Last year we had our W-B Heatslave oil boiler replaced as the jacket corroded and it was uneconomic to repair. We had to have a new type condensing boiler fitted but otherwise bought the same boiler. This time the fitters did a very neat job and fitted a tiger loop (the type designed to be fitted internally to which they fed the vent to outside).

The trouble is the boiler smells, not terribly, but the boiler is next to our bedroom and it is not very nice. I have had the fitters back and they checked every joint and then I had W-B send an engineer and he replaced all the parts which have oil in them. However the boiler still smells.

This hasn't been helped by the fact that W-B specify a lot more ventilation for the cabinet it is in (under stairs) but we have had to block that up for the moment.

Any ideas what could be the problem and what I can do next? Thanks.

thescruff wrote on Jan 28^th, 2014, 10:34am:


Thanks Scruff but I'm not Planning to win any awards, or check my chips in, just yet, it's a balanced flue combi and the only vent I have blocked up is the new high level vent I added because the installation instructions require more vents to the cabinet (under stairs cupboard in this case) than the old boiler. I have fitted a temperature gauge under the stairs and the highest temperature reading was 27 degrees so that shouldn't be a problem. I can't fit vents to the outside because of the wall construction and also the house is listed and I doubt they would let me put any vents on the front wall of the house.

So I should just plague WB, but I'm not sure what they can do

Does it smell when its off or running.

Is there a vent on the tiger loop that maybe the problem.

Check the lines otherwise for staining, brown papers good for finding leaks.

Was suggested the burner doesn't shut down fully and you get a spillage in the CC which smell when it starts up.

Just an update for anyone interested.

I tried the brown paper with no signs of oil anywhere. W/B engineers have been back several times and have finally covered every part in silicon to no avail and so now the plan is to fit a post combustion purge fan into the flue to draw off the heat and smell once the boiler has finished running.

This has all been very frustrating and we have hardly run the boiler since it was fitted, but W/B have been very good about it. Pity we couldn't vent it to outside.