Expansion vessel for gas heating system.

milltown

Hi all,

For the past year I have had an issue with water leaking out (to the outside of the house) through the safety valve on my boiler. I have replaced the valve but the problem persisted. I asked the guy who serviced the boiler a few weeks ago about it and he told me that the expansion vessel is probably shot. It is mounted in the back of my boiler (Gloworm Si18 iirc) and is a fairly flat rectangular one apparently, and the common fail mode is that the bladder inside it gets stuck to the wall of the vessel.

He said it would be a big job to take the boiler off the wall to replace the vessel inside so what's normally done is to leave it be and just fit a seperate vessel elsewhere in the system, either in the attic or the hot press. He quoted €280 for this work. Does that sound right? Seemed excessive to me. I'm told the expansion vessel is around €100 so €180 to drain the system, fit it and refill and bleed the system sounds a bit spicy, no?

Then, I was told by somebody else that if I leave the faulty vessel in the boiler that the bladder can degrade and eventually leak.

Any opinions? House is in Lucan, in case that has any bearing on labour rates.

Thanks in advance.

yoshytoshy

Last time I replaced a vessel ,the cost was €120 and took about an hour to do.

Depending on the layout of your system ,it might cost anything up to €180. Depending on whether you need another new safety valve.

I'm working at this over fiftheen years ,them prices aren't monkey prices either.

milltown

Are you saying €120 for the vessel and an hours labour, coming to €180 all told?
That doesn't sound unreasonable to me. Still €100 shy of the other guy's price though. He made no mention of replacing the safety valve for that price so I wouldn't imagine it was included. I've done that myself before anyway. €18 part and five minutes work to fit.

yoshytoshy

milltown wrote: »

Are you saying €120 for the vessel and an hours labour, coming to €180 all told?
That doesn't sound unreasonable to me. Still €100 shy of the other guy's price though. He made no mention of replacing the safety valve for that price so I wouldn't imagine it was included. I've done that myself before anyway. €18 part and five minutes work to fit.

Total charge was €120 ,that was replacing a vessel up in an attic.

If I was you ,I'd be inclined to have the water checked in the system. If this problem was there for a few months ,the system maybe very dirty. Maybe add some cleaner to the system before you change the vessel.

Just a thought.

milltown

Yeah, I had a blocked rad during the big freeze earlier this year and had to run some cleaner through the system. Fitting the vessel would involve draining and refilling the system fresh anyway would it not? Partly at least?

yoshytoshy

You should be alright if the system has been cleaned.

The system would have to be drained alright for a new vessel and usually if the vessel is broken the system is dirty at that stage ,thats why I suggested it.

robd

milltown wrote: »

He quoted €280 for this work. Does that sound right? Seemed excessive to me. I'm told the expansion vessel is around €100 so €180 to drain the system, fit it and refill and bleed the system sounds a bit spicy, no?
.

Seems a bit dear. A typical 12ltr expansion vessel costs from €18+VAT. Copper pipe (if it's close to boiler) and fittings shouldn't cost more than €15. Min labour is about €150+VAT so that's about right.

http://www.pulsar.ie/plumbing-supplies/addtocart.asp?ProductCatId=126&ProductSubId=5

Shop around and haggle.