We have a hot water boiler at Church which is used about twice a week
for tea/coffee. When we turn it on we get a "fishy" smell emanating from
it. We used to leave the boiler full but from time to time it would leak
and flood the kitchen (never worked out whether it was the tap leaking
or the inlet valve sticking occasionally). We then started leaving it
empty. The smell seems to occur with either it left full or empty.

Any suggestions as to cause/remedy or is it time for a new unit?

--
John Alexander

In article ,
John Alexander wrote:
We have a hot water boiler at Church which is used about twice a week
for tea/coffee. When we turn it on we get a "fishy" smell emanating from
it. We used to leave the boiler full but from time to time it would leak
and flood the kitchen (never worked out whether it was the tap leaking
or the inlet valve sticking occasionally). We then started leaving it
empty. The smell seems to occur with either it left full or empty.

Any suggestions as to cause/remedy or is it time for a new unit?

rotting seals - both for leak and smells.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

IMLE the fishy smell is often caused by melting/degrading through heat of plastic due to a dodgy electrical connection.

Jim K

I was going to say, some synthetic seals make a smell like that when they
start to fall apart. Might be a simple remedy if you can locate them and
change them.
Tea earns have this issue as well, as where I last worked had one you
could smell at the other end of the corridor.

I'd have thought though, that modern materials would have banished this by
now. How old is this thing?
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
John Alexander wrote:
We have a hot water boiler at Church which is used about twice a week
for tea/coffee. When we turn it on we get a "fishy" smell emanating from
it. We used to leave the boiler full but from time to time it would leak
and flood the kitchen (never worked out whether it was the tap leaking
or the inlet valve sticking occasionally). We then started leaving it
empty. The smell seems to occur with either it left full or empty.

Any suggestions as to cause/remedy or is it time for a new unit?

rotting seals - both for leak and smells.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

In message , JimK
writes
IMLE the fishy smell is often caused by melting/degrading through heat
of plastic due to a dodgy electrical connection.

Yes. Particularly '60's/70's 3 pin wall sockets. Poor electrical contact
leading to heat degrading the plastic insulation.

--
Tim Lamb

On 13/07/2014 10:48, Huge wrote:
On 2014-07-13, wrote:
IMLE the fishy smell is often caused by melting/degrading through heat of plastic due to a dodgy electrical connection.

When the thermostat went faulty on my immersion heater& it melted the housing,
it smelled fishy.


I had the same smell from a socket switch for my shower when I opened it
up it was charred inside.

"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
John Alexander wrote:
We have a hot water boiler at Church which is used about twice a week
for tea/coffee. When we turn it on we get a "fishy" smell emanating from
it. We used to leave the boiler full but from time to time it would leak
and flood the kitchen (never worked out whether it was the tap leaking
or the inlet valve sticking occasionally). We then started leaving it
empty. The smell seems to occur with either it left full or empty.

Any suggestions as to cause/remedy or is it time for a new unit?

rotting seals - both for leak and smells.

ewwwww. i thought it bad enough for someone to have put a dead fish in it,
but a seal..... yick

"John Alexander" wrote in message ...
We have a hot water boiler at Church which is used about twice a week
for tea/coffee. When we turn it on we get a "fishy" smell emanating from
it. We used to leave the boiler full but from time to time it would leak
and flood the kitchen (never worked out whether it was the tap leaking
or the inlet valve sticking occasionally). We then started leaving it
empty. The smell seems to occur with either it left full or empty.

Any suggestions as to cause/remedy or is it time for a new unit?

Electrical burning.
Either the plug housing, the socket it's plugged into or the internal electrics in the boiler

On Sun, 13 Jul 2014 11:20:51 +0100, ss wrote:

On 13/07/2014 10:48, Huge wrote:
On 2014-07-13, wrote:
IMLE the fishy smell is often caused by melting/degrading through heat of plastic due to a dodgy electrical connection.

When the thermostat went faulty on my immersion heater& it melted the housing,
it smelled fishy.


I had the same smell from a socket switch for my shower when I opened it
up it was charred inside.

Overheated melamine - the amine bit is fish smell.
Good early warning/diagnostic aid of fault developing.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On Sunday, July 13, 2014 8:03:29 AM UTC+1, John Alexander wrote:
We have a hot water boiler at Church which is used about twice a week
for tea/coffee. When we turn it on we get a "fishy" smell emanating from
it. We used to leave the boiler full but from time to time it would leak
and flood the kitchen (never worked out whether it was the tap leaking
or the inlet valve sticking occasionally). We then started leaving it
empty. The smell seems to occur with either it left full or empty.
Any suggestions as to cause/remedy or is it time for a new unit?

Burning plastic. Fix the bad electrical connection causing it


NT

On 13/07/2014 08:03, John Alexander wrote:
We have a hot water boiler at Church which is used about twice a week
for tea/coffee. When we turn it on we get a "fishy" smell emanating from
it. We used to leave the boiler full but from time to time it would leak
and flood the kitchen (never worked out whether it was the tap leaking
or the inlet valve sticking occasionally). We then started leaving it
empty. The smell seems to occur with either it left full or empty.

Any suggestions as to cause/remedy or is it time for a new unit?



You can get fishy smells from over heating light fittings so the smell
may not be from the water - it may be the electrical connections to the
boiler have become loose leading to high resistance
connections/overheating electrics.

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