Biasi Combi Garda M90F 32S - Serial no 23350603gb problems

[whiskybob]

Hi All,

Just wanted to ask your advice before I get yet another heating engineer out.

Had one of the above for the past 8 years without issue, then last year two things started to happen
1, The heating would initially get hot then the heat would drop off, sometimes in would fluctuate but it wouldn't ever go back to the original heat. Bearing in mind that we now have it at it's highest setting of 7.

2, More worryingly the pressure would drop off overnight and we'd have to repressurise daily which was not ideal, ironically over summer when we've not used the heating it's been fine....until last week when I put the heating on, it's losing only a small amount of pressure.04 bar but I suspect it will revert to last year when we were losing a bar and a half daily.

One thing I forgot to say was that I was told to put a bag around the expansion pipe (outside) to see if it was leaking.....it was, withing a few hours there was enough liquid to make a milky tea...

I'm really grateful for any ideas/advice, I don't intend to open it up and perform the work myself but I'd like to have an idea on what's going on so that when I get someone out I can pass on your advice

ta very much

 

[Agile]

Another thing that you failed to tell us is that you have never had your boiler ( properly ) serviced !

Nothing that you have told us indicates that there is anything ver serious wrong with your boiler.

Any competent engineer who repairs boiler should find it an easy task.

Tony

 

[whiskybob]

Tony,

Many thanks for the reply.

To be honest we've had someone come and check the boiler every year, he just comes and goes in the garage and we pay him £50. Last year was the first year we'd had any sort of issue and so rather than just make him a cuppa I was curious to see what was going on, what I saw was him using a meter which he said checked emissions, apparently these readings were all fine.....then the alarm bells starting ringing because he said that everything appeared normal and "don't start opening these things up unless you really have to". I asked him what he thought the issue was and he said that he thought there was a leak in the system, I told him I'd checked all the rads and the only concern was that we have pipes running under the kitchen floor to one rad.....he said that he thought it might be there and potentially we'd have to have the tiles up which I really wasn't expecting....anyway

Speaking to some B.G engineers they told me to put a bag around the expansion pipe and see if I was losing water.....which we are

One last thing is that yesterday I noticed that the pressure went up to 3bar and yet this morning it was back down to 1bar

I appreciate that I rea;lly need to get someone in that is trustworthy and knows what they're doing but I'm grateful if I can at least have a clue on what the issues are, are the two things related?

Thanks for your time, I do genuinely appreciate it

David

 

[Tibbot]

What you describe means the boiler hasn't been serviced. The reason why they need opening up only if they go wrong is because they will go wrong if they're never opened up. However would you be prepared to pay more than double your current costs for a service?

 

[twgas]

I would suspect the expansion vessel needs recharging, not the only possibillity, but most likely.

 

[whiskybob]

What you describe means the boiler hasn't been serviced. The reason why they need opening up only if they go wrong is because they will go wrong if they're never opened up. However would you be prepared to pay more than double your current costs for a service?

Yes, without question, the problem I have is that I don't know what they're supposed to be doing, it's like taking your car to the garage....You're at the mercy of the mechanic, if you get a good one then great I'll happily pay the money but it's when you get someone that takes the money but doesn't do the job.

 

[whiskybob]

I would suspect the expansion vessel needs recharging, not the only possibillity, but most likely.

Mick,

Many thanks, I just spoke to a local engineer that services boilers and he said pretty much the same regarding the pressure but he said the water initially coming out piping hot then getting colder might well be the heat exchanger.....we'll see

Is it worth having the system power flushed and how expensive is that likely to be?

Thanks again

 

[twgas]

Re-read your first post, and I agree about the secondary h/ex.

 

[Agile]

I certainly don't see any serious problems.

But you do need a competent engineer who expects to look inside a boiler and pressurise the EXV at a service and do the tests on the performance and that's not just a flue gas test!

Tony

 

[whiskybob]

Thanks, I've taken steps already and feel forearmed....

Can anyone tell me if I should have our system power flushed and what the benefits would be and how costly is it likely to be

Thanks, have to say this forum has been a real eye opener

 

[Agile]

Without seeing your water condition no one can say what treatment it may or may not need.

You don't say exactly where you are but Berkshire does have some very hard water areas!

No dripping hot water taps I hope?

Tony

 

[whiskybob]

Without seeing your water condition no one can say what treatment it may or may not need.

You don't say exactly where you are but Berkshire does have some very hard water areas!

No dripping hot water taps I hope?

Tony

I'm in Swallowfield which is just south of Reading, I'm aware that our water is fairly hard due to the fact that we're constantly (bi monthly) having to descale our kettle.

Thankfully we've no dripping hot taps....but now you've got me worried about something else!!!

 

[Agile]

I went to a house in Reading what that model of boiler and there was no water getting through the boiler to the taps at all.

The Owner denied that he had any dripping taps but there was lime scale deposited on the kitchen sink where it had been dripping for ages!

Tony

 

[whiskybob]

I went to a house in Reading what that model of boiler and there was no water getting through the boiler to the taps at all.

The Owner denied that he had any dripping taps but there was lime scale deposited on the kitchen sink where it had been dripping for ages!

Tony

Would a power flush be helpful in a hard water area, I'm trying to make up for lost time!!

Is it very expensive?

David

 

[Agile]

Generally not but thats primarily because you dont understand the different conditions that need treating thats only one of them.

The first thing to do is to diagnose what the problems are.

Only then can they be treated.

Hopefully your doctor does not give you random pills on the offchance one may cure you?

No, he diagnoses the problem first and then prescribes whatever is necessary!

Tony