Hi there, we have been having, for the past 3 weeks, issues with our boiler. Sorry this is so long!!
2 Days after Xmas we had no hot water - it would not get any hotter than 29 degrees, then would cut out and get colder before warming then repeating this process. The CH has been fine.
When drawing the HW, the boiler makes a squeaking noise (which it also makes when the temperature drops and the burner starts up again). It was making this noise constantly so we turned the boiler off overnight and called the home emergency insurance.
Engineer for Home emergency cover came out first thing the next morning and after the boiler had been turned off overnight, there were no problems.
Had to call him back the next day and he took a while to diagnose but reckoned it was the actuator? There was a leaky washer or something so this was filling with water and confusing the system. He ordered this but explained that it was unlikely that we would have the part before the new year but he put a "temporary fix" in place to ensure that, albeit intermittently, we got some hot water through.
Another Engineer came out on 4th Jan (as the other chap was now on leave) and he replaced the Actuator. The boiler still squeaked when drawing HW but he wasn't sure what this was - also explained to him that the pressure kept dropping (sometimes completely) so we had needed to re-fill the boiler several times in the days waiting for the new part. He also fiddled with the pressure swicth so that we had dripping from our overflow which we did not have before.
While he was still here, I ran a sink of hot water only to find it was still intermittent and therefore the part they had replaced didn't seem to have done anything - he tried to say that with combi boilers that is to be expected, but we explained we didn't have this problem before the initial HW issue.
I called and kicked off at the home emergency people saying the contractor they had sent out had now left us with a problem we didn't have initially and therefore they needed to get someone back here to sort it.
Same engineer turned up, this time with a new pressure switch and expansion vessel - this did stop the leaking and did ensure the pressure didn't rise too high but didn't solve the intermittent HW issue.
By this time, having been on here and read various threads, I asked him whether the Heat Exchanger may be sludged up and he said no, he'd checked that, but if the HW issue wasn't sorted then he would replace a thermistor.
The next day, he was back changing the Thermister which seemed to do the job... but.... we now seem to have the following issues:
When running a sink of water for washing up, once the water temp does rise (which now seems to take ages), the water gets ridiculously hot (he did tweak the flow rates so that it wasn't dangerously hot)
Sometimes it squeaks, when drawing HW, sometimes it doesn't. It does squeak as we lose the hot water in the shower - nice of it to warn us!!
When running a bath, the HW does not go above 42 degrees and takes ages to get that hot.
The pressure will now stay between 1 and 1.5bar for a few days before dropping but once it gets between 0.5 bar and 1 bar, we have the same issue with the intermittent hot and cold.
Am I right in assuming that we should not be having drops in pressure meaning we need to re-pressurise the boiler atall with a new expansion vessel? and also, does anyone have any ideas what it could be?
All in all, we have had 5 visits by the plumbers, and now the Home Emergency people have washed their hands of it saying that intermittent hot water is not classed as an emergency - it is only no hot water that is...
Do we not have any comeback on the plumbers - purely because it seems that while they have come in (very promptly I may add) and changed a few parts, that they have missed the root of the problem?
In summary, they have changed the Actuator, Expansion Vessel, Pressure Switch, and a Thermistor (which I presume is DHW) and he said he had checked out the heat exchanger and that seemed ok and not sludged up.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as if I've now got to pay someone to come in, I can't afford another 5 or 6 visits before diagnosis!!
Thanks, Anj
2 Days after Xmas we had no hot water - it would not get any hotter than 29 degrees, then would cut out and get colder before warming then repeating this process. The CH has been fine.
When drawing the HW, the boiler makes a squeaking noise (which it also makes when the temperature drops and the burner starts up again). It was making this noise constantly so we turned the boiler off overnight and called the home emergency insurance.
Engineer for Home emergency cover came out first thing the next morning and after the boiler had been turned off overnight, there were no problems.
Had to call him back the next day and he took a while to diagnose but reckoned it was the actuator? There was a leaky washer or something so this was filling with water and confusing the system. He ordered this but explained that it was unlikely that we would have the part before the new year but he put a "temporary fix" in place to ensure that, albeit intermittently, we got some hot water through.
Another Engineer came out on 4th Jan (as the other chap was now on leave) and he replaced the Actuator. The boiler still squeaked when drawing HW but he wasn't sure what this was - also explained to him that the pressure kept dropping (sometimes completely) so we had needed to re-fill the boiler several times in the days waiting for the new part. He also fiddled with the pressure swicth so that we had dripping from our overflow which we did not have before.
While he was still here, I ran a sink of hot water only to find it was still intermittent and therefore the part they had replaced didn't seem to have done anything - he tried to say that with combi boilers that is to be expected, but we explained we didn't have this problem before the initial HW issue.
I called and kicked off at the home emergency people saying the contractor they had sent out had now left us with a problem we didn't have initially and therefore they needed to get someone back here to sort it.
Same engineer turned up, this time with a new pressure switch and expansion vessel - this did stop the leaking and did ensure the pressure didn't rise too high but didn't solve the intermittent HW issue.
By this time, having been on here and read various threads, I asked him whether the Heat Exchanger may be sludged up and he said no, he'd checked that, but if the HW issue wasn't sorted then he would replace a thermistor.
The next day, he was back changing the Thermister which seemed to do the job... but.... we now seem to have the following issues:
When running a sink of water for washing up, once the water temp does rise (which now seems to take ages), the water gets ridiculously hot (he did tweak the flow rates so that it wasn't dangerously hot)
Sometimes it squeaks, when drawing HW, sometimes it doesn't. It does squeak as we lose the hot water in the shower - nice of it to warn us!!
When running a bath, the HW does not go above 42 degrees and takes ages to get that hot.
The pressure will now stay between 1 and 1.5bar for a few days before dropping but once it gets between 0.5 bar and 1 bar, we have the same issue with the intermittent hot and cold.
Am I right in assuming that we should not be having drops in pressure meaning we need to re-pressurise the boiler atall with a new expansion vessel? and also, does anyone have any ideas what it could be?
All in all, we have had 5 visits by the plumbers, and now the Home Emergency people have washed their hands of it saying that intermittent hot water is not classed as an emergency - it is only no hot water that is...
Do we not have any comeback on the plumbers - purely because it seems that while they have come in (very promptly I may add) and changed a few parts, that they have missed the root of the problem?
In summary, they have changed the Actuator, Expansion Vessel, Pressure Switch, and a Thermistor (which I presume is DHW) and he said he had checked out the heat exchanger and that seemed ok and not sludged up.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as if I've now got to pay someone to come in, I can't afford another 5 or 6 visits before diagnosis!!
Thanks, Anj
