Ferroli Optima 701 problems

[VestanPance]

I hope you guys can give me a bit of advice on boiler problems I'm having.

I've recently moved house, and the boiler in our new place has stopped working. It's a Ferroli Optima 701, I have no idea when it was installed I'm afraid.
Ever since we moved in, the boiler has made a buzzing noise when it calls for heat. This buzz would sometimes only be very short, and sometimes would go on for a while before the boiler would fire up.

Last night the boiler gave up firing altogether, and I have had real problems finding someone local to come out and look at is because it's half term and almost everyone I've called seems to be on holiday. The one guy who did come out said he didn't have a clue and I should call Ferroli, which I did....and they told me to call back on Monday morning after 10am. Looking through the forum here I found a thread with a similar problem and by following the advice given there I've determined the following:
The buzzing is coming from the fan relay. When the power to the boiler is switched on, the fan spins very, very briefly and then stops while the relay buzzes away. Every so often the fan will try to turn again, going very very slowly but never spinning up fully.
Blowing gently into the APS stops the relay buzzing and the fan starts spinning at full speed, but once I stop blowing the buzzing starts again and the fan stops.
All this means I can't get the pilot lit again as the fan needs to spin for at least 20 secs before the pilot will light.

Does anyone have any advice or know what the problem might be? At the moment I think it's the fan relay, but I don't know what I'm talking about so any help would be very much appreciated

 

[holty]

turn stats to fully on to call for heat after you here the the fan run fully on for about 10-20 secs depress the gas control button on the valve till you see the pilot light and keep on for about 15-20 secs, see if this works

 

[VestanPance]

Nope, nothing. As I mentioned above, as far as I can tell the only way I can get the fan to spin at full speed at the moment is by blowing gently into the tube for the air pressure sensor. As soon as I stop blowing the fan stops spinning. I know next to nothing about boilers but shouldn't the fan be the thing triggering the sensor, not the other way around?

Alternatively if anyone knows of any good heating engineers in the Birmingham area that aren't on holiday, answer their phones and would come and take a look for me that would be even better!

 

[Agile]

Be aware that your boiler is getting pretty old and is really due for replacement.

There are very few that I see that are not leaking in many places.

I can fix them but doubt that its worthwhile in most cases.

Tony

 

[VestanPance]

I'm expecting that it needs to be replaced in the near future, and I'm not all that surprised that it's given up the ghost. I doubt it was ever serviced by the previous owners of the house.

However, it's very cold at the moment and we have no heat or hot water. If it's possible just to get it up and running in the short term while I can sort out a replacement I will be very happy indeed. I'm just feeling a bit frustrated as I have had no luck getting hold of someone to have a look at it (beyond the one guy who basically said he didn't have a clue ) and the manufacturers have been absolutely no help. And I'm cold, tired, grumpy and fed up with washing my hands in ice-cold water

Thanks for the help so far though, I appreciate it!

 

[Agile]

But the manufacturers (UK) live in Birmingham!!!

15 years ago every third boiler in Brum was a Ferolli.

There were known as a "fit and forget" boiler and had one of the most comprehensive flueing systems available at that time.

I still miss my Sparkbrook Baltis with that 48FF WPC!

Tony

 

[tazman]

Hi Tony, just to say our baltis are even better now and that if you're in this neck of the woods I'd be able to direct you to a fine establishment!

 

[gas_man_gaz]

sounds like the pcb, and if it is they are quite exspensive!

 

[VestanPance]

Yes, it was indeed the pcb. I took it out to look at the buzzing relay, and on the back could see where several components had blown.

Luckily I found a heating supplier locally who had a pcb in stock (ouch) but the boiler is now running again, and our house no longer has the atmosphere of an igloo about it. That was worth the cost of a pcb

Thanks again for all the help and advice, next step is to get someone in to service/condemn the old boiler and quote us for a new one. Again, any recommendation for good companies in the South Birmingham area greatly appreciated!