Water Storage Heater is leaking

Hi my water storage heater is leaking. My insurance company won't cover it because they say it is uneconomical to repair and it will have to be replaced. It is only 4 years old. I spoke to Gledhill Response who said they are not the original manufacturer, since they have gone bust. So after just 4 years I now have to fork out for a hot water system. My question is this, is there a better water storage system than this? I would have thought a water storage system would be simple but this Gledhill product seems unnecessarily complicated with all its internal parts. The insurance company sent round 6 plumbers to try and diagnose the problem since none of them seem able to work out how this system works.

The Gledhill Pulsacoil BP unit would be an easy replacement.
Where is the leak?
Mike
MGC/H2O
Norfolk

mike wrote:The Gledhill Pulsacoil BP unit would be an easy replacement.
Where is the leak?
Mike
MGC/H2O
Norfolk

insurance company said the leak was internal and they would have to take the cylinder apart. I am waiting for a full report from them

Hello Mike
Insurance company said there is a leak from the inner enclosed cylinder. However, they did not take the water storage heater apart. Also they said it was beyond economical repair.

Hi Shaddy

I'm afraid the insurance company is correct, there is no viable repair for an internal leak (the unit comprises of a copper cylinder encased in a mild steel frame with the annular space filled with polyeurathane foam). To get to it, you need to drain and remove the unit, drill out all of the rivits, peel the outer frame off, cut away all of the polyeurathane foam (a task in itself) and then try to find where abouts on the unit the leak is coming from.

If the unit is in the centre of the building then an open vented thermal store will be needed to replace it, and a Gledhill Pulsacoil BP would be the best option.

We cover the Midlands, butyou should be able to find one of the other Gledhill specialists on this site cover you if you are out of our area.

For ease i would recommend the pulsacoil bp, really easy direct replacement. can be done in a day, it has only got 3 parts which can go wrong, no pcb's, pumps, relays etc. not the cheapest but easiest.

I am looking at other water storage heaters since I am a bit cheesed off that the current one only lasted 4 years and to be honest I dont really want to put money into gledhills pocket since they are not interested in the fact the appliance is leaking. I was under the impression that you wouldnt fit these water storage heaters if you didnt have to.

I will put money on the leak coming from the seam of the copper tank, if you take an element out you will be able to see inside green oxidisation where the leak is coming from, easier to replace with the bp, The thing is your boiler at the moment gives you mains pressure hot water, if you go for any other type of system other than a bp you would have to put in pressure relief drain and i bet you have concrete floors??? The bp does not need drains as it is an open vent system. The bp is a lot different from the current system and i would recommend it, i would not recommend putting another pulsacoil a class or 2000 in if you could get them anymore. The bp has just 2 elements and relies on mains pressure pushing the cold water through a coil in the tank thus heating as it travels through it, giving 55 degree water at the outlets, no pumps or pcb's. job sorted.