Boilermate 3 broken again - same fault

[RichThompson]

The Boilermate had a new mixer valve fitted at the beginning of March as the radiators were getting hot each time the boiler came on to heat the stored water. The new valve seems to have failed already as after I had a shower today the radiators were on (at 12pm) and wouldnt go off unless I reduced the store temperature (to switch the boiler off).

Either the fitted valve was iffy at the time of installation or something else on the bm is faulty and causing the valve to die. This goes back to the buzzing/humming/clunking noise that I kept hearing - and has now stopped - so presumably it was the valve making the noise in the first place.

Does anyone know what might be causing the valve to prematurely fail? - pcb on bm? installed wrong? (it's 8 years old and surely cant have got through so many valves).

BG are coming again on Tuesday and I've asked BG for a quote on a whole new system. I'm giving the bm3 one more chance or its out.

Thanks,
R

 

[nickso]

dont you mean non return valve?

the mixing valve is for the mains fed hot water circuit....its not connected to the ch side.

oh and good luck with the quote for that from BG.....you better get lubricated because its going to hurt a lot for them to remove a BM3 and repipe to anything else

 

[RichThompson]

Probably do mean non-return valve, 3-port valve or whatever it is that prevents hot water from flowing through radiators unless demand for heating is on.

Nickso I gather you're not a fan of BG - admittedly they wouldnt give me homecare 200 cover and this quote for a new system could end up as nothing - however the bm3 has a problem and I fear just fitting another valve is not fixing the real problem.

Anybody know what could be wrong?

 

[nickso]

im an ex BG engineer so you may think i have an axe to grind either way but i genuinely dont.....compared to some im very impartial when it comes to my ex employer.

do you know what was replaced last time to sort the rads heating? isnt the BM3 a twin pump system like the BM2?

 

[RichThompson]

I'm not at home at moment but will dig out the invoice when I do. As far as I remember all that was replaced was this valve module (cant remember its proper name).

 

[RichThompson]

Nickso,

I've checked the invoice - the guy replaced the following last month:

Ref555320 Valve body for 22mm mid position
Ref555312 Actuator Head for Branded Mid Pos

He also added inhibitor to the system.

All worked fine for a month until today.

 

[nickso]

hmmm ive never had the pleasure of replacing the midpos valve on one of these but im absolutely certain ive heard it said that the BG valve (555320/555312) doesnt fit because it passes to the ch side. one guy in particular moaned like **** about it a few years back.

was this done as a one off payment job? you say you were refused 200 cover so it must have been.

i think an OCA job like yours is guaranteed for a reasonable period....i would get them back and tell them its passing again.

 

[gas4you]

Cards on table, I hate Boilermates That said Where exactly is the buzzing coming from? I have had several early ones that the pcb cause this noise and eventually burns out completley. Listen to what others have said here, but get BG to check pcb. BG are convenient but I still do not understand why people are prepared to pay their extortionate prices. I would suggest changing your BM to an un-vented cylinder and keep existing system and boiler if not too old. I have changed 3 now and pipe work has been minimal, but you do need an installer with un-vented ticket

 

[zeroseven]

Cards on table, I hate Boilermates

Me too. Had a Boilermate 2 for 6 nyears and its just been removed. Completely knackered. Never went 6 months without a problem

Good riddance.

 

[RichThompson]

I paid BG's one-off fix payment last month, so I'll make sure whoever comes tomorrow realises this is probably the same problem come back.

The buzz/thump/clunk noise is in sync with a red led (not the fault led next to the orange ones) which flickers on whilst its making this noise. The noise isnt constant but usually lasts a second, followed by silence for about 0.3 seconds and then over again. Whether the noise is normal behaviour for these bm3s I dont know but its annoying and I'm wondering whether its responsible for this repeat failure. The noise has largely gone away over the past few days.

The first failure was intermittent for a time and then failed permanently - so far today it seems to be ok, ie radiators are staying cold while the hot water is heated but I dont trust it one bit. Perhaps this summer is the time to get shut of it altogether. The last BG guy who came said people in our estate were ripping them out.