Britony combi boiler 100 se

Can anyone help Please, running out of cash fast !!
I have a Britony combi boiler 100 se which is giving me a lot of trouble, I know have no CH or HW.
The trouble started some months ago, the system would stop working and flash the red reset light, after resting or turning the system off and on again it would work. After about a week the system stopped working. I called in British gas who said that they would get it running and let me join their boiler service, unfortunately when they came round they said that there was a lot of sludge in the system and could not sign me up without doing a power flush which would cost over four hundred pounds. They got it working by cleaning out the pipes and elbow valve before the heat exchanger this worked for a while. After this I got a corgi plumber to see what he could do, he flushed the system, loaded the system with some kind of rust inhibitor and installed a megnitec to catch sludge in the future. This worked for a couple of days than stopped. The system would restart after turning off or resetting or a combination of the two but if someone turned a hot tape on it would shut down, now it won’t even run the central heating. Both B/Gas and the plumber said that the heat exchanger could be blocked I should also point out the number 60 would flash on the heat reading on the front of the boiler on occasion, which brings me to my next concern as the manual says that this is a PCB fault? As I have limited money given the economic climate as there is not a lot of work for carpenters in my area at the moment, I had a go myself I took the heat exchanger off and tried to clean it out with a jet washer this seemed to work well as a lot of grey slug and black partials came out of it, refitted it no change. The boiler will fire up and cut out two or three times and go to flashing 60 and red restart light. Can anyone point me in the right direction, should say that I am reasonably switched on with the mechanics as I cope with most plumbing needed baring gas work of course.
All suggestions welcome.

I understand you may not have much money but you cant take it on yourself to start tinkering and cleaning heat exchangers yourself...
Yes a 60 flashing neon on its own indicates Ionisation Pcb faulty.
You're looking at about £140-£150 for a PCB.

Saying that though there could be more of a problem if you've been told you have sludge problems, have the boiler properly checked and if you are worried British Gas do a fixed price call out, but then again you're in ropey ground unless you can show you've had a correct flush carried out.

Hope this helps but without seeing it, its guess work


Dave. IEng MIGEM

Thanks for your advise dave I do agree with you that I would rather see an expert look at the exchanger etc but I have a limited amount of money for the time being and as it is on the water side and not the gas I felt it was worth a go, having said that I still agree with you. Spoke to ariston technical advice line after posting and they said that it could be the PCB board but it could also be a number of other reasons but didn't offer any suggestions. Still would appreciate any advice offered

I have no problem if you want to clean out the heat exchanger as long as no gas work is done.

I am assuming that its a secondary heat exchanger involved.

If there is so little work for chippies at the moment then why is it that I am quoted say £300 for making a box to enclose a boiler which will take about 3-4 hours? Isn't that a little excessive?

Tony

I guess the price would depends on what you want the box made from and the type of door or doors and furniture used, whether or not you are providing the materials? In Hampshire a good carpenter will want about £150 a day if he is running his own business. Someone like me would make the box at home in my workshop (if it doesn’t need to be built in situ) and fit it for you on a part day to save charging you a higher rate as you would be a trade customer. Having said that I see that you are in the London area and guess cost of living is higher. The work situation is picking up in the south now but will take a little longer to get back to normal.
I guess what I am trying to find out is whether or not the PCB will need to be replaced or whether there could be other reasons for the flashing 60 before buying a new PCB.
I would like to clarify that I totally agree with the fact that only a competent person in this case a Corgi registered plumber should work on Gas work.
Need to get a couple of items from the local plumbing suppers o will also ask there. Please keep the advice coming as it is appreciated.

Quick update the boil is working I have heat and hot water, after talking to plumbing suppliers and Dave’s post I decided to go with a new PCB £105 plus vat less discount.
Thank you to Dave and Tony for posts.

Hi again...

I agree you should investigate all avenues before stumping for a PCB. There is a fault condition NOT detailed in the instructions where by Flashing Temperature LED's (40/50/60&80) on the facia are caused by a rapid increase in the primary temperature around the appliance.. Check the differential temperatures, circulation, plate heat exchanger etc.... This could be along the lines going back to the sludge/scale problem you've encountered. Has the flush been done correctly??? There could have been sludged dumped in the heat exchanger if the boiler wasn't flushed itself etc....
Like I say though the flashing 60 light is an ionisation fault during the self test.... is this light flashing EVERY time if goes to fire?? Does the boiler fire at all?? Are there any other LEDS flashing?


Hope this helps


Dave T IEng MIGEM

Thanks again Dave as you say there was a lot of slug in the secondary heat exchanger, I cleaned this out until the water run clear and partial tree. The boiler still was firing up and cutting out, than going to the flashing 60 indicating the PCB to be possible faulty, I changed the PCB and fingers crossed the boiler has been working fine for the last approx 24 hours, both CH and HW.
May be it just the fact we have hot water again but it seems that it is the best the boiler has worked in a long time.