Glowworm 30cxi boiler: F13 error

[WilfredoLimb]

Hi,

I have a Glowworm Boiler 30cxi (I know its crap!)

I'm getting F13 error which according to the manual is a 'main PCB fault' what I'm wondering is; do I need to replace the whole PCB or get an electrician to look at connections? There is one screw missing that closes the front of the boiler, could this be causing the error?

Thanks in advance

 

[kitch0978]

PCB connection error so can be any of the harness connections, loose or not connected quite right. sometimes issue can be resolved by removing and cleaning pcb and all connectors, need a RGI to check this out as not a diy job. usually is pcb and these are expensive! worth trying above first though

 

[mickyg]

check connecting lead between the pcb and display. Might be worth paying for a fixed price repair for somewhere as could be pcb, display, harness or a combination of them.

 

[kitch0978]

i usually have more trouble with f9 faults micky, sometimes fan and sometimes pressure sensor and sometimes just a connection!! any tips on this one?

 

[mickyg]

i usually have more trouble with f9 faults micky, sometimes fan and sometimes pressure sensor and sometimes just a connection!! any tips on this one?

yeh just keep disconnecting things from the pcb one by one til it changes
usually sensor though.

 

[jameslh]

Had the same issue and it seems to have been the interface connector.

 

[gas_man_gaz]

done loads n everyone has been the pcb, id go with what micky says n get a fixed price repair

 

[Adleigh]

I have had a Fault F13 that sudenly appeared.
After much messing around i found out what causes it and how to correct it.
Like everyone else i cleand and checked the board and harness, no faults.

The fault is with the Relay towards the front of the board, the contacts have started to weld themselves, a gentle tap on the top and it all works.

After this I replaced the 10A contact relay with a gold plated 16A rated type.
Although its slightly taller and i had to cut the protective plastic cover to fit it in, it now works fine.

I hope this cures your F13.
Let me know if it doesn't.

 

[MA82]

I have had a Fault F13 that sudenly appeared.
After much messing around i found out what causes it and how to correct it.
Like everyone else i cleand and checked the board and harness, no faults.

The fault is with the Relay towards the front of the board, the contacts have started to weld themselves, a gentle tap on the top and it all works.

After this I replaced the 10A contact relay with a gold plated 16A rated type.
Although its slightly taller and i had to cut the protective plastic cover to fit it in, it now works fine.

I hope this cures your F13.
Let me know if it doesn't.

Hi,

Thanks for the advice - I have been having F13 on my glow worm usually in Summer. Its becoming very frequent. I had British Gas visited 7 times and almost changed all electrical bits including interface and PCB boards. Now it is coming back again and I see your point as the board feels very hot to touch when F13 appears.

I wonder whether you could kindly help directing me to change the relay. I couldn't work out what is what on the board. I am happy to pay for it to be fixed if I can get someone you think can do it.

It is quite frustrating after one year of ongoing problem (need to go to loft and turn off and on every time)

Kind regards
MA

 

[Agile]

You have not explained the basis on which BG visited 7 times.

They guarantee their repairs for 12 months!

I would not recommend a DIYer to change components on the PCB and nor would I expect the relay contacts to be the cause, at least not welded together. Most relay faults are high resistance contacts but that does not usually occur until the PCB is at least three years old.

Tony

 

[Spannerfingers73]

Hi guys,

I have a similar problem with the f 13 coming up when Central heating calling for heat. Every time the boiler is switched off/on at the boiler switch-(I guess this is reset?), it fires up ok, which suggests all other components are ok apart from the comm between the external controls and the pcb. Does anyone know what happens on the pcb when reset is used? Does the direction of function bypass the control board? Just weird that it seems to fire up ok after reset and keeps going into f13 any other time. Difficult to diagnose whether pcb fault. I have already cleaned the pcb and ensured connections ok. Thanks.

SF (engineer)

 

[JonHeath]

I've got an F13 on my Glow Worm 30hxi.

It's intermittent, which is frustrating to say the least. I'm therefore reluctant to just swap out the PCB at hefty expense.

Although its not the 30cxi, I can see the same logic in a faulty relay being the cause for this too. I've also read elsewhere on the net that an F13 on the 30cxi is very likely to be the relay.

I'm tempted to swap them out, before moving onto swapping the whole PCB. On my PCB it looks like there's two relays, as per the picture.

Good idea? Bad idea?

Untitled

• JonHeath
• 7 Oct 2014
• 1

 

[MJMCAlea]

Hi,

F13 Error.

Had exact same problem, to help anyone that googles it. Its happened twice now after the boiler has been turned off for some time.

There is a small circular recessed reset button on the front of the panel, make sure boiler is turned on and the error message is on screen, then use a pen or a sharp pointy thing to poke it. Hold it down for a ten or so seconds. The boiler will restart and the error should go away. It will restart the boiler and go through some tests attempt to power up and may fail again - It MAY take a few resets when F13 error comes up again then the boiler will power up as normal. After this having happened twice to me now only when the boiler has been turned off for a long amount of time I recommend do NOT power off the boiler if you get this fault. I know i can turn it off and on at the switch and it will work, duration of 'offness' for fault to occur is unknown.

Best Regards,
Mike