Glow worm 30ci

Cherry30ci · 15 Feb 2011

New member here.
I had no hot water but the boiler fired up when a tap was opened.
The central heating was working perfectly.
The 3amp fuse blew overnight which suggested an electrical fault so I replaced the 3-way motor and the diverter valve.
Now I have perfect hot water and the boiler fires up for the central heating according to the temperature control. I have it set low at 61-64 degrees, and the water is gravity feeding one of two radiator upstairs, the other is cold. The feed to the downstairs radiators is cold below the T-junction to upstairs.
The pump sounds like it running OK so I am at a loss as to what it is.

Thought about shorting 1/2 on J10 as per manual to see if it is the 230v control board?

Anybody find this story familiar please?

Cherry30ci · 16 Feb 2011

Heating engineer never turned up so I shorted 1/2 on J10 and it made no difference but disconnecting the diverter motor connection was interesting. The chuffing noise that I took to be diverter vault movement was still there so is it something to do with the gas control valve or the heat process? It has always been there so probably immaterial.

Checking the connection for 230V between pins 1/2 and 2/3 drew a blank - no voltage whatsoever it seems on heating or water so the sympton is explained. I get heating or water depending on the default position of the diverter at the time. And I have seen both.

I checked the main PCB board 125mA fuse but I guess nothing would be working if that was blown?

So I may be down to a faulty main PCB or 230V board or both????

Or do you know different?

45yearsagasman · 16 Feb 2011

As the boiler is firing I would suspect any thing but the PCB's at this time.
I would be checking diverter valve and as the "chuffing" noise is probably combustion related.get it checked by a competent RGI.

Cherry30ci · 16 Feb 2011

I suppose it is more a creaking noise - like springs being compressed - guess the water pressure in the diverter could push the springs back until they resist?
Finding a competent heating engineer who does not charge the earth is a nightmare. Found one on the net who charges £60 plus VAT per half-hour so if he needs to pop off to a trader it'll cost a fortune just to collect the part.
Had 4 engineers in when the boiler was shutting down and none suggested putting in an external expansion vessel which I did myself to solve the problem. They replaced the diverter valve and pressure relief valve during that time ... total waste of money, as is the diverter motor and valve I have just had fitted.

45yearsagasman · 16 Feb 2011

BG's one off repair may be a way forward.£60+vat/30 mins is a total no no.

Agile · 16 Feb 2011

Sometimes people describe the noise by water churning when the condensate output is partially blocked as a "chuffing".

But thats intermittent and only comes on after 10-15 minutes when condensate has been produced.

As the others I say you need a competent engineer. Sometimes people ignore the best engineers in at attempt to get the cheapest. You would probably not like my £84 fixed diagnostic fee. The cheaper £60 plus VAT would be good value if he fixed it within 30 min but I suspect he always pokes about to ensure no job is ever done in 30 min.

Tony

Cherry30ci · 16 Feb 2011

Have taken both offers of advice and have booked BG tomorrow morning.

For those who are interested I have paid £189 in advance which covers me for up to 2 hours (80% of jobs apparently). If they fix it in 30 minutes I will receive a refund of £120, so £69. If it is longer then it rises to a fixed price of over £300 (£349?) for any duration.

Alternative was £99 today and then £20 per month for full boiler/heating components cover with a service after repair for a 12 month contract.

Thanks guys.

Cherry30ci · 17 Feb 2011

1. No problems with engineer - very efficient and businesslike but pleasant.
2. Started with replacement actuator and diverter valve to ensure these were installed correctly.
3. Demonstrated that old motor had WATER in it - explaining blown fuse.
4. Discovered replacement actuator produced dodgy readings AND there is no power supply to it for either water or heating.
5. Back tomorrow with new PCB and actuator and a promise not to exceed 2 hours for the job - potentially saving me an extra £150
6. Gave Glow Worm the thumbs up as a decent boiler and it is easy to work on.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

PS For those of you who have boilers shutting down because the pressure builds too high (3bar in my case) so it purges some water through the pressure relief valve and then drops below the cut off point (0.6 bar imc) as it cools...

He said the more radiators you have on a boiler the more water there is to expand. This can mean the expansion vessel supplied as part of the boiler can be too small to take the expansion! This is so obvious with hindsight but how many boiler faults does it solve?

Agile · 17 Feb 2011

Cherry30ci said:
The 3amp fuse blew overnight which suggested an electrical fault so I replaced the 3-way motor and the diverter valve.

Anybody find this story familiar please?

The diverter valve gland would have been leaking into the motor.

You say you replaced the motor AND diverter valve.

So why does the BG engineer have to replace them both again?

I am glad he was polite and efficient. Its a nice change to hear that.

Tony

Cherry30ci · 17 Feb 2011

Tony,
He did not replace anything today but he checked the other guy had installed my new bits correctly. Suppose the valve could have been snagged or something. I think it was OK but he never said.
Mike

PS The creaking noise is from the Gas Control unit. It is worth getting a competent engineer for the education alone. Thinking of changing jobs!

Agile · 17 Feb 2011

Although you now say that it was not you but someone else who replaced them, it seems that even after those parts had been replaced it was not working, apparently because the PCB was faulty, but why did the first person not continue to investigate why its not working?

By the way it was not necessary to replace the whole diverter valve, only the gland.

Tony

Cherry30ci · 17 Feb 2011

The independent engineer was recommended to me so I don't know much about him. When I asked if the new motor was working he said he did not know - not exactly professional? He left the job saying he'd call in a friend who is a Glow Work specialist but neither has been in touch and he is not answering his phone.
He was on holiday on Friday so perhaps he is away for much longer. He never asked for payment saying he'd sort that out when the job was complete.

The BG engineer said there a lot of independents who can fit new boilers but do not like doing repairs so he might be one of them?

If the gland is the piece that traverses the block with the outlets to the taps or radiators then that is all I bought. In essence a couple of springs with terminators that go in from either side of the block. One end has a push rod which the motor shoves or pulls/releases.

Cherry30ci · 18 Feb 2011

BG back.

1. Swapped the 'potentially' dodgy 3-way motor to no avail.
2. Took out main PCB and low and behold there was a tell-tale brown mark
3. Replaced PCB and all systems go!
4. Put my Ebay motor back in and still all systems go!

So it was the PCB after all.

He said we had a good deal @ £189 (plus £5 for a drink) because the PCB would be over £100. Just seen it at £171 plus VAT so I am happy.

Thanks for your help gasman- your BG advice has come up trumps big time for me. Total cost was Motor on ebay £22+£3 postage, £65 for gland which I only bought after snide comment from independent (I already had 2 neither of which were faulty - so I have 3 now), and £189 for the board plus a drink.

Am I the only person in the UK who loves BG

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Glow worm 30ci

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