why this plumber says is a 2 man job?
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A plumber who doesn't know what a 'G3 unvented hot water' qualification isn't legally allowed to work on these systems. I suspect your daughter called a cowboy who thought 'female in a panic, easy money'. If they are not planning to break the law by having a go themselves, they'll just subcontract the work pay them about £300 and pocket the difference.
I provided you with a link to the Main / Baxi customer support line for a reason. Contact them and they will send someone competent and qualified with a van full of the correct tools, spares and seals. They will also honour the 25-year warranty if the tank has actually failed and needs replacing, which is rare IME. If it's just some seal(s), which I suspect is the case, I'd expect the bill to be about £300. Expensive for what I consider to be a manufacturing defect that should be fixed free, but probably not enough to be worth trying to sue the original supplier.
I provided you with a link to the Main / Baxi customer support line for a reason. Contact them and they will send someone competent and qualified with a van full of the correct tools, spares and seals. They will also honour the 25-year warranty if the tank has actually failed and needs replacing, which is rare IME. If it's just some seal(s), which I suspect is the case, I'd expect the bill to be about £300. Expensive for what I consider to be a manufacturing defect that should be fixed free, but probably not enough to be worth trying to sue the original supplier.
Oh good to know that the manufacturer will come out. Not until today did I know that Main was part of Baxi. I will let her know. She has already told the guy who stated he did not know of G3 thgat she will not get to do the work. Finally would you consider it a 2 man job or where they just trying that on as well?
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