Boiler not suitable for the property? General advice please.

[cat1]

I would like some general advice from people/professionals that understand a lot more than me. British Gas recommended and installed a replacement central heating boiler for me, installation went fine. The boiler works fine when heating is on continuously. However bills wise that's not an option. Whenever heating is off, system shuts down and won't come back on. Have had 2 call outs to look at system and engineers both said the boiler is too sensitive for my old house, problem was the water returning to the boiler is too cold and this results in the system going off. Has happened whenever I try to shut my heating off(when no one's at home) If this simple explanation is right??? Did British gas sell me an unsuitable boiler? One engineer said wouldn't happen with a Worcester boiler as it's not so sensitive. Totally confused and worried about bills if heating on continuously.

 

[cross thread]

What boiler / system type,what do you do to get it working ?

 

[MNW67]

Does the boiler give you a fault message or a fault code?

Is it a combi?

 

[opps]

I am not a plumber.... what does too sensitive mean?

 

[Mottie]

If the water returning to the boiler is too cold, how on earth does it ever start from cold?

 

[CBW]

More information required please, starting by answering post #2.

 

[cat1]

It's not a combi boiler just an ordinary central heating boiler.Theres no fault message or code , just won't start up. We don't do anything to start it ,have to call British gas. Pilot light isn't the problem. Its the British gas engineer who said system is too sensitive. Apparently the water returning to the boiler is so cold it shuts off. If we keep heating on, water returning to system
is warmer ???? , Engineers both said a different boiler would have more latitude. I'm a single Mum, way out of my depth, trying to understand, don't want to keep heating on all the time. Wonder if British gas should have known this was unsuitable for my older house.

 

[MNW67]

What make of boiler e.g. Ideal or Vaillant or Baxi? It should be stamped on the case.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Apparently the water returning to the boiler is so cold it shuts off. If we keep heating on, water returning to system

Never heard anything like it - too cold, the only 'too cold', is where the water in the system is actually frozen.

 

[CBW]

So, conventional system, sounds like it’s chuff all to do with pipes being cold, and a sensitive boiler is nonsense imo. Sounds like could be wiring problem if no error codes.

 

[MNW67]

Apparently the water returning to the boiler is so cold it shuts off. If we keep heating on, water returning to system is warmer ???? , Engineers both said a different boiler would have more latitude. I'm a single Mum, way out of my depth, trying to understand, don't want to keep heating on all the time. Wonder if British gas should have known this was unsuitable for my older house.

Maybe what they meant was that the difference in temperature between the water flowing out of the boiler to the radiators, and the water returning back from the radiators into the boiler, is too large. That can cause boilers to shut down and some are more tolerant than others. We really need to know the make of the boiler and hopefully also the model.

 

[cat1]

Thank you, that's exactly what they said, it's a Valiant Eco Fit Pure OV boiler.They said I have to keep the heating on for it to work, does that sound right? It's currently 16.7 degrees and it won't start up at all

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Thank you, that's exactly what they said, it's a Valiant Eco Fit Pure boiler.Theu said I have to keep the heating on for it to work, does that sound right?

The same boiler as I have installed. My heating is enabled 24/7, I just have the temperature programmed to vary day, from during the night. It never, ever fires during the night, it doesn't need to, but it always fires next morning without a problem, even when absolutely cold - so yes, something is not right with your install. Get them back out, get them to fix it, and get them to write down what is/was wrong with it. Then copy it back to us.

 

[MNW67]

Thank you, that's exactly what they said, it's a Valiant Eco Fit Pure boiler.Theu said I have to keep the heating on for it to work, does that sound right?

If that is the problem then they need to diagnose why it is happening and fix it. It is not acceptable to tell someone they need to run the boiler 24/7.

When you say you turn the heating off, what do you actually do? Presumably you mean you switch off the timer/programmer or turn down the thermostat, rather than turning off the mains power to the boiler at the power switch? What thermostat or timer/programmer do you have?

 

[Madrab]

I'm sure there is a normal position whereby when something is sold that isn't fit for purpose then you have a legal right to demand it's sorted out. Get in touch with Citizen Advice, you can't have this going on for any longer.

What are BG saying? Their engineer can't say that to you and then just walk away, that's just plain ridiculous.