Dorchester Greenstar 28i water pouring out of condensation pipe!

Sounds very expensive - leaking primary heating exchanger.

I would defiantely find a company who offers a fixed price repair (that includes the heat exchanger).

 

How old is the boiler.

 

Vaillant

 

Dorchester?

Lovely place

 

Quite agree, can't beat Vaillant,have had various Vaillant boilers for the last 20 years or so in all my places, never had one break down.
I wouldn't even bother repairing that Bosch,it's a common problem, no idea to cost, but I wouldn't think it's cheap to sort,a new Vaillant boiler comes with a 7 year warrenty.


What a price...

https://www.dhsspares.co.uk/product...r-assembly-18-24-kw-was-a-87161070550-1015131

https://www.dhsspares.co.uk/product/worcester-87161066850-heat-exchanger-16-plate-1015031

 

Some WB come with 7-8 years warranty.

When you say valve, is this the inbuilt (sometime optional) filling loop which used the white plastic key?

Not gas safe, but dont think water should be coming out of the condensate pipe?

May be pressure relief valve (PRV)? this is usually a copper pipe with an elbow when exiting wall.

 

Is it 28i junior?

or

28CDI?

 

I don't do gas, but if it is heat exhanger, then I wouldn't bother repairing.

WB come with 7-8 years warranty, I know someone had no end of problems trying to claim for heat exchanger off the warrenty.

 

Hey 'Poo.

If you are sure it's coming oot the plastic condensation pipe, then it is almost certainly as Morg and others say above - your main heat exchanger has burst. This 'exchanger' is the part which is heated by the burner, and has the system water flowing through it. If it leaks, then the water will end up inside the combustion chamber, so will come out the condensate pipe.

It should last a lot more that 'just over 7 years'. I think you'll find that current WB models have extended guarantees on that part, and I also understand that a certain model(s) of WB in the past few years was very prone to having these leaks.

So, what to do? Firs research this model on t'web and see if there's more cases of the the exchanger leaking - I think you'll find a few references on this very forum... Armed with that, I'd approach WB and explain the situation, and ask them nicely to consider either a FOC repair or at least a significant contribution to the job.

Your lever is that I'm pretty sure that 7-8 years is not an acceptable life span for such a major component, and that therefore is it not satisfactory quality. You back this up with all the other examples you've found of this having happened, which suggests there is an underlying quality issue with this part, and it was therefore more likely to fail prematurely at some point - ie the issue that caused the fault was inherent in the part from new.

There is therefore every chance you could sue WB for the repair if you wanted to go down that route. The only problem here is that you (a) need to do your research a wee bit to confirm what I've said..., (b) need to contact WB using the correct legal terminology (easy - CAB), and (c) if you need to sue them, you also need to get them to repair the boiler first and then pay for this repair. You then sue to reclaim this money.

So, do your research. Armed with this, visit your local CAB (or visit their website or phone them) and they will advise on the correct wording (and the likelihood of you winning) and then you contact WB giving them, ooh, a couple of days to respond.

If it's to the negative, then it's your call - either get them to repair it, or else fit a new make of boiler. (Bear in mind the former will be cheaper, and also there's every chance they've sorted the faulty batch of exchangers - so you should be good to go.)

Your call.

But please keep us posted as it's a very useful case for others too.

(I think you'll find posts on here which suggest that WB are pretty good as sorting these exchanger problems - I think they kind of accept there was an issue).

 

If it's under warranty, then there simply shouldn't be an issue.

(OK, there may be some provisos there - if the rest of the system is badly maintained or corroded, etc.)

 

Don't you believe it, WB try to avoid honouring the warrenty, when you had the heat exchanger saga some years ago.

 

That's bad news, KIAB. I thought from posts on here that they were holding their hands up - well, not actually admitting an issue, but implying there was one by acting favourably to sort them out.

'Poo needs advice from CAB. They're awesome (They helped me get a result out of Apple with an out-of-warranty iPad - you should have heard the torturous avoidance that Apple went through until I used 'CAB-speak' in a letter...)

 

I won't have any Apple carp over my threshold.

 

Yeah - it ain't mine... No doubt they make good products, but I dislike the company with some passion...

 

Worcester offer a 10 year warranty on their heat exchanger. The chances are Worcester will blame dirty system water to try and wiggle out of it. On the other hand, as much as I hate Worcester, I've found their after-service second to none (from limited experience as other makes don't need it).

If you do go down the new boiler route, make sure its a stainless steel heat exchanger, or better yet get an Intergas.

 

Those key filling loops can be a bit awkward to do, as have to unlock system then turn key to fill system.