Glow worm failing to ignite

[1LegSteve]

Hey All,
I'm hoping to get advice on an oldish boiler and if it's worth a repair or we should just bite the bullet and buy new (rather not just before Christmas )

So, it's a Glow worm Flexicom 24cx and this morning it had given an F1 fault.
I went outside to inspect and thought, it's cold so the condensation pipe may be blocked (this happened last year and thought we'd fixed that problem). Anyway, turns out that it was clear so I reset the boiler and it was taking a while to ignite and then a lound bang (quite scary really).
Waited for what seemed like forever while my wife is stood at the side of me with a panicked look on her face and it banged again.

Now the bang comes from the flue. You can see blue flash come out of the end of the flue when the bang happens. it's like the gas is building up and failing to ignite.

Obviously, we turned the boiler off but could this be due to the cold weather anyway? If not, could it be a simple fix and save our Christmas? (Ok, maybe a bit dramatic but still... a big cost to fix or replace a boiler before Christmas is not the best present Santa could have given us )

Any help, greatly appreciated!

 

[CBW]

Seems logical to me to employ the services of a gas safe engineer or a Glow worm fixed price repair, there’s obviously an ignition fault but I’m not going to start stating what they could be as it’s against forum rules.

 

[1LegSteve]

Seems logical to me to employ the services of a gas safe engineer or a Glow worm fixed price repair, there’s obviously an ignition fault but I’m not going to start stating what they could be as it’s against forum rules.

Well thanks for the reply. Although I was hoping for more detail, I do understand there are forum rules.
I'm aware there is an ignition fault, as you say it's obvious, however a fixed price repair from Glow worm is £285 and part of my intention of asking on here was to understand if there is a cheaper option (local engineer with a part that may be cheap, or better still no part needed). The potential saving would make a big difference to us right now.

Just to be clear, I have absolutely no intention of carrying out any work. My leg is in a full straight brace after surgery so even if I was stupid enough to consider it, I simply can not.

 

[CBW]

Hello again Steve, yes I would go with a local engineer, although someone who is familiar with the boiler, eg someone who specialises in Glow worm? Maybe if you put your area then someone on here maybe local to you?

 

[1LegSteve]

Hello again Steve, yes I would go with a local engineer, although someone who is familiar with the boiler, eg someone who specialises in Glow worm? Maybe if you put your area then someone on here maybe local to you?

Thank you for the advice. I'll look around to see if I can find someone suitable