Power Flush Disaster

[Adrian01]

Good Afternoon,
I have read the previous posts regarding power-flush but these does not seem to answer my question.
We had our system power-flushed on Wednesday and when the engineer was doing his "last flush" the boiler packed up. He was unable to re-start it and called another engineer to look at it and he advised that "the boiler was not detecting a flame" and a PCB needed replacing. He did not have that type of PCB and one would have to be ordered (at our cost). This would be couriered for delivery on Thursday or Friday AM at The very latest. Thursday came, no PCB. We were then told Friday Morning at 11am, still no PCB and no timescale to get the boiler working again. We were never told that a power flush would damage the boiler or else we would not have proceeded with it. The companies only explanation was that "Sometimes this happens". They did drop in 2 small electric heaters to heat the entire house, but still we do not have hot water. The boiler was working fine prior to the power flush.

Any Advice would be appreciated

Many Thanks

Adrian

 

[Jurassicspark]

I can't see the correlation between flushing a system and damage to the PCB. It could be a coincidence, did any of the installers work on the PCB or with any thermostats/programmers associated with the boiler itself?

 

[Adrian01]

Hi Juraasicspark,

I am not entirely sure, the flush was done via the pipes to the downstairs Kitchen radiator, but he did have the boiler covers off
and was doing something there as well

Regards

Adrian

 

[Adrian01]

And just as I typed that, the engineer has turned up with a new PCB, so i will let you know.

Adrian

 

[Elsa TLC]

It's the nature of the job. If the PCB was on its last legs then a bit of rattling round of a powerflush tipped it over the edge.

If the PCB was in good healthy working order then this wouldn't have happened. It's not happened to me before but a powerflush can aggrevate the system and bring out problems that will eventually turn up one day or another .

 

[gas112]

what boiler do you have ?

 

[CountryFan]

As above, what boiler do you have? Might have spent out an a PCB unnecessarily. Usual for a flush to wipe out the PCB unless it got wet.

 

[Adrian01]

Hi all,

It is a worcester wall mounted unit, We have been in the house 8 years, and we have not had it changed, just serviced. So i am not sure of it's age.

The engineer has just left after installing the new PCB, and it is all working again, he explained that if the PCB was on it's last legs anyway, the powerflush makes the boiler work harder, and this probably caused the failure. He said a powerflush can damage a boiler in about 1 in 10 cases so i guess we were just unlucky. Anyway the broken upstairs radiator is now working again, and we have hot water !!

Many Thanks for all the replies

Very Best Regards

Adrian

 

[gas112]

you got a power flush for 1 rad not working ?

 

[Adrian01]

Yes, the radiator would not get hot, and when they started to drain it, it was full of brown water. We explained that we had never had them cleaned out, so the they said it would just be a matter of time before the other radiators went the same way, because they suspected that there was a build up in the pipes and that the powerflush would solve this and help the boiler at the same time, I suppose £550 + VAT is better than a new boiler. We don't know how much the PCB will cost, but they said it would be at "Cost" so they are not charging us labour for installing it.

Adrian

 

[fixitflav]

The engineer has just left after installing the new PCB, and it is all working again

I'm more than a touch surprised.

Did they add inhibitor after the power flush? If not, get some in there!

 

[gas112]

not getting hot at all or just getting luke warm
Worcester pcb might come in at around 200 quid

 

[denso13]

We don't know how much the PCB will cost, but they said it would be at "Cost" so they are not charging us labour for installing it.

If it wasn't their fault and do only charge you for the parts then that sounds more than reasonable.

 

[Adrian01]

Hi All

When the boiler broke I believe he had finished all the flushing, and cleared away the machine, he had some containers of chemicals around it, but i am not sure what they were, so i presume by that stage he would have added the inhibitor ? I am not really sure. The radiator was not getting hot at all despite being on the "5" setting.

Regards

 

[fixitflav]

so i presume by that stage he would have added the inhibitor

Worth checking the bill, or asking him if it doesn't say, to make sure.