Ideal Icos HE18 Boiler - Not firing up - L-F Error

[gcltd]

Hi, my parents have the above boiler that everyone says how bad they are, but it has been fine for 7 years until it died and wouldn't work at all, we got the PCB refurbed and now it powers up, the fan is ok but after a short period of powring up it stops with the L-F error - reset doesn't help.

From our basic knowledge we think its either the ignitor or ingition transformer - how would we go about checking both of these items?

Any help appreciated.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Call a professional.

 

[50tony]

My Ideal Icos HE18 boiler went 10 yrs before it showed the FL fault code in early January 2015 after I'd turned it off for 3 weeks to go away on holiday. (FL is no flame). It was caused by a burnt out gas valve solenoid


******* deleted by Mod
I accidentally banged and snapped it.
The fan was slightly noisy but still working properly.....A big mistake. It is now March 2016 and the fan screeched, the lights flickered and the control panel went blank. Expensive....Ouch!

**** deleted

As I am an engineer and not a gas safe fitter I had it checked over before firing up and flue gas checked. Cost 39.00 on both occasions.
With a background in electronic research & development I looked at the black PCB and was shocked to see low quality electrolytic capacitors were used. That type were lucky to last 5yrs, so lasting 11yrs is an exception. In the end the fan did the expensive damage. If it don't sound right, get it replaced.


Edited by mod.
Forum rules do not allow DIY gas advice

 

[Gas2Air]

Prat.

 

[45yearsagasman]

+1

 

[bernardgreen]

As I am an engineer and not a gas safe fitter I had it checked over before firing up and flue gas checked. Cost 39.00 on both occasions.

So not a total prat

With a background in electronic research & development I looked at the black PCB and was shocked to see low quality electrolytic capacitors were used.

That is sadly true, and the general build quality of the PCB leaves a lot to be desired in some makes of boilers.

 

[shambolic]

Fannybaws should Mibbee have got it serviced over the 10 years and identified the parts which needed changing earlier

 

[50tony]

It was serviced every year. Just not to the standard that should have been employed by the sound of the replies. Nobody ever looked inside the combustion chamber so I never new there was a problem until it went dead last year. One Gas safe engineer opened the inspection cover at the bottom on the one occasion in 2010 when I was home. I noticed a build up of debris and pointed it out. He just stated it wasn't bad enough to clean out and left it alone, even though it half filled the chamber. The next inspection showed the inspection cover hadn't been closed properly and moisture had dripped on the bottom plate, eaten through the paint and rusted the metal. He just tightened the screws and washed the rusted area. If it had been the other end of the inspection chamber the PCB would have been covered with the acidic drips of water and blown. It appears that every engineer who looked at my boiler only did a gas check and I paid for a full service, (excluding parts), not just a superficial inspection. With no charges for parts they could not have opened the heat exchanger and seen the damaged parts. So much for professionalism.
After the remarks posted here I will no longer trust my local so called "Gas safe engineers" again. Even though the majority of engineers are highly competent it saddens me to think that some just take advantage. I will stick with the one that tested my flue gas and handy work as he is my neighbours son.