DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad – Boiler Installers

This weeks award goes to the installer of a combi boiler which although put in correctly seems to have been done in a bit of a hurry. This boiler has been in for several years and judging by the amount of corrosion had previously been leaking for some time albeit a small group of leaks. The problem only became apparent when a new cloths washer was delivered and like most companies these days was hooked up by the delivery driver. Normally this isn’t a problem as the drivers know when to stop and get help. Not this day though!

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So to be fair on the driver, he sees an old washer, turns off the isolator, unhooks the old machine and then even before he is ready to hook up the new washer he sees water all over the floor. The water is coming from further up the water pipe. It’s coming from inside the boiler! Of course the homeowner gets upset and wants it repaired. Now! The installer calls us for advice. We normally do the more in depth installs that require changing valves, moving pipe work and of course and gas or electrical changes. I make sure he has the main stop tap to the property turned off and head over to see what’s happened.

Upon arrival I can see the pipe where the water has been leaking from inside the boiler but my view is restricted. I remove the boiler case and push the circuit board out of the way and it becomes clear that it’s leaking from the upper compression fitting. When tightening the fitting I discover that it is very loose. The nut was never fully tightened when it was installed and I managed to get about two full turns on it before it stopped leaking. I checked the other while I was there and they too were loose though showing no signs of leakage.

On any installation it always pays to check the compression fittings after everything else is ready to go and just before filling the system with water. It’s easy to forget something but it’s just as easy to check everything too. So in the end the delivery driver just happened to touch the lower end of the pipe which wasn’t clipped to the wall like it should have been nor was it tight.

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