Boiler fan on the way out - safe to DIY?

[hanvyj]

The boiler fan is on the way out. The wife lost central heating/hot water today and panicked and rang in a plumber, who diagnosed a dead fan. Quoted £300 to fix, along with a bit of a dodgy refilling/pressure filler (still works okay though, and had always been a bit slow). £180 for parts, £120 for an hour to fit. Wed already paid 120 for him to come out and diagnose it.

I came home from work, googled a bit, then sprayed some oil on the fan bearings and gave it a poke - back to life! Everything's fine now. For a while maybe...

Now, I'm reasonably confident with DIY. Built a few fences, decking and installed a steel roof on our garage in the last 3 years of house ownership. Also taken apart a fair few electrical appliances to replace odd components and soldered some phones back together.

But boilers are all regulated and Corgi certified and all that. I know the fan is not anything to do with the gas components - but it is flue related. Don't want to poison the family with CO2, you hear it happen in the news every few years.

Is it safe, or allowed, for me to tinker with the fan of a boiler?

Its a Worcester 24cdi if that's relevant.

 

[Newboy]

No - any repair of this nature needs a registered gas safe engineer.

The price you are paying is to ensure that the job is done by somebody who understands the repair and the checks needed to ensure that the boiler operates safely once repaired.

Just for the record, it's CO (carbon monoxide) not CO² (carbon dioxide) - otherwise know as the silent killer

What price for the safety of you and your family?

 

[Dan Robinson]

I know the fan is not anything to do with the gas components - but it is flue related. Don't want to poison the family with CO2,

With such a catastrophic lack of knowledge demonstrated here I would say definitely not. It is gas related as that is what the flue carries

Find a different engineer; whilst i disagree with price related threads, £120 diagnosis and another £120 to replace is rather high unless there is further works you have not mentioned.

a dodgy refilling/pressure filler

These can be a PITA to replace though. So it is his diagnosis fee I would consider high as the labour in and of itself is not bad.

 

[John D v2.0]

I had exactly the same issue exactly 10 years ago, although the call out was only 42 pounds. I found I could get the fan on next day delivery much cheaper, and I even got 15 quid back from someone who refurbishes old fans.
Not sure if I'd do the same now, then I just thought 1 screw and I'm in, then 2 screws and an electrical terminal to swap it. Didn't really think about the seals (which were actually already damaged by no idea who)
Anyway, sold the house to a friend of a friend and the only come back I had was something about a cracked drain causing the drive to sink.
Anyway the moral of the story is you don't know what you don't know, but you might be lucky!

 

[hanvyj]

Thanks for the advice, and confirming my gut feeling I probably shouldn't touch the thing. I'll get someone in. At least a bit of oil in the bearings has made it a nonemergency and I can get some quotes and shop around a bit.

And yeah, slip of the tongue\keyboard. I know its carbon monoxide (just only ever used to writing carbon dioxide so slipped that 2 in on instinct!)

 

[muggles]

At least a bit of oil in the bearings has made it a nonemergency and I can get some quotes and shop around a bit.

Assuming you haven't damaged the boiler seals by removing the casing and don't now having CO and POC leaking into your room, it's a non-emergency. If, however, you happen to have a positive pressure boiler and haven't gone through the correct checks to ensure it's re-sealed properly, I'd refrain from using it until it's been checked by someone who knows what they're doing

 

[John D v2.0]

Are positive pressure boilers even a thing? Sounds like a negligent way to design a boiler!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Are positive pressure boilers even a thing?

Yes although I didn't think the CDi was one.

Netaheats and Profiles being the most common in my experience. The former of which is on the HSE watch list due to the chassis rotting out and causing POC to leak into the room.

 

[muggles]

Yes although I didn't think the CDi was one.
.

I obviously didn't read the last line