New house, boiler issues - replace or repair?

[vaderag]

Hi All, first post(!)

I've just moved into my first owned house, and the boiler is constantly running hot to cold.

It heats up, then seems to hit a max temp or something, then cuts out, then heats up again, obviously leading to the loss of temp.
In addition, it seems to be losing pressure slowly (about 0.5 bar over 3 days)

I've tried everything from running the heating at the same time, trying different temperatures on the boiler, increasing the pressure etc, but nothing makes a difference.

I know that the previous owners had issues with it, tho not this particular one apparently (we asked), and it was apparently serviced only a few months ago. They said that over the last 2 years it's basically had everything replaced as they had some issues that couldnt be nailed down. It's an Ariston Micro Genus something...

Basically, my questions is given the above, do you guys think it's worth me initially paying £200 for someone to come look at it and try and repair, or should i try and replace it? If repair, can anyone suggest what may be wrong? If replace, can you advise how easy this is? Also, could the problems be elsewhere in the system (i.e the loss of pressure)

Thanks in advance, Andy

 

[twgas]

Hot-cold-hot.... is normally due to the plate heat exchanger being blocked.
Who's going to charge you £200 to look at it, even BG are cheaper than that, they do an almost fixed price repair which includes parts (to repair the main problem, if there is more than 1)

 

[vaderag]

Homeserve were £195... including all parts and labor...

If it turns out to be that, is it a simple switchover of parts? Or does the system need a power flush? Also, does anything need doing to prevent it happening again?

 

[JeffDe]

Hi All, first post(!)

I've just moved into my first owned house, and the boiler is constantly running hot to cold.

It heats up, then seems to hit a max temp or something, then cuts out, then heats up again, obviously leading to the loss of temp.
In addition, it seems to be losing pressure slowly (about 0.5 bar over 3 days)

I've tried everything from running the heating at the same time, trying different temperatures on the boiler, increasing the pressure etc, but nothing makes a difference.

I know that the previous owners had issues with it, tho not this particular one apparently (we asked), and it was apparently serviced only a few months ago. They said that over the last 2 years it's basically had everything replaced as they had some issues that couldnt be nailed down. It's an Ariston Micro Genus something...

Basically, my questions is given the above, do you guys think it's worth me initially paying £200 for someone to come look at it and try and repair, or should i try and replace it? If repair, can anyone suggest what may be wrong? If replace, can you advise how easy this is? Also, could the problems be elsewhere in the system (i.e the loss of pressure)

Thanks in advance, Andy

If it turns out to be the plate to plate heat exchanger, you want it power flushing to clean the system and get a magna clean fit on the system to prevent further iron passing to the new plate to plate



ajdgas

 

[nickso]

get rid of it, an ariston is never worth spending money on.

 

[mickyg]

piece of junk, it'll be more economical in the long run to get it replaced, as long as its with a decent quality replacement and a proper system flush.

 

[Jordon]

With the above get shot of it before you spend to much on it, or get the e34 no real solution fault.

 

[vaderag]

Thanks for the advice guys... any ideas what a replacement for a decent boiler will cost me? Also, does it need a powerflush before replacing?

or get the e34 no real solution fault.

Sorry to sound stupid - what does that mean?

 

[Agile]

I would say that you need a good independent to come and diagnose the problems first in your system. That should not cost much more than £84.

You dont make it clear if you are talking about the hot water or the heating. If its hot water then its typical of a blocked plate heat exchanger. That would result from a dirty system.

A loss of pressure is caused by a leak! Unless its in the boiler that needs to be fixed just the same for any replacement boiler.

Ariston boilers are not most engineers favourites but they are repairable. I fix a few every year.

Tony Glazier

 

[Jordon]

Type in the interweb microgenius e34 fault, even ariston don't know how to fix it correctly, agile I usually go with your opinion but it's £84 I wouldn't want my customer to spend on a ariston no matter on age they are junk!

 

[mickyg]

I would say that you need a good independent to come and diagnose the problems first in your system. That should not cost much more than £84.

so by that admission you must be the most expensive rgi in the country?

 

[bengasman]

Replacing the boiler will not solve the water going hot-cold for long, a system clean most likely will.
Pressure loss ( unless it is the prv ) will not be solved by a new boiler either.
How old is the current one?

 

[vaderag]

No idea how old the current one is - it certainly looks old.
Just bought the house, and no history on it unfortunately...

Any thoughts what the pressure loss might be then?

 

[bengasman]

Any thoughts what the pressure loss might be then?

Leak, and no maybe about it.

 

[vaderag]

Any thoughts what the pressure loss might be then?

Leak, and no maybe about it.

Any idea how i might hunt this down?

I've noticed a few drips from the inlet pipe on the boiler where i top the pressure up, but I tightened this and it seems to have stopped it.
Also one of the radiators was dripping, but tightening that seemed to have stopped it... both could potentially be dripping at a slower rate now, but its not obvious.

Wouldnt have thought that would be enough to drop the pressure that much tho would it?