Pump or Diverter Valve?

[Bryan_G]

Hi all, first post here so hello everyone, hope you're all well and thanks in advance for any advice received - it's much appreciated and is for work done at my Mum's who's 88 and can't look after herself. I can take care of most things for her but Boilers are way out of my league!

So, my Mum has a Greenstar Junior 24/28i Combi boiler (probably 6-7 years old) and all was well until a couple of weeks ago when I noticed a small leak coming from the bottom of the boiler. The boiler was working fine apart from that and continued working even in spite of the small leak. I called a heating engineer who attended, diagnosed the problem and reported a fix would be just over £100 but he would need to order a part and fix it the next day. I agreed to this and he attended the next day to complete this work before calling me and saying that now the pump had also failed and rather than just over £100 this would now be closer to £600. I wasn't there and just needed the work done so even with reservations I told him to proceed. He completed and the invoice reads...

Boiler BreakdownDiary Event: 18th & 19th 08/2020
Status: Completed
Drained boiler and system
Removed filling loop assembly
Supplied and fitted new filling loop assembly
Removed DHW flow turbine from boiler
Supplied and fitted new DHW flow turbine
TestedFound further work required(defective fan)Removed defective burner fan
Supplied and fitted new fan
Tested works
All working

Total was £560

All seemed good - hot water working but with it still being summer(ish) I just took it for granted the Boiler was working and didn't check the Central Heating. Unfortunately now, a month later as the temperature drops outside I turn on the Central Heating and find that it's not working. Hot water is ok but no Central Heating. On switching the Thermostat on the boiler fires but doesn't make that much noise and the radiators don't get warm. I had a similar issue myself which was a faulty Diverter valve and initially thought it was probably that but then I notice that the pipe on the left (Central Heating feed) gets hot but only so far down and then stops which made me think maybe the pump isn't actually working.

Apologies for the long ramble but my question is does it sound like the pump or more likely the diverter valve and given the above would I be better calling a different heating engineer or asking the one above to come back as I had reservations about the work before and things haven't turned out too well?

Many thanks

Bryan

 

[picasso]

Check all the rad valves are open .

 

[Bryan_G]

Check all the rad valves are open .

Thanks mate, they're all good.

 

[CBW]

Check the flow and return valves under the boiler are open, might have forgotten to re-open them.

 

[Gasguru]

Not much of that repair make sense.
There is no need to drain down the heating system...that sounds like making additional work.
The most common water leaks on that model are the adapter (a £5 part behind the turbine) and the flow manifold (around £20), both easy and well under an hour to change both.
The turbines are very reliable and I can't see how they could leak..it's really just a tube.

What was wrong with the filling loop...had someone chewed up the valve? Again a cheap part (under £20) and simple to replace.
Very occasionally the fans can blow when you switch on the boiler after isolating it for repair...but I'd imagine that boiler has the new design fan and AFAIK are more reliable.
What about the pump? If the hot water appeared to function before the repair it was likely to be ok and if the hot water is still performing ok (turn the DHW temp to max and check) then the pump is good enough for the heating.
It's all a little suspicious...

 

[ianmcd]

You could have taken out a worcester fixed price repair for half of that cost and got a years warranty with it and it would be actually working, no reason whatsoever to drain the system, check the isolation valves are both open

 

[Bryan_G]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm just going to go with a Worcester fixed price repair as suggested. Depending on what's found I may go back to the original company and ask for an explanation/money back.

Many thanks

Bryan

 

[ianmcd]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm just going to go with a Worcester fixed price repair as suggested. Depending on what's found I may go back to the original company and ask for an explanation/money back.

Many thanks

Bryan

Best thing to do