Water leaking from heat exchanger, Gloworm 30SXI

[wild6169]

A couple of weeks ago i spotted a problem with my Gloworm 30Sxi combi boiler. Water was dripping fro the bottom. When I removed the covers it was dripping from two rivets holding a bracket in the mid tray of the boiler. This tray was full of water about 15mm deep.
After mopping it out I re-started the boiler and watched it. Water was leaking from the bottom of the heat exchanger. The pressure is only at about 1.2 bar.

I read on the net somewhere that this was simply a case of replacing the heat exchanger door seal, which i found was available for about £14. I called a local plumber who came round and quoted what I thought was a reasonable price for fitting one.

He then phoned up the week after saying he had spoken to the Gloworm engineers and if there is water in the heat exchanger then the heat exchanger is damaged and needs replacing or better still replace the boiler. He kindly quoted me £800 and £1200 respectively for these two options.

Is what I have read previously that this is simply a gasket/seal issue or does it really all need replacing? Photo below shows the tray and the bottom of the heat exchanger, its come out a bit small though.

The boiler fires up fine and works but still leaks and I have to keep mopping it out every few days. Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[aggis]

Hi, what you need is an experienced Gas Safe engineer, whatever you do, don't attempt this yourself.
It looks like the burner seals.
Do not wait, get someone in now!!!
Otherwise it'll melt wiring looms & other parts, also if left will warp the burner sealing plate [flange] lots of extra expense!!!!
If it was the heat exchanger, your boiler would be continually losing pressure & you'd be topping it up all the time, & the water would be going down the condensate drain. [ if the burner seal was intact.]
The other issuse with these boilers is leaking/cracked flue connectors [ leak from back or heat exchanger] & condensate pipes cracked.
Do not delay, leave turned off until an expert has looked at it.

 

[wild6169]

Hi Aggis,

I have had a gas safe engineer in and he has only given me two options, replacing the heat exchanger or replacing the whole boiler. Seems a bit extreme to me as he didn't take the heat exchanger door off or anything.

 

[aggis]

Get a second opinion, or get Glow Worm to repair it, may do a set fee.

 

[mfgs]

I bet its not the burner door, reading on "the net" generally isnt the best way of diagnosing a boiler problem. Turn the boiler off and get another engineer to look at is asap, could be very very dangerous.