Vaillant condensing combi leak
 

Hi, I have had a Vaillant ComiCompact ECOmax VUW 236 EH for about 8 years now. About a year ago the Vaillant service engineer had to replace the fan at a cost of over £250.00, including call out charge. I had noticed a small water leak for some time and mentioned this to the Vaillant engineer and he said that it was because the installed flue had not been installed correctly and there was no seal installed at the junction of the flue pipes, the leak was just condensation but he had put in something that would fix this. The leak has been getting worse and I did not fancy another £250 bill and so I took the cover off the boiler and had a look and found the source of the leak. It's from right next to the sensing electrode and I'm sure that removing the two bolts or nuts holding this sensing electrode in position and repacing the 'perished' seal or gasket around this would fix the problem. It's either that or ordering a new combi boiler current price around £1,000.

Anyone help me as regards getting a new gasket, or some advice, please ?

Dan

In article ,
gm3suz writes:

Hi, I have had a Vaillant ComiCompact ECOmax VUW 236 EH for about 8
years now. About a year ago the Vaillant service engineer had to
replace the fan at a cost of over £250.00, including call out charge. I
had noticed a small water leak for some time and mentioned this to the
Vaillant engineer and he said that it was because the installed flue
had not been installed correctly and there was no seal installed at the
junction of the flue pipes, the leak was just condensation but he had
put in something that would fix this. The leak has been getting worse
and I did not fancy another £250 bill and so I took the cover off the
boiler and had a look and found the source of the leak. It's from
right next to the sensing electrode and I'm sure that removing the two
bolts or nuts holding this sensing electrode in position and repacing
the 'perished' seal or gasket around this would fix the problem. It's
either that or ordering a new combi boiler current price around
£1,000.

Anyone help me as regards getting a new gasket, or some advice, please

Do you have the original manuals?
There's normally an exploded parts diagram with
the part numbers of all such parts indicated.

--
Andrew Gabriel

"gm3suz" wrote in message
...

Hi, I have had a Vaillant ComiCompact ECOmax VUW 236 EH for about 8
years now. About a year ago the Vaillant service engineer had to
replace the fan at a cost of over £250.00, including call out charge. I
had noticed a small water leak for some time and mentioned this to the
Vaillant engineer and he said that it was because the installed flue
had not been installed correctly and there was no seal installed at the
junction of the flue pipes, the leak was just condensation but he had
put in something that would fix this. The leak has been getting worse
and I did not fancy another £250 bill and so I took the cover off the
boiler and had a look and found the source of the leak. It's from
right next to the sensing electrode and I'm sure that removing the two
bolts or nuts holding this sensing electrode in position and repacing
the 'perished' seal or gasket around this would fix the problem. It's
either that or ordering a new combi boiler current price around
£1,000.

Anyone help me as regards getting a new gasket, or some advice, please
?

Dan


--
gm3suz

Dan,
I'd 'phone Vaillant technical first - describe the leak and confirm that
possibility - or look in the manual, if you have one, the description of
replacing the electrode/sensor will indicate whether it could leak from
there (if you have to drain the system) - some sensors sit on the pipes with
heat sink paste and don't cause leaks.
Parts obtainable from Curzon's (ask for a branch near you) 08705 10 30 30
Failing that post the problem on (if you're still stuck) :
http://cgi.www.a1-gas.co.uk/cgi-bin/...cript=question
all combi-boiler problems Q & A.
You should get a lot more than 8 years from your boiler! 15 - 20 years not
unusual.
(perhaps with the odd repair on the way)

Hugh

Hi Andrew, yes I have the manuals and it does give a part number for the sensor electrode but not the gasket. I think the leak may be in one of the pipes inside the heat exchanger and if I can find out where to get a gasket and replace the faulty one, what will happen ? If the water has nowhere to escape to and the leak is in an internal pipe the whole heat exchanger may fill up with water until it puts out the flames or renders the ignition electrodes ineffective.

I might just opt for a cheaper repacement normal combi boiler, the condensing type may be cheaper to run but the pay back time must be some years. Had thought of a condensing combi boiler from B and Q until I read the reviews on this web site.

Will keep looking at e-bay for now.

Thanks for your help, Dan.