Ideal Icos HE15 Thinks it's a trombone

[ititarder]

All advice gratefully received on this one. About two weeks ago I went into the kitchen to find water pouring out of the boiler. I immediately switched off the electricity supply, turned off the water and began mopping-up. At first we thought the boiler had sprung a leak internally, but when we turned the water back on the leaking stopped. When we tried to use the boiler again, it gave an electrical buzzing sound and wouldn't work. On consulting a heating engineer, he said the reason the boiler had flooded, was a combination of exceptionally heavy rain, the fact that the condensate drain had been routed into the rain water down pipe, and the fact that that pipe was probably blocked. He replaced the PCB and the boiler started working again, but ever since the incident, it has become very very noisy. Four or five seconds after it starts up, there begins a regular, rhythmical, deep booming vibration that can last for four or five minutes. This eventually stops, but is becoming very wearing as you can imagine. The boiler seems to be providing hot water and heating sufficiently. It has been looked at by one engineer who couldn't give an opinion as to the cause or remedy, except to say it was probably associated with the water intrusion. The boiler is an IDEAL ICOS HE15 approximately 18 months old originally installed by a Corgi plumber who should have known better than to route the condensate pipe to the down pipe. The condensate pipe has now been re-routed and the down pipe unblocked but the noise remains. Any ideas anyone?.

 

[Agile]

The trombone noise usually occurs on minimum power as a result of an incorrect air/gas mixture.

If you insist on calling engineers without a flue gas analyser or the skills to use it then its unlikely that anyone will be able to sort it out for you.

If you cannot find anyone with the necessary skills and equipment then you may have to call the manufacturer's own service engineers as they are meant to have the skills and equipment.

Routing the condensate pipe into the RWP was not necessarily wrong as it would be assumed that it would be kept free of any blockages but that would depend on the exact layout.

Tony

 

[gas4you]

First thing as Tony says, is to find an engineer who knows his way round these awful boilers.

You need to have the working pressure at the gas meter checked first before going any further.

Also get the flue seals checked as it my be sucking in too much air.

I personally doubt the pcb was ever faulty. Usually when these go the boiler just goes dead.

 

[soubriquet]

I'd look at the flue assembly.
If it's been dislodged, or pulled slightly, the outer (incoming cobustion air) and inner (outgoing combustion gases) can communicate.
This would cause an anomalous gas mix at the burner, with an incorrect flame speed.
The flame then oscillates, causing the noise.
It can also cause extremely high flame temperatures and melt part of the burner assembly, turning your boiler into a very expensive lump of scrap.
Dave's suggestion on flue seals is down the right road, i think, too.
Tony's partly right:-The gas analyser is a wonderful tool, but I'd say it's not impossible to diagnose and fix a lot of combustion problems without it.
In today's HE boiler world it's a staple tool of my trade, but there are still many engineers who do not have them.

 

[Agile]

You have ignored the possibility that the adjustment of the boiler is just wrong!

Only an FGA will identify that !

I can usually fix that kind of fault without one just for fun but would always check it afterwards to be sure!

If you set up a few premix boilers and learn the characteristics you can get a pretty good idea of the right setting point if you carefully note the angle of the adjustment.

Tony

 

[gas4you]

Tony, there are no user adjustments on the Icos/Isar its just down to incoming gas pressure

I use an FGA just to make sure the burner insulation has not fell off once I've re assembled the boiler after a service.

A proper running one usually give around 8.5-9% CO2

 

[Agile]

I fittted one of these just after they were first introduced and it had this problem.

IDEAL were totally hopeless!!! I knew what the problem was but was unable to speak to the design team to get authorisition to alter the gas valve as you are told not to touch it in th MI.

They would only send a muppet in an Ideal van! He decided it was the fan but did not have one with him. He sent one the next day but of course it did not make any difference.

Eventually someone did come out from the design team. I had met him before and he confirmed my diagnosis and tweaked the GV in 20 secs and it was all OK. Just what I could have done myself on the first day!!!

The customer had been without proper showers for seven days !!!

The service from Ideal to me was appalling on that occasion. I made every attempt to get past the idiot girl on their service line but she flatly refused to allow me to speak to anyone in authority. She probably thought she was doing a good job! She should have been sacked for behaving in such a stupid manner. The effect of her actions must have prevented sales of many Ideal boilers from people to whom I have recounted this tale!

The problem arose because the boilers were tested on maximum and were tested to see they modulated but were NOT tested at minimum power!

You would have thought that Ideal would monitor these web sites to ensure that anyone with the slightest difficulty with their products would be afforded VIP treatment to overcome any problems!

Tony