Hi there,
A little background first - a friend of mine moved into a house about a year ago into which the previous owners had had installed a combi boiler not too long before the sale. A Wickes jobby made by halstead - so probably a cheap pile of poo. I'd noticed at the time the pressure guage reading a little low (about 0.8-0.9bar) but we couldn't locate a filling loop with a quick look around the boiler, and since it was working we left it alone. He had a Corgi guy round shortly after that to fit a room stat/controller as the mechanical clock on the boiler didn't seem to work. He also didn't adjust the CH fill pressure.
Fast forward to the other day when the boiler wouldn't ignite. I popped round and immediately noticed the pressure guage almost empty so thought that could be the problem. With a more thorough search than a year ago we found a filling loop attachment partially obscured by the bathroom radiator (the room above the kitchen where the boiler was installed) so we filled to around 1.5bar. Boiler still wont go though
.
Symptoms are when you reset it, it appears to complete the self test OK, then fires up. As soon as it has fired up, pressure guage winds up in seconds to around 3bar, you can hear boilling (I think) and even a bit of creaking and groaning, then it shuts down and gives the overheat error code. Perhaps as if there is no flow so the small amount of water in the boiler heats up rapidly and boils, we thought? Though if you create the demand to fire up after the self test with hot water rather than the CH it does the same thing even though water is clearly flowing through the boiler and out the tap.
Knowing our limits he decides to call british gas - he has some sort of policy thingy where they supposedly come and repair for about £100 quid fixed fee including parts. The guy turns yesterday morning (I wasn't there). Sounds like he banged the pump with a hammer and declared it kaput because that didn't fix it, and the circuit board for good measure. Turned up this morning to fit the new parts (pump and circuit board) and no joy. I'm not sure (again i wasn't there) if the problem is different now or the same as before, but seems he's declared the new circuit board faulty and I think is coming back tomorrow.
Anyway - sorry for the long winded explanation! I was wondering if any of the knowledgable folk on here might have any other ideas we might politely suggest if he's still clueless I've heard some bad things on here about some British Gas guys so I'm worried he's maybe a numpty throwing parts at the problem with his fingers crossed, though to be fair I can't really make that judgment as i haven't met the guy, and his 'tactics' at least on the first day seem reasonable to my untrained self, to give him the benefit of the doubt. I just have the feeling he'll be unable to find the fault, and write off the boiler which will mean a replacement certainly not covered by this policy of my mate's.
Any clever ideas much appreciated. Cheers,
Liam
A little background first - a friend of mine moved into a house about a year ago into which the previous owners had had installed a combi boiler not too long before the sale. A Wickes jobby made by halstead - so probably a cheap pile of poo. I'd noticed at the time the pressure guage reading a little low (about 0.8-0.9bar) but we couldn't locate a filling loop with a quick look around the boiler, and since it was working we left it alone. He had a Corgi guy round shortly after that to fit a room stat/controller as the mechanical clock on the boiler didn't seem to work. He also didn't adjust the CH fill pressure.
Fast forward to the other day when the boiler wouldn't ignite. I popped round and immediately noticed the pressure guage almost empty so thought that could be the problem. With a more thorough search than a year ago we found a filling loop attachment partially obscured by the bathroom radiator (the room above the kitchen where the boiler was installed) so we filled to around 1.5bar. Boiler still wont go though
.Symptoms are when you reset it, it appears to complete the self test OK, then fires up. As soon as it has fired up, pressure guage winds up in seconds to around 3bar, you can hear boilling (I think) and even a bit of creaking and groaning, then it shuts down and gives the overheat error code. Perhaps as if there is no flow so the small amount of water in the boiler heats up rapidly and boils, we thought? Though if you create the demand to fire up after the self test with hot water rather than the CH it does the same thing even though water is clearly flowing through the boiler and out the tap.
Knowing our limits he decides to call british gas - he has some sort of policy thingy where they supposedly come and repair for about £100 quid fixed fee including parts. The guy turns yesterday morning (I wasn't there). Sounds like he banged the pump with a hammer and declared it kaput because that didn't fix it, and the circuit board for good measure. Turned up this morning to fit the new parts (pump and circuit board) and no joy. I'm not sure (again i wasn't there) if the problem is different now or the same as before, but seems he's declared the new circuit board faulty and I think is coming back tomorrow.
Anyway - sorry for the long winded explanation! I was wondering if any of the knowledgable folk on here might have any other ideas we might politely suggest if he's still clueless
I've heard some bad things on here about some British Gas guys so I'm worried he's maybe a numpty throwing parts at the problem with his fingers crossed, though to be fair I can't really make that judgment as i haven't met the guy, and his 'tactics' at least on the first day seem reasonable to my untrained self, to give him the benefit of the doubt. I just have the feeling he'll be unable to find the fault, and write off the boiler which will mean a replacement certainly not covered by this policy of my mate's.Any clever ideas much appreciated. Cheers,
Liam
