Halstead Finest Platinum

[morganog]

Hi

I have just returned from a weeks holiday in Spain to find that my Halstead Finest Platinum has developed a fault.

I have hot water but the central heating no longer works

1) Boiler make / model (gas or oil) Halstead

2) What is / is not happening. No Central Heating (Hot water fine!)
3) Has ANYTHING else been done or changed recently. No
4) When did the problem start? Yesterday on return from weeks holiday

5) When does it happen? eg, heating coming on or going off. When heating comes on
6) Anything else you feel may be of relevance.


I work in the gas industry but have limited knowledge of domestic boilers, i have checked the system pressure which is currently set at just over 1 Bar, the pressure switch appears to be working, i have checked that the pump is not jammed.

Any Ideas???

Thanks Guys..

 

[Rob]

External controls? Built in clock? Is the selector switch on hot water AND heating?

 

[ChrisR]

Check call for heat arrives at boiler.
WHat does the Fault Finding guide take you to? It's on the H Site.

 

[morganog]

External controls? Built in clock? Is the selector switch on hot water AND heating?

External programmer hot water and heating selected

 

[morganog]

Check call for heat arrives at boiler.
WHat does the Fault Finding guide take you to? It's on the H Site.

the boiler begins to fire up, then shuts down, pump gets very very hot so im thinking its gone

 

[Rob]

Sounds like the diverter valve is still in HW position.

 

[tonybhoy]

Could be air in the boiler or AAV could be faulty

 

[morganog]

Sounds like the diverter valve is still in HW position.

The diverter valve is lifting and dropping when the hot water is turned on and off

 

[morganog]

Could be air in the boiler or AAV could be faulty

AAV ???

Sorry im a bit thick!!

I do work in the gas industry honnest!!

 

[Rob]

edit just noticed you got a finest platinum. Could be a problem with the actuator. Will check later on how to test.

 

[undercover]

? broken spindle on the heating control knob.

 

[tonybhoy]

Could be air in the boiler or AAV could be faulty

AAV ???

Sorry im a bit thick!!

I do work in the gas industry honnest!!

Automatic air valve,sorry.

 

[alexmattos]

Hi,

I have a very similar problem though mine has now become urgent as we have a new baby in the house.

Our Finest Platinum is 3 yrs old and hase recently become tempremental in its hot water provision.

The CH is fine and works well, the DHW runs tepid at best or runs hot for about 2mins before tripping the boiler overheat thermostat (well thats what the fault codes tell me).

We have had two different plumbers look at this. The first changed the DHW thermostat but not the boiler overheat one as well as "descaling and flushing" the secondary heat exchanger plate. This solved the problem for about 3weeks but now the problem has returned.

The second plumber looked at is and pronounced that it could be either the secondary heat exchanger plate or the diverter valve actuator. The actuator when removed from the diverter valve assembly does not appear to move at all. The flow sensor operates, the boiler fires but then it all goes wrong in one of the two ways above.

Could someone help by telling me what it is meant to do in terms of motion when the hot water tap is opened? When i look at the end of the actuator (the bit that goes into the diverter valve) i see a round plastic assembly that has a brass centre in it about 5mm across. Is this pin meant to move when the tap is run?

I have also noticed that when the DHW is running cool the secondary heat exchanger does not get very hot at all. I can put my hand on it very comfortably.

At to moment i have spent about £500 in plumbers and parts that have not gone anyway to solving the problem. When do I give up throwing money at it and swallow and buy a new one.

Any help will be very much appreciated.

Alex

 

[ChrisR]

Is this pin meant to move when the tap is run?

Yes. Well done, you've beaten the baffled brains of the "heating engineers" you called. Jeez.
Put the kettle on.
POke your finger into the diverter valve part and you'll feel the skinnier pin which gets pushed. ANy sign of moisture? If you push the skinny pin, with say the square end of a short piece of pencil, it should spring back and forth.
If you have a voltmeter you can measure the actuator's supplies and diagnose for sure. ALso the actuator's resistances centre to each end should be the same, though that doesn't prove it isn't stuck.
Now you've outperformed your £500 experts, and you can have a cup of tea - kettle will nearly be boiling by now.

 

[alexmattos]

Hi - well feeling quite smug with myself i re-examined the actuator and connections to find it all working well and the brass centre pin moving out when the tap is run.

The diverter valve assembly springs back and forth very well with no sign of water in the actuator mounting area.

The situation has got better but the water coming out is still not very hot. It is warm but no where near hot unless we slow the flow to little more than a trickle. Something else I have noticed is that the blue ignition LED sometimes changes from solid blue to a flashing blue during a long DHW draw off. Any ideas what this means? it is not in the manual.

The other thing is that the secondary heat exchanger is hot at the diverter valve end, and basically cold at the output other end near the pump but the bypass pipe is very hot (about the same as the hot end of the heat exchanger). Could this mean that I have a clogged heat exchanger and the heat is just going back into the heating system rather than into my hot water?

Now i think i have narrowed it down to the 2nd-ary heat exchanger or the PCB but I think the PCB unlikely as it would surely have more effects that just tepid hot water.

Thanks

Alex