Alpha CD32C B error light

Joined
9 May 2004
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Staffordshire
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Hi

Been having a few problems with this boiler would like ideas as to what the fault could be.

Its 4 years old, been no problems, then on comes the "B" error light constant and not flashing, a look in the book says try reset etc which i did but no luck, turned off and on many times but as soon as you either switched on or ran the hot tap the B light would come on again. So I decided to call British Gas for a free estimate, had to wait 4 days tried it every day and faulty, typical the guy comes and it works ! he turned it off and on a few times it worked ok. He said it could be the mainboard or coil/spark i think he said. Anyway the past few days its been problems, it has worked at times but to get it work we have to switch it off and on a few times first, as you either switched on or ran the hot tap the B light would come on again but intermitant.

At one point yesterday i turned the tap on and it seemed like it was struggeling to do something then after about 1min the D light came on and the hot water worked. Today the heating came on for a hour and then went off on its own, back to B error. Is it likely to be the mainboard or something else, and what apx cost for parts would you suggest.

Thanks.
 
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It seems that you called BG for a free diagnosis so that you could fix it yourself.

In that case I am not going to help you and suggest you get BG to complete the repair for you.
 
Thanks for that emm not !

I called them to get a price. I know nothing about boilers myself and have no intension to fix it, unless its something very simple, or electronics based in which case yes i will fix it. I called a few people but they wanted £ just to look at it when British Gas would look at it for free, he could not give me a price as he was not sure of the fault as it worked when he tried it.
 
Thats why I always charge for diagnosing faults, usually £84, to avoid free loaders..

Then the customer can fix it themselves, call someone else or let me complete the repair.

I would ask you, just why do you think that I or BG should come and diagnose faults free of charge?

Tony
 
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Free estimates are common in most trades for repairs, im not expecting them to strip it down for a free estimate but a educated guess is correct most of the time. I would never pay for a estimate nor would anyone i know. I run my own business also and do free estimates, people like that because they generally use you for the job if you give a good price etc. Im sure, like you, I can if the customer tells me the make/model and exact fault over the phone offer a price based on knowledge but sometimes there is nothing better than see the item in question sometimes, Customers will shop around if your price is high or if i charge for something that the next person in the yellow pages will do for free.

I know British Gas install this make/model of boiler so they have access to parts and knowledge, i did call a few in yellow pages but they either were unable to come in less than 1 week or said they had a idea of the fault based on what i said but it would then take another week for the part to arrive once they had been out and made sure it was what they think, so that would be 2 weeks with no heating.

If someone was to say " i have seen this fault many times in the past and it has been the main board" i would take a look at the main board as I can fix that myself, if its some other part then I will get someone out to fix it. I would just like a idea of what the experts think is the fault.
 
Its normal to give a free quotation for installation work but not to give free fault diagnosis. Dentists even charge you for an inspection to enable them to quote.

The only way to correctly diagnose a fault is in front of the boiler. Attending costs time and money and uses specialist skills.

I can also give quotations usually as £84 plus parts and add that it MIGHT be the PCB which is qbout £130 or it could be a minor fault not needing any parts.

There are some who will attend for free and then they have to give a high price for fixing it. Usually those dont have the skills to actually diagnose the fault but saying £350 will give a lot of scope to change several parts and will cover them against those who are "quote collecters".

Sometimes those will intentionally give a false suggestion as to whats wrong.

The only way to diagnose a fault is to do tests and that often involves test equipment. Those who suck air through their teeth without removing the cover are charletans but those are the type most likely to come out for free.

I am happy to stay at home and let them go to you are reserve my diagnostic skills for those who are prepared to pay.

Tony
 

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