Help with a Ideal standard concord 50 boiler

[hunterforce]

hi all
Great site btw, for a noob to the diy world i have found loads of help so far, never know 1 day i may be able to help back lol

Well my problem
Last night i went to run a bath for the kids only to find there was no hot water ????, checking the boiler i could not see a pilot light at all, so onto my hands and knees and tried to relight it.
I kept clicking it, but i could not see the spark through the inspection window at all???, so i unscrewed the wing nuts in the inspection window and found the glass had all sooted up big time, , i cleaned the glass(which had broke btw) and re assembled it back, all good so far i thought.
Ok no clicking it i could see the spark ok and a few more clicks i got it working, a min more and the burners all lit up, all good so far, well not!!!!
the flame looked like a candle, all yellow and orange, no blue there at all like my gas hob???
well i thought it might clear, so left it for a bit, 20 mins later there was a sooty smell from the kitchen, so onto my knees again and still the flame was orange in appearance, and the window had started to soot up again
I then turned of the boiler(just as i was getting warm) , i took a look outside and the flue was sooted as well as well as a soot mark on the wall outside
With the smell, i called the gas board out, who tested the pressure (21bar) and said i needed the boiler looked at.He did say at that point as it was an old boiler a good one though, british gas would spend time on it, then tell me parts were not anymore and try and sell me a new one!!!!
Well i got British gas out today under there home care agreement ( i joined it last night £99 for this 1 off fix, the £22 a month for the next year)
He spent a good 2 hours cleaning it all out and testing it, then confirmed that parts were not available for this boiler anymore and i would need a new one!!!!!! (just as the guy told me last night!!!!)
well what choice do i have???? so hes coming back tomorrow to quote for 1.
BUT!!!!! THEN I LOOKED HERE!!!!!
And it would appear parts ate there for this dinosaur

His report sheet says :- gas valve letting by, insulation damaged,failing performance test,co off the scale new boiler needed.


i know the boiler is old, and hands up i've not had it serviced for about 12 years, but its NEVER let me down at all!!!!
now what the hell do i do??? my kids are freezing, (ive just been to argos and got 3x 3kw blower heaters for there bedrooms)
I really dont need a big replacement boiler bill this side of christmas AT ALL, to be honest i wouldnt be able to afford it untill around April in any case!!!

Can anyone help here, are parts available??? if so is it hard to find them and someone to fit them???

thanks in advance

tony

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

that will teach ya!! service gas appliances every year, if someone dies an they see you aint had it serviced for donkeys years the big wigs will chuck the book at you..

Id charge around £1800 to change boiler an flush system minimum , although a full look of the system would need to be done.

 

[spraggo]

Even if you could still get the parts for this boiler ,which I very much doubt, they will cost you the earth. I would suggest that you bite the bullet and opt for a new boiler. However, I would get a couple of quotes other than the BGs as they are very expensive and you will probably find that a decent RGI will do it a lot less, enabling you to recoop the loss re BG contract.

Regards

spraggo

 

[hunterforce]

that will teach ya!! service gas appliances every year, if someone dies an they see you aint had it serviced for donkeys years the big wigs will chuck the book at you..

Id charge around £1800 to change boiler an flush system minimum , although a full look of the system would need to be done.

what sort of boiler would this be??? and would it be just a boiler, or would all the pipework need to be replaced???
I know i should have had it serviced, but with 1 thing and another it got over looked, no excuse i know!!! :S
Also whould i have to have it wall mounted or could it just take the place of the old one.

Its a 4 bed detached with 9 rads if that helps, i have just had the loft re done and also the cavity walls done, so that should help a little with heat loss

 

[Fellacim]

Sounds like BG had little choice. Better cold then dead.

How much CO did he say it was producing?

 

[hunterforce]

didnt say, just said after the clean it was still off the scale

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

By that description I think you need to count yourselves lucky to be alive! The boiler is dangerous, to replace all the parts necessary to bring it up to a safe and useable condition may not be far short of the cost of a new boiler.... Get a quote from British Gas by all means but a local independant engineer may well be cheaper if you can get a recommendation. I appreciate you are concerned about costs but ultimately you cannot put a price on your family's safety.

A new boiler can use the existing pipework, some may need to be altered and additional controls fitted to bring your system up to standard though. A system flush may also be required to ensure the new boiler is fitted to a clean system. Options are limited with floor standing boilers, most are now wall hung.

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

boiler would be walll mounted, vaillant ecotec/worcester Ri good enough for you??! errrr no that only includes changing boiler and a flush.

you most likely would need to upgrade to fullypumped add an extra £450

 

[hunterforce]

By that description I think you need to count yourselves lucky to be alive! The boiler is dangerous, to replace all the parts necessary to bring it up to a safe and useable condition may not be far short of the cost of a new boiler.... Get a quote from British Gas by all means but a local independant engineer may well be cheaper if you can get a recommendation. I appreciate you are concerned about costs but ultimately you cannot put a price on your family's safety.

A new boiler can use the existing pipework, some may need to be altered and additional controls fitted to bring your system up to standard though. A system flush may also be required to ensure the new boiler is fitted to a clean system. Options are limited with floor standing boilers, most are now wall hung.

i totally agree, you cant put a price on life for sure and not would i, but to be sprung with a 2k plus bill around this time of the year is a real pain, just looking for options thats all.
what would you guys recommend, i have heard Worcester bosh are good boilers

 

[Tibbot]

Shame of it is OP, with regular thorough servicing it would've probably outlived your next boiler too.

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

vaillant are better, ideal logic are excellent little boiler, worcester seem to of gone backwards to be honest

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Viessmann and Remeha are worth a look. Every installer has there own preference though.

 

[Whitespirit66]

You should be able to get some parts for this. Get an older experienced RGI to have a look.

Just put a case seal on a customer's 30 year old Concord WRS. Boiler perfect in all other respects.

Parts were available over the counter at Plumb Center/Parts Center.

Just Google your boiler make/model and the parts required. They're out there.

Why scrap a great boiler if a gas valve is available?

 

[hunterforce]

vaillant are better, ideal logic are excellent little boiler, worcester seem to of gone backwards to be honest

So what would i need another balanced flue one???
not really sure what the differances are to be honest

 

[Tibbot]

You should be able to get some parts for this. Get an older experienced RGI to have a look.

Why scrap a great boiler if a gas valve is available?

Not sure who'll want to continue once they've established it's been spilling like ****.