Hi
I received a call from my tenants last week to say that their Halstead Platinum Finest combi wasn't working. This is a boiler that was installed in 2003 so it is probably on its last legs.
I called my trusty engineer friend who got to the house before me on Thursday and when I got there he was holding the air pressure switch (APS) in his hand stating that this was the problem. Off we went to buy one (£70), came back, he fitted it and it made no difference.
He then took the flue apart and checked it (stating that it had actually been put in upside down 9 years ago!) before reinstalling it. On tryng to start up the boiler the fan was noisy so although this was spinning he decided that the fan was definitely the fault, possibly not working sufficiently to activate the APS. Whilst playing with the fan he accidentally snapped the plastic part where the wires connect and then told me that even if we hadn't needed a fan we did now! Off we went to get a fan, recon £75, came back and fitted it, no difference.
At this point I got a little frustrated and asked why he had thought these things were the problem - he had diagnosed them in my absence. He said the error lights had showed an APS fault, but in fact he hadn't pressed the button properly to reveal the error codes. When I did this in front of him it diagnosed "water pressure switch". Great I thought, wasted money but now we would solve the problem. In front of him I then removed the water pressure switch, manually activated it and the boiler fired up.
At this point we throught we were nearly there. The diverter valve pin wasn't activating this micro switch so he told me the diaphragm was the problem and would need replacing. Off we went and came back with a diaphragm £9. He took out the diverter and in the process a thermistor's tabs got broken, but hey ho. It was all reassembled. Nothing. The pin still wouldn't activate the switch. His next diagnosis was therefore that there must be a water pressure problem. He therefore removed the pump and decided that it was much to stiff and that therefore this had caused the problem all along. However it was too late to do any more and a new pump would be required.
The next day the engineer returned to the property on his own and changed the pump. He then called me to tell me that the new pump £90 had made no difference. I was getting upset now. He said he still suspected that the diverter valve maybe the problem and took it off to get it reconditioned. This was done while he waited £50 and he returned to fit it. It still didn't work. He carried on going through the boiler with a fine tooth comb and in the evening called me to say that he had discovered that the expansion vessel didn't hold air and that was the problem. He couldn't understand why this hadn't caused big problems before. I would now need to meet him at the property (did I mention I live an hour's drive away?) on Saturday as the boiler would DEFINITELY be working.
I met him at the property good and early on Saturday whilst he removed the expansion vessel and installed a new valve. He refitted it and refilled the system. Still not working. He decided that the only thing now might be some weird back pressure through the fitted filling loop so he completely removed this and installed a stand alone one in the pipework. Nothing working.
I then asked him if he had noticed that the diverter valve pin now was properly pushing the water pressure switch even when the boiler was off? It now seemed like nothing other than draining the system would make this pin break contact and he assured me that this is a "make and break" switch and should only make contact when the pump starts.
Well we left it for the day with him telling me that I definitely didn't need a new boiler (manual operation of this switch makes it work fine) but that he can only think that the diverter valve was not properly reconditioned ie same spring used etc and that he thinks that a proper new one will solve the problem.
Today he called me and said that if I don't want to wait 2 weeks (the house is tenanted) he can only get this valve at £258 + vat. Well we haven't discussed the labour charge for 3 full days so far , but I will say that we fell out on the phone. He can't guarantee that this will even fix the problem.
I would happily have had a new boiler at the outset if I had been told that I would be spending the equivalent in parts on this shoddy old one. What do I do? Gamble on a brand new diverter valve? Cut my losses which are now several humdred pounds and then pay for a new boiler to be installed? What on earth is wrong with this one? AAAAHHHHHH!
I received a call from my tenants last week to say that their Halstead Platinum Finest combi wasn't working. This is a boiler that was installed in 2003 so it is probably on its last legs.
I called my trusty engineer friend who got to the house before me on Thursday and when I got there he was holding the air pressure switch (APS) in his hand stating that this was the problem. Off we went to buy one (£70), came back, he fitted it and it made no difference.
He then took the flue apart and checked it (stating that it had actually been put in upside down 9 years ago!) before reinstalling it. On tryng to start up the boiler the fan was noisy so although this was spinning he decided that the fan was definitely the fault, possibly not working sufficiently to activate the APS. Whilst playing with the fan he accidentally snapped the plastic part where the wires connect and then told me that even if we hadn't needed a fan we did now! Off we went to get a fan, recon £75, came back and fitted it, no difference.
At this point I got a little frustrated and asked why he had thought these things were the problem - he had diagnosed them in my absence. He said the error lights had showed an APS fault, but in fact he hadn't pressed the button properly to reveal the error codes. When I did this in front of him it diagnosed "water pressure switch". Great I thought, wasted money but now we would solve the problem. In front of him I then removed the water pressure switch, manually activated it and the boiler fired up.
At this point we throught we were nearly there. The diverter valve pin wasn't activating this micro switch so he told me the diaphragm was the problem and would need replacing. Off we went and came back with a diaphragm £9. He took out the diverter and in the process a thermistor's tabs got broken, but hey ho. It was all reassembled. Nothing. The pin still wouldn't activate the switch. His next diagnosis was therefore that there must be a water pressure problem. He therefore removed the pump and decided that it was much to stiff and that therefore this had caused the problem all along. However it was too late to do any more and a new pump would be required.
The next day the engineer returned to the property on his own and changed the pump. He then called me to tell me that the new pump £90 had made no difference. I was getting upset now. He said he still suspected that the diverter valve maybe the problem and took it off to get it reconditioned. This was done while he waited £50 and he returned to fit it. It still didn't work. He carried on going through the boiler with a fine tooth comb and in the evening called me to say that he had discovered that the expansion vessel didn't hold air and that was the problem. He couldn't understand why this hadn't caused big problems before. I would now need to meet him at the property (did I mention I live an hour's drive away?) on Saturday as the boiler would DEFINITELY be working.
I met him at the property good and early on Saturday whilst he removed the expansion vessel and installed a new valve. He refitted it and refilled the system. Still not working. He decided that the only thing now might be some weird back pressure through the fitted filling loop so he completely removed this and installed a stand alone one in the pipework. Nothing working.
I then asked him if he had noticed that the diverter valve pin now was properly pushing the water pressure switch even when the boiler was off? It now seemed like nothing other than draining the system would make this pin break contact and he assured me that this is a "make and break" switch and should only make contact when the pump starts.
Well we left it for the day with him telling me that I definitely didn't need a new boiler (manual operation of this switch makes it work fine) but that he can only think that the diverter valve was not properly reconditioned ie same spring used etc and that he thinks that a proper new one will solve the problem.
Today he called me and said that if I don't want to wait 2 weeks (the house is tenanted) he can only get this valve at £258 + vat. Well we haven't discussed the labour charge for 3 full days so far , but I will say that we fell out on the phone. He can't guarantee that this will even fix the problem.
I would happily have had a new boiler at the outset if I had been told that I would be spending the equivalent in parts on this shoddy old one. What do I do? Gamble on a brand new diverter valve? Cut my losses which are now several humdred pounds and then pay for a new boiler to be installed? What on earth is wrong with this one? AAAAHHHHHH!
