Hi, first post. 
Have been searching and reading up for a while and need some advice with my problem before I go and spend lots of money on it! Any advice very much appreciated as boilers are definitely not my strong point.
Situation is that we have a Glow Worm Compact 100 boiler, installed in 2001, and has given no headaches since we moved in 2 years ago. A few days ago, I noticed that the hot water wasn't going on, i.e. the boiler would not fire. A visit from BG Homecare later, and we had a part on order (a new valve) and instructions to manually move the valve when needed(Honeywell, I think) - this gave us back hot water via the boiler.
The next day, the BG engineer installed the new valve - 'Valve Actuator Code BGMVSP-2' for the HW and left the other CH Honeywell one alone. He declared it all fixed and left. On checking it myself, the boiler did indeed now fire up and the valve moved when this happened, but the boiler would not stay lit for more than 20 secs max. The engineer had not bothered to check this it seems. Called BG and they sent the same guy the next day(today)
He looked at the pump, said it was fine. Also said there was no issue with the new valve as the boiler was firing as it should. However, he then showed me some really mucky, black water which he said was sludge in the system and was causing the boiler to cut out. After staying trying to fix the issue for at least an hour, he said that the 'guaranteed' cure would be a flush which would cost £709. (Eek!) He left me to 'think about it' and told me to use the immersion heater for hot water as there was no other alternative.
Things I've noticed since last engineer visit (apologies if over-inclusive, not sure if any of these things are relevant):
- Contrary to his advice about the boiler being unable to provide hot water, the HW works perfectly well but only when CH is on as well. Symptom of boiler firing for a short while, as described above, if no CH and only HW called for.
- Boiler pressure now 1.8 cold, over 2 when hot. Was 0.7 (recommended by manufacturer) cold before this all started. Is this too high? Probably not even relevant.
- Boiler much noisier than before - seems to be coming from the pump.
- Boiler has, on 2 occasions, stayed lit for a couple of minutes when HW on (no CH) but this is very much the exception to the rule.
- As an aside, I found that the immersion heater doesn't even work! Last used a few months ago and was fine. Just bad luck, I guess!
I've no doubt that the system could do with a good clean and would probably benefit from a flush. However, I can't help feel that the BG engineer has been a little vague and contradictory in his advice and I certainly haven't had much confidence in his work thus far. I'm therefore a little wary of spending 700 notes if the fix is less expensive and/or covered by my existing Homecare agreement. I'll not bat an eyelid if it's the 'cure' (as sold to me) but would really value some opinions as to whether the fix sounds appropriate. As it stands, we're in a worse position since his visits, with a noisier boiler and no means of isolating HW from CH - not too bad in winter but obviously not tenable in the long run.
Many TIA.
Have been searching and reading up for a while and need some advice with my problem before I go and spend lots of money on it! Any advice very much appreciated as boilers are definitely not my strong point.
Situation is that we have a Glow Worm Compact 100 boiler, installed in 2001, and has given no headaches since we moved in 2 years ago. A few days ago, I noticed that the hot water wasn't going on, i.e. the boiler would not fire. A visit from BG Homecare later, and we had a part on order (a new valve) and instructions to manually move the valve when needed(Honeywell, I think) - this gave us back hot water via the boiler.
The next day, the BG engineer installed the new valve - 'Valve Actuator Code BGMVSP-2' for the HW and left the other CH Honeywell one alone. He declared it all fixed and left. On checking it myself, the boiler did indeed now fire up and the valve moved when this happened, but the boiler would not stay lit for more than 20 secs max. The engineer had not bothered to check this it seems. Called BG and they sent the same guy the next day(today)
He looked at the pump, said it was fine. Also said there was no issue with the new valve as the boiler was firing as it should. However, he then showed me some really mucky, black water which he said was sludge in the system and was causing the boiler to cut out. After staying trying to fix the issue for at least an hour, he said that the 'guaranteed' cure would be a flush which would cost £709. (Eek!) He left me to 'think about it' and told me to use the immersion heater for hot water as there was no other alternative.
Things I've noticed since last engineer visit (apologies if over-inclusive, not sure if any of these things are relevant):
- Contrary to his advice about the boiler being unable to provide hot water, the HW works perfectly well but only when CH is on as well. Symptom of boiler firing for a short while, as described above, if no CH and only HW called for.
- Boiler pressure now 1.8 cold, over 2 when hot. Was 0.7 (recommended by manufacturer) cold before this all started. Is this too high? Probably not even relevant.
- Boiler much noisier than before - seems to be coming from the pump.
- Boiler has, on 2 occasions, stayed lit for a couple of minutes when HW on (no CH) but this is very much the exception to the rule.
- As an aside, I found that the immersion heater doesn't even work! Last used a few months ago and was fine. Just bad luck, I guess!
I've no doubt that the system could do with a good clean and would probably benefit from a flush. However, I can't help feel that the BG engineer has been a little vague and contradictory in his advice and I certainly haven't had much confidence in his work thus far. I'm therefore a little wary of spending 700 notes if the fix is less expensive and/or covered by my existing Homecare agreement. I'll not bat an eyelid if it's the 'cure' (as sold to me) but would really value some opinions as to whether the fix sounds appropriate. As it stands, we're in a worse position since his visits, with a noisier boiler and no means of isolating HW from CH - not too bad in winter but obviously not tenable in the long run.
Many TIA.
