Halstead best 60 boiler prob

[ziggy95]

Hi,

No HW or CH at the moment.

The boiler started not firing up about a week ago, having worked OK when started up after the summer. Removed the front panel and there is no lock out light illuminated. At first you could turn off at the mains overnight and it would sometimes fire up the next day when switched on, now however it has not fired up for a couple of days.

The flue fan spins freely manually, the Grundfos central heating pump is spinning ok and there appears to be a tapping/clicking/knocking sound (hard to describe) coming from the Red Honeywell box that is located at the bottom right hand side of the boiler. This red box has the computer type white terminal that plugs into it (like on a motherboard).

That sound doesn't happen when the dial on the white box above is turned off.

Hope someone can spread some light onto what the problem is.

Thx

 

[mickyg]

the boards on these things are sh1te. Haven't seen one in ages so I'm a bit rusty, but if m memory serves me corectly there's 2 boards, 1 is the ignition pcb which you've noted the other is what halsted decided to call an aquastat or something stupid. both are prone to failure unfortunately and would require some skilled diagnostics to find out which one. A BG fixed price repair looks a sensible idea for you I reckon!

 

[twgas]

Is there water in the system - does the gauge read between 1 and 1.5

 

[ziggy95]

Thanks to you both.

Water came out of the Grunfos pump when I checked it, so assume there's water in the system but have no pressure guage to check that unfortunately.

I was hoping I could replace the faulty board, are they expensive ?

Thx again

 

[mickyg]

yes they can be very expensive. even more so if you don' know which one you need! hence my suggestion of calling those awful villains at BG to see what they can do in regards to a fixed price repair. It may be only a small amount more than the pcb itself.

 

[Agile]

Probably an open vent system.

Its most likely to be the ignition PCB but they are quite expensive I expect. Check price and compare with a BG fixed price repair.

I think the other is only an analogue temperature control circuit.

Tony

 

[ziggy95]

Thanks again to you both.

It definately sounds like the noise is coming from the ignition PCB.

Can you recommend any good sites I can check the price on please.

We do have a well respected gas engineer in the area so would rather use him than BG if possible, but I suppose he would have to buy the part anyway.


Thx again

 

[mickyg]

http://www.onlineboilerspares.com/HALSTEAD P.C.B 500570

 

[ChrisR]

It's not trivial to diagnose which board is gone, assuming it's one of them. And they do both go, separately, every few years

 

[ziggy95]

Thx again for the replies.

not cheap are they

 

[Agile]

Its a lot cheaper than I had expected!

The noise could be as a result of a fault elsewhere but without diagnostic skills you will have to make a best guess!

Tony

 

[ziggy95]

Update:

One of the wires got snapped off the fan (oops) it was sooo brittle, I thought it wasn't pushed on properly but it just snapped off. So now the pcb wasn't even clicking. Anyhow our local guy had a look and said it would be cheaper in the long run to get a new boiler but to try BG fixed price.

Anyway after signing up to it, and a couple of visits the BG man said it's too many problems to cover under the scheme, he'd have trouble getting a new fan too and suggested a new boiler.

Just haven't got the money for that so looking at getting a couple of electric heaters to warm the important rooms.

Been told to get a 2kw with thermostat, now what's best oil filled or convector ?

Thx

 

[Agile]

I am not impressed if your local engineer does not have the skill to crimp or solder another 6 mm push on connector to the fan wire!

Its not been stated whats actually the fault!

Not very impressive that the BG guy, rather than fixing it, decided to get his £30 by arranging an appointment to quote for a new boiler.

If only there were 160 hours in the day then I would offer to do a £300 fixed price repair for you!

To make their high prices more palatable BG have a spread over payment scheme if you buy their over priced new boiler installation.

Tony

 

[ziggy95]

I am not impressed if your local engineer does not have the skill to crimp or solder another 6 mm push on connector to the fan wire!

Its not been stated whats actually the fault!

Not very impressive that the BG guy, rather than fixing it, decided to get his £30 by arranging an appointment to quote for a new boiler.

If only there were 160 hours in the day then I would offer to do a £300 fixed price repair for you!

To make their high prices more palatable BG have a spread over payment scheme if you buy their over priced new boiler installation.

Tony

Hi Agile,

Thx for your reply.

Unfortunately we don't even have £300 right now

Both the local guy and the BG guy said they couldn't repair the fan. The local guy said that by the time the fan and pcb or aquastat had been replaced we'd be better off getting a new boiler, then he said we should try the BG fixed price repair.

BG came out 1st Fri, said it needed a new fan that he'd have to order and after we explained the clicking said he'd also order a new PCB & Aquastat and would be back Mon. Mon came and they phoned to say they were having probs getting a new fan, but had located one and would be in on Tues.

Tues pm came and the BG guy turned up but said the fan was the wrong one, and it would take weeks to get one because they are old. He apparently tried the other 2 parts during a test but said that even though he didn't have a fan to try his tests showed that the fan would be the lst thing to kick in but the boiler still wasn't working so even if he had the right fan it still wouldn't work. From what I can tell he's put the old bits back (fair enough).

He then said the contract wasn't valid because there were so many faults and recomended we get a new boiler.

I said there was no chance of that in our current position, so now we need to get our money back off BG and get some electric heaters to see us over the winter.

I realise these will be more expensive to run, but at least that is spread out and we can have some heat by the end of today.

So are 2 kw oil filled with a thermostat the best to get ?

Thx again.

 

[Agile]

You could try a plea to Halstead to help you.

After all they made the boiler and should be able to repair it.

If BG would not repair it then you are probably going to have to get a new boiler which might cost about £1500 in total from an independent.

Tony