Glowworm 30ci leaking?

A couple of days ago, I noticed that the heating was off. I used the internal control to fire it up, but there was nothing much happening. I went outside to check my Glowworm 30ci on a 2 bedroom 1960’s inner terrace house which is just over five years old.

The pressure had fallen to a level that needed topping up. (0.6). So I opened the pressure valve at the bottom and re-pressurised it to the 1-1.2 range. I noticed that it started to leak water. I turned it off.

I left it, turned it on again and the water stopped. However, the pressure was now at 0.5bar and the red light was flashing. The temperature rose very quickly from 18 to 32 degrees. I turned it off again and the water was continuing to leak and come down in the area between the domestic hot water outlet and the gas line.

The engineer came to check and he found that the water was actually leaking from the heating return area and running along the back-plate to the area of spillage. He wasn’t sure what the fault was and where it lay.

The engineer has been in touch with Glow worm re: the 30ci

They recommend:

*Change the seals, strip it off, put back the heat exchanger and put it all back

*If doesn't work, it's the heat exchanger that needs replacing.

*If it’s not the heat exchanger, it’s the pump, the diaphragm or diverter valve.

This indicates that there might four strip downs, which probably take a day each, so at worst, it will be four days of work and labour costs before the boiler is known good.

Is it therefore worth considering changing the boiler? The cost of repair may well approach that of the repair. I fear that there’s a needle in the haystack and the 30ci has a reputation for short lives, often due to leaks, even if regularly serviced – which this has been. Hard water isn’t an issue as I live in a soft water area. The unseasonal cold snap means that it’s extremely cold and, of course, there’s no hot water, so thank the lord for Gyms and launderettes!

What should I do?

April Showers
April 2008