Boiler tripping due to leak onto it

dl8860

dl8860

dl8860

Soldato
Joined
25 Jul 2010
Posts
4,148
Location
Worcestershire
Had a bit of work done in the bathroom upstairs including a new sink put in. The cold water in feed valve under the sink has been fine in the 2 years we've lived here so far. It turned off fine to shut off the supply to fit the sink, and appeared fine immediately after installation and being turned back on.

It was turned back on and all looked OK Friday pm. Saturday 11am ish I notice water dripping from the ceiling and as luck would have it, straight onto the boiler. Boiler was still on at this point so I immediately switched it off at the isolation switch.

Managed to identify the valve upstairs as the source of the leak and switch it to off position, where it stopped leaking. So it leaked while in the on position, despite having not leaked from the on position for a long time prior to this job.

At no time was there any significant amount of water, just a slow steady drip, probably for about 20 minutes.

The next day the boiler looked completely dry, couldn't see any moisture inside or out or behind it so I tried to turn it on. Immediate 'clack', and the fuse in the boiler went. Bummer. That was Sunday morning. The inside cover of the boiler panel had a spare fuse, which I tried this morning (Monday) after another 24 hours of drying out in this ridiculously hot weather, and it did the same thing. This time with the cover off, I could see a flash on this component, circled in red. Boiler fuse is under where the red arrow is.

Fuse says on it T2AH250VP. I assume I can grab anything that matches that when I google it to replace?

Boiler is a Worcester Greenstar 12 Ri

boiler.png


A few questions.

  1. I tried to persuade the guy to change the once-leaking valve but he said now it's all OK in on position, that best off not moving it again because it was fine for ages and now having not leaked for 48 hours we're clear. Should I be happy with this? Are all valves a bit like this and once they're in the right place they're fine? Or should he definitely be replacing this?
  2. What is that component in the boiler, and what is the way to fix it? I suppose I just have to call out a boiler specialist?
  3. I have British Gas homecare cover, which says it covers boiler breakdowns for parts and labour. It is not clear whether I am covered for situations like this, does anyone know the answer? It seems to say I'm covered if my boiler breaksdown, but doesn't mention anything about cause.
  4. How much can/should I pin this on the guy who carried it out? It's a bit of a mystery how it happened a while after it was installed, thinking about it it might have been when we first ran the taps upstairs. Is that something he should have tested more thoroughly and found? I've not paid the last 20% of the bill yet, should I withhold that for the time being?
 
Use British gas home care and don't mention the rest of the drama.

Also you don't really want to be removing the front of your boiler because if you don't reseat it correctly it could leak and be life threatening (although the boiler isn't working so that's not quite an issue lol).
 
That's the fan. Call homecare. Don't mention the third party work or leak. Also don't mention you have taken the case off or replaced fuses. Just put the blown fuse in and seal everything back up as it would normally be.

Depending who comes out they might not do the work due to third party interference and definitely the last thing they want to see is the case already off. So just say it's stopped working and you don't know anything more than that. They may even have the fan on the van as it's a common one.
 
Last edited:
The plumber you used should be replacing that valve as a matter of course it's clearly not sound. Is it in an awkward place and would involve more work than they're prepared to do perhaps?
 
Thanks for the responses chaps.

So apparently my homecare cover isn't valid, which is ridiculous.

My tariff is called Energy Plus Protection Green, and runs until 30/09. But apparently because my prior tariff had an introductory offer of homecare cover on it (both tariffs got from price comparison sites), homecare was never valid on this tariff, even though it says
"Additional products or services included HomeCare Cover" on the tariff information label when I look on my account on the BG website.

The T&Cs on my initial letter for this tariff (entitled "You're on your new tariff") states:
Central heating, breakdown cover [etc]. is included for the first 12 months. This is an introductory offer for your first 12 months of CH breakdown cover [etc].
This tariff is not available to customers who have an existing services agreement (including homecare, [etc]), though it is available if you previously took a tariff with a services element. If you have an existing services agreement and choose to take the energy plus ptoection green Sp 2020v3 tariff we will not set up any of the cover products. The terms of this energy tariff will continue to apply for each fuel on this tariff. ...

So if I had a 'services agreement', then the tariff should never have been set up. And if I had a tariff with a 'services element' (which I think I did), then it should be ok?

Regardless of all that, if the name of the tariff includes the words 'Plus protection', and their own tariff information plainly states that Homecare cover is included, there's surely no way it can be fair that I'm not covered? I've raised a complaint but have been told that can take 8 weeks to resolve, so I'm going to have to do the 'repair and cover' option where I pay a flat 109 to repair it, and have to commit to 12 months of 25quid a month for ongoing cover. And when they come to resolve my complaint, I'll ask for all of that to be refunded.
 
Last edited:
Hi,

If both tariffs were from price comparison with free homecare there wouldn't have been a service included. It's just a breakdown contract with a fixed fee.

I'm pretty sure as it says introductory offer of homecare and you already had an introductory offer of homecare the year before then it's not valid/applicable. It would be to prevent people signing up for gas and electric with "free" homecare, cancelling after the term of contract and signing up again to get "free" homecare. As obviously it's introductory to then hopefully get you to pay for it when the tariff runs out. Which they would have probably contacted you regarding paying or continuing the homecare service at a cost.

I don't know the specifics but from what I could make out that sounds like they have covered your eventually in the t&C's but would have been nice of them to let you know it's not valid. Hope you get the boiler issue resolved
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom