CO Presenting As Water Leak

[John]

I rent out a flat through a estate agents who have recently had some work done on the boiler. There was a small leak on one of the heat exchangers which turned out to be the O-rings. The estate agents have said it needed to be repaired immediately as a CO leak can present as a water leak. If this is the case can someone please explain how this would happen?

Thanks

 

[Harvest Fields]

What boiler is it that you have

 

[Chalked]

Could have been an o ring in the flue.
This can cause combustion air to be brought back into the appliance.

 

[fixitflav]

I rent out a flat through a estate agents who have recently had some work done on the boiler. There was a small leak on one of the heat exchangers which turned out to be the O-rings. The estate agents have said it needed to be repaired immediately as a CO leak can present as a water leak. If this is the case can someone please explain how this would happen?

Thanks

A leak of water or flue gases?

 

[John]

What boiler is it that you have

It is a combi boiler. Not sure on the exact make or model.

 

[John]

Could have been an o ring in the flue.
This can cause combustion air to be brought back into the appliance.

It was O-rings on the heat exchanger that were leaking.

 

[John]

A leak of water or flue gases?

It turned out to be water but the estate agents have said that it had to be repaired immediately as what looks like a water leak from the heat exchanger could in fact be a CO leak.

 

[Harvest Fields]

It turned out to be water but the estate agents have said that it had to be repaired immediately as what looks like a water leak from the heat exchanger could in fact be a CO leak.

Vaillant or glowworm maybe?

 

[rpm]

It turned out to be water but the estate agents have said that it had to be repaired immediately as what looks like a water leak from the heat exchanger could in fact be a CO leak.

Did the alarm activate? Take it there is an alarm fitted?
Is the Q because of a high bill for an emergency plumber to attend perhaps?

 

[Ric2013]

Ah. Don't be too hard on the OP. True, he's a landlord and property is theft, but he may well be a good one and trying to keep rent down, which is only possible if he can keep costs down.
I see his point. He's wondering if this is an emergency callout job or if the agent is just ripping him off or wasting his money. And let's be honest - does the gas guy even really want an emergency callout if it isn't an emergency?

 

[Chalked]

TBH
It doesn’t matter if it was just a water leak. It needs fixing.

 

[Ric2013]

Agreed. But if it's a slight weep and it is only water, a day or two is hardly an urgent matter. Though it may be wise to turn the boiler off to prevent an electric shock hazard.

Obviously there's a limited amount of time a tenant should be left without a working boiler, even in summer, but 48 hours and with a discount off the rent is hardly unreasonable.

 

[Chalked]

Tennant probably used a call out company and the agent is having to justify it!

 

[rpm]

Tennant probably used a call out company and the agent is having to justify it!

Isn`t that on the head of the tenant then?

 

[John]

Thanks for the responses. It is due to an emergency call out yes. The alarm never went off as there was no CO leak. I'm just trying to establish how something that looks like a water leak could possibly be a CO leak. I'm not an expert by any means but can't see how this could be.

The agent are making out this is an obvious assumption and before I question it I wanted to check the facts. I did do a fair amount of searching but couldn't find any possible explanations.

 

[rpm]

So a) Could CO leak turn into water? & b) Could this water drip onto floor or could it of been contained in the casing? If so who removed the casing?

 

[Ric2013]

John. Surely all an emergency plumber could do is isolate the boiler until he or she has obtained the replacement part to make a proper repair, which isn't going to happen at this time of night!

I think Chalked gave you the answer you needed, but didn't fully explain. At a guess, what Chalked means is that combustion air can cause condensation = water, but combustion air will also contain CO. There is no pure CO anywhere that can leak, but the combustion air will always contain at least a small percentage of partially burned carbon, so any leaking combustion air will be a source of CO.

Worth noting that CO alarms only ring at a high level of CO concentration, so not reliable as a test for a leak. Basically, a boiler has the potential to be dangerous. If you have a professional diagnosis that it is likely to be dangerous, then you need to go with it really.

 

[John]

Thanks guys. As I suspected then a leak from a heat exchanged should not be diagnosed as a possible CO leak.

I do take my responsibility as a landlord seriously and this is partly why I like to understand the issues at hand. I also know from experience that not all advice given is correct and some of it can even be unsafe. I fully agree a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing but it never hurts to try and have the best possible understanding of any situation you deal with.

Thanks again for all the answers.

 

[johnduffell]

Another possibility is if the trap for the condensate has cracked and lost its water the co can blow straight out into the room. So a water leak there would be very dangerous. But if it's already been diagnosed as a hex water o ring then that rules the above out

 

[oz-plumber]

I, as a Plumber & Gasfitter understand the plight of Landlords.
( Not all are bad )

But I have had calls from tenants and or messages from tenants who say the hot water or heating is not working at 11:00 at night.
( I don't answer them - get messages in the morning )

One landlord I do work for said the tenant called an emergency plumber out at 11:00 pm, plumber couldn't fix the problem and said it was an electrical issue, so the tenant called and emergency electrician out after that. Electrician said the problem was a plumbing issue.

I call the tenant in the morning to see what the problem is, I go there and fix the problem in 3 minutes.

The landlord, who I have worked for for 15 years, calls me to find out what the problem was - low pressure on boiler.

She now has the agent wanting payment for 2 emergency call outs.
She told me how much she was charged for the 2 call outs and it's more than my 3rd year apprentice costs me a week

Some tenants need their heads read, if they owned the property, they would wait until the morning to have the problem resolved.

The payment of the emergency plumber & electrician is going through some sort of process at the moment regarding who pay the bills.

I got paid for my bit - that's all I care about

 

[Deleted member 32524]

Mate, pay the bill. Would you prefer a dead tennant to save a few quid. You are getting a nice nest egg, paid out of someone else's pocket, out of the flat/house. If you don't trust the agent then change. Or use the GSR you use for your own property, assuming you service and maintain your own equipment.

 

[Ric2013]

I would expect, by now, any half-decent landlord would have already had this sorted or have the repair arranged. Failing that, the boiler's been isolated and the tenants are getting free rent until the hot water is back on. Would seem a fair offer to me.

But who's saying the OP hasn't got a Gas-Safe guy working on site as I type?

 

[johnduffell]

Not sure why this has gone off topic, i read the op and all other posts before commenting. The op said it had already been repaired before he even posted. He is asking if a carbon monoxide leak could occur from a water leak. Not whether he should pay some bill that's been invented by later posters. I'm sure the heating engineer would have preferred to do the repair within normal hours, also it would have been cheaper, and the tenant could have put a towel under the boiler until the next day just like the OP would have used for his own property..

 

[kris]

Of course it could . Heat exchangers carry water as Well as gas depending on model make of boiler so it's very possible a hex could leak CO but a CO leak and water leak are 2 different things so it comes down to What the leak was like ie a stain a scorch or a river lol. The fact the CO detector didn't go says water if CO is up to date and working.

 

[kris]

Sorry no CO in water lol
My answer above saying yes was to say you could get CO leak from hex lol