Electramte 2000

Hi Mike,

Happy New Year.

I have just got back back from holiday and noticed a damp patch in the carpet below my Electramate 2000 (12Kw), closer inspection revealed a leak coming from the thermal store side of the beast, actually from a screw fixing point for the cover of the electronic and pump side of things. The leak is about 1 litre a day at the moment, but will I suppose get worse. I have to say despite all the bad press I read that I am very happy with what it does, although not happy at the fact that it is only six years old and now appears to have a major problem.

Several questions:

How can I take the cover off to inspect the store side of things - there do not appear to be any screws similar to the electronic cover plate that I can see?

If it is terminal, I would like to replace with something that does the same job, have Gledhill produced a Thermal store that is just as efficient with the same features/capacity etc as the Electramate 2000?

If they do, what would be a ball park figure (cost) for replacement that I should be thinking in terms of?

I am in located in the Bristol area, so would use a Gledhill recommended engineer, can you recommend one?

Best wishes

Tony

The electramate 2000 has a standard filling loop to fill it with water, this looks like a braided silver flexi hose with a black plastic handle on the valves at each end. These valves must be off normally and the flexi hose removed, so that the system is not overpressurised upto mains pressure. If it is the older type there would be a autofill device at the bottom righthand corner next to the boiler pump which should be off as they can be unreliable and over pressure the system too. The valve is with out handle and square in shape, the slot in it is to indicate if the valve open or closed, closed is slot running left to right. To sum up when cold the system should be no more than 1 bar on the guage, and when hot not more than 2-2.5bar. There is a safety valve which should expell water at 3 bar into a tee just below a tundish, again low on the right, check that this is not the source of the water leak. Good luck Paul Southampton

PS the tee is on the copper drainpipe, is the drain restricted and backing up out of the tundish, is there a copper overflow dripping outside at the floor level of the electramate or at ground level?

Hi thanks for that.

No its not the tundish and the Bar pressure is correct.
I can see the leak which is coming from mid way up the left hand side of the boiler (as you view it from the front) just above and to the left of the Bar pressure guage. Water is coming out of a screw fixing hole used to secure the cover for the Electronics and pump compartment side of things i.e. right hand side of the boilder. I just wonder if the screw used to fix the boiler cover has pierced pipework behind it. The leak is still only about a litre a day (which is a relief) but clearly I need to get someone to look at it, or get advice and do it myself if that's possible. I am fairly technically minded and have no qualms about tackling the job. As I said in my previous posting whilst I can get at the electronics, heating elements and pumps etc, there does not seem to be a (obvious) way to remove the cover for the left hand side of the boiler so that I can see what has happened. Is this whole left hand side a sealed unit?

Advice would be great.

Hi Tony,

Sadly I think this is a terminal problem. All Gledhill thermal stores suffer from pinhole leaking of the thermal store internal container, and it sounds to me as though this is what you are describing. The screw didn't do the damage, nobody knows what causes these pinholes. The internal urea formaldehyde foam insulation will be saturated with water and it is escaping through the screw hole. There is no economically viable way of fixing it.

New boiler needed I fear. Check http://www.heatweb.com/ for a viable alternative manufacturer.

Cheers, Mike

Hi Mike,
Thanks for that I suspected as much.

What would you recommend as a replacement bearing in mind that my only energy supply is electricity?

Where can I get my hands on a price list?

Regards,

Clifton

Best by far for running costs and efficiency is an ASHP (Air source heat pump) which is mounted externally with a hot water cylinder in the cupboard, running costs would be approx 50% of electromate because efficiencies are 150-450%, but installation/purchase is about £6K.

WWW.heatweb.com. is a v.good firm manufacturing based in the south and technically excellent (not over complicated like gledhil). As per Mikes link.

or Put a cyinder and flow boiler together in the cupboard, easy cheap quick but will not discriminated between high and low cost electricity as boiler fires whenever heat is required i.e daytime. However Economy 10 tarriff electric meter will make whole house cheap rate 1-4pm and 8-10pm aswell as 12-5am.

Good luck

Paul.