I got called to diagnose and repair a suspected boiler leak in SE19, Crystal Palace. The client actually used the phrase ‘Plumber to fix a leaking boiler in SE19’ to find me on Google.

When I got to site, I was met with this massive leak coming from the boiler pressure relief valve that has soaked the whole wall.

I quickly noticed that the filling loop was passing and over pressurizing the central heating system, causing a continuous leak of hot water. On top of that the pressure relief pipework was going uphill making water drip on to the pipe and into the wall. On quick examination, I also found something rather strange. The magnetic filter was fitted with a bypass (the filter was not really doing much) and on top of that one of the soldered joints was leaking. Generally, the installation was really shoddy.

When I asked the client when it was installed, it turned out that it was done only 3 years ago. Also, the boiler was a direct swap and the client paid £2600 for supply and fit of a budget boiler. Something wasn’t quote right. I checked paperwork and a quick Google search of the full name of the installer came back with BBC rouge traders article. It may be a good idea to google your installer if you are looking to have your boiler replaced! That could have saved a lot of grief in this case.

Coming back to the repair, what has been done to remedy the situation:

• replace pressure relief valve
• re pressurize expansion vessel
• replace filling loop with a compliant filling loop with 2 stop taps
• remove filter by pass and at the same time repair leak to the pipework
• change angle of pressure relief pipework
• replace leaking magnetic filter with new Magna Clean Pro 1 filter
• add inhibitor to the central heating system

If you need your boiler repaired or boiler leak fixed in SE19, Crystal Palace area or surrounding areas please book your boiler repair here