No hot water, old combi-boiler

[lasto]

I have an old Ferroli F-30 combi-boiler (twelve-ish years) which for a time has been taking longer and longer to heat water. In the last few days it seems to have stopped doing so to any useful effect.

The heating continues to work, though I haven't checked all radiators. The "water heating" indicator on the boiler lights as it should when I turn on a hot water tap and the boiler continues to make the same noise it's always done. I tried turning the boiler off completely for ten minutes this morning, after which the water ran tepid for about five seconds before getting colder again.

The boiler gets an annual check and service, I've only previously had issues with the plastic control knobs that snapped with people trying to turn it up to 11 and beyond. All control knobs seem to be engaged and turning as intended.

Any suggestions as to what the problem may be are appreciated, any checks I can make to provide more information, please let me know.

Thanks in advance, Sarah.

 

[muggles]

You've managed to squeeze 12 years out of a Ferroli!? Go and buy a lottery ticket, your luck is clearly in!

Does the tap symbol illuminate on the display when you turn a hot tap on? If it does then your problem is either a faulty hot water sensor or, if you're in a hard water area, scale in the hot water circuit of the heat exchanger

 

[lasto]

Thanks very much for your reply, Andrew. I'm reading and learning more about the love some gas engineers have for Ferroli

I've devoted a little time to watch it this afternoon and might describe the problem a bit differently now...

I first put the central heating temperature up to 60° to make sure all of the radiators are still warming. While all the usual boiler noises (fan?) start and the "CH On" indicator lights up as it should, it took a good ten minutes for the "Burner On" indicator to light and the radiators to get hot. This is not normal.

When the "Burner On" did light, and the CH temperature got to 60° (I assume), the CH went back to stand-by as expected. At this point, turning on the hot taps in the kitchen and the bathroom made the "Hot Water Circuit On" indicator (tap symbol) illuminate and in turn produced perfectly hot water as before.

I've just repeated this a few hours later and the "Burner On" indicator won't light at all now - no heating or hot water. The boiler seems to sense when it should kick in correctly and makes all the right noises to do so, but it looks there's no burning going on to heat anything.



P.S. In a soft water area.

P.P.S. Just tried again and the "Burner On" light comes on for a fraction of a second before nothing...

 

[ianmcd]

registered gas engineer time, the site rules prevent us from telling you what the fault is

 

[lasto]

Thanks, Ian. Sounds like it's obvious to you what the problem is.

Would it be forbidden to hint at the size/cost of the potential fix?

 

[muggles]

As above, it sounds like one of your safety devices isn't allowing the boiler to fire up. If it's the device itself at fault then the fix would likely be around £100ish, if it's another component connected to that device then £350ish might be more accurate

Sorry to be vague, but site rules prohibit us telling you anything which might lead to you trying to fix this yourself, as it involves the gas/combustion side of the boiler

 

[lasto]

Thanks again, Andrew. The rules and their following is only sensible and I have a healthy recognition of my limitations!

Hopeful of somebody coming to look at it next week and I seem to have a method of making it work for a period until then. Turning the CH temperature to a minimum for a time, before then setting it to 50° or 60° seems to prompt the burner to kick in fairly quickly. Gives me a boost of heat and a time to heat some water for washing dishes in the evening for now.

 

[lasto]

A very belated update! Engineer said it needed a clean, confirmed my suspicions about the man who came to do the last annual service as having done very little if anything while he was here. Now working as before, fingers crossed it stays that way for winter!