Constant F.72 and F.83 errors with glow worm easicom 25r.

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Hi,
Really hope somebody can help here, kinda getting to the end of my tether with this boiler!
Long story short, we had our 10 year old boiler (no issues) replaced under a government grant
with a supposedly more efficient boiler. glow worm easicom 25r.

Engineer left on the day of fitting after initially connecting the flow and return wrong way round on top of the boiler, blamed it on busy/rush etc. He left the thermostat full up and things seemed to be working, he didnt hang around though.

I asked him if I needed to bleed the radiators and he said yes, thats up to you, out of the door he shot.

Anyways, I bled the rads, loads of air in them and things seemed ok.
Got up next morning, no heating or hot water and F.83 flashing on the boiler.
Power cycled it and it came back and worked for a while. Next F.72 error.
Since this time, its been doing this, longest it worked was for 12 hours without failing.
I've also seen one F.20 error.

Long story short, lots of calls to the 'company' that fitted it, given a full run around. They now reckon its due to us having a Nest thermostat (old version that does not control hot water, we always just used the programer for water) which does not control the water and its causing the boiler to overheat. One guy tried to tell me it was 'burning out the PCB'.
They said if we get a new Nest, they will come back and wire it up.

Anyway, to rule this out, I turned the hot water off with the programmer but the boiler still errors and stops running.

They also said that their could be an airlock in the system and no amount of bleeding will fix it? Is this correct?

I really have no faith in this company and they have left us high and dry right before Christmas.

Any pointers or help would be much appreciated!
Thanks
 
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Highly unlikely you'll save a single penny on gas with this boiler over a 10 year old one. The efficiency will be the same to within a percentage point. Still, if you didn't have to pay for it I suppose you're still on to a winner. It's quite common for these grant scheme installers to be bodgit and scarper types though. They often don't get paid very much per install, so they're trying to smash them in at the fastest possible rate with little care so they can earn more money. The chap fitting 6 boilers in a week earns 50% more than the one taking his time to do a good job and only fitting 3. They're often not paid for callbacks either. Still, you are where you are now...

F.72 and F.83 can both relate to incorrect temperature readings at the boiler. F.20 is overheat. Why did your installer think he'd connected it up the wrong way round initially? I suspect he may have actually got it right, then his alteration made it wrong. F.83 in particular relates to the boiler not seeing the temperature on the flow rising as it's firing. If the boiler was fitted backwards (IE the circulation was in the wrong direction), the flow temp would remain pretty much constant during the first few minutes of firing, with the return temp rising (which could also cause F.72). In short, I think the water is circulating in the wrong direction through your boiler. If it was an airlock, you'd get a rapid rise in temperature, not no rise which is what the boiler thinks is happening.
 
Thanks Andrew.
When he finished the install he came to tell my wife something was wrong with our 'pressure cylinder' (I think thats what he said, then I went to speak with him and he had his head in his hands, cursing and swearing, saying it wasn't our problem and he had connected the flow and return wrong. He said even though he marked it on the ceiling (there is a pencil mark I can see which I am not sure was there or not, which says F and R near the pipes going in to the ceiling.). I think he came to this conclusion initially, as the system was not getting hot quickly?

Anyway, he remade the copper pipes at the top and thats how he left it. I have checked and there is a marking on top of the boiler , engraved, F and R which do relate to the pencil marking on the ceiling and appear to be correct. I've no idea if they are correct though. There is a large brass unit, which I believe has a magnet? and collects debris?
This brass unit is connected to the pipe marked R.

Am I correct in thinking that the pump, which is in the airing cupboard above, should be in the flow? I may be able to check this first?
Thanks again!
 
The pump may be on the flow, or may be on the return, depending on your pipework configuration. The installation instructions for your boiler do specify that it should go on the flow, however, so that's worth checking. Post a photo of the arrangement in your airing cupboard if you're unsure. There's a flow direction arrow stamped into the body of your pump somewhere, see if you can find that too
 
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The pump may be on the flow, or may be on the return, depending on your pipework configuration. The installation instructions for your boiler do specify that it should go on the flow, however, so that's worth checking. Post a photo of the arrangement in your airing cupboard if you're unsure. There's a flow direction arrow stamped into the body of your pump somewhere, see if you can find that too

Thanks, I will do that later. One thought, the F72 error mentions that the flow and return thermistors may have been reversed? Is this easy to do? Just wondering if the installer tried to fix the problem by doing this? I can easily remove the front cover to check this but I am not sure where these thermistors are?

Thanks again.
 
As said previously, I think the system is circulating in the wrong direction for the boiler. I very much doubt the installer has swapped the thermistors over (I'm not even sure if it's possible, don't think the wiring harnesses are long enough to do it). You shouldn't remove the front cover from your boiler, only a Gas Safe Registered engineer should do that. It forms the safety room seal and should only be removed and refitted by someone who can carry out the correct procedures in compliance with Regulation 26.9
 
I took some photos, in the airing cupboard and one on top of the boiler. Its not obvious which pipe from the boiler goes to which pipe in the airing cupboard, as they are at opposite ends of the house. Although with the heating running, the pipe in the airing cupboard marked F seemed hotter than the R pipe. (comment noted about not removing boiler cover)
There are some pencil marks on the wood where the pipes emerge underneath the airing cupboard.
 

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I took a short video. The thermostat was not calling for heat. I went and adjusted it so it was, then filled this video. Not sure it shows anything. It is still running 5 minutes later at least.
 
One or both of those pump isolation valves appeared to have leaked, I’m wondering if the installer closed them to stop leaking (hard to tell from photo if they’re open)?
 
One or both of those pump isolation valves appeared to have leaked, I’m wondering if the installer closed them to stop leaking (hard to tell from photo if they’re open)?
I'd expect a rapid rise in temperature in that instance. The boiler is (mostly) detecting no rise at all
 
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I took a short video. The thermostat was not calling for heat. I went and adjusted it so it was, then filled this video. Not sure it shows anything. It is still running 5 minutes later at least.
It's certainly a curious one. I think you've got good circulation there as the temperature drops rapidly once the boiler shuts off, so that's clearly not the issue. Which pipe gets hot first on top of the boiler when it's firing?
 
I'd expect a rapid rise in temperature in that instance. The boiler is (mostly) detecting no rise at all
I was thinking more the overheat situation, not fully closed, maybe just partially?
 
The valves seem to be operating, not that I am an expert. When the heating is running, the lever on the left valve (the heating one) moves freely.
Last night I slowed the pump down, it has 3 speed setting, so I have put it on the middle on.
Its still running. Clutching at straws but it was something I could easily try!
 
Right, just to feed back, the heating ran for 36 hours after I slowed the pump down, usual error, restarted and its running again, not sure if that means anything. Real test is to speed it back up again and see if it begins failing more frequently.
Would that indicate any issues?
I checked the FLOW pipe from the boiler and it is indeed the first pipe to get hot.

Thanks!
 

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