Saunier Duval - 5 days no heating/hot water!

J

jonathen

Hi DIYers :)

I wonder if anyone out there can help shed some light on a problem plaguing my family this Christmas. On Boxing Day our 10 year old Saunier Duval Thema F23E boiler conked out. I know it's a piece of cr*p and it should be replaced but our flat is up for sale and I just want it to hold out a little longer!

Anyway, we had no pilot light and a flashing green light. So as I have homecare from British Gas, they duly came out and he said it was a faulty PCB because the pump is working but the fan won't start. I checked Saunier's manual for troubleshooting and this sounds about right.

So a couple of days later (!) he came back with 2 new PCBs and changed it over - but no joy. After 2 engineers and much faffing about, they gave up and came back today. Still no joy, despite being on the phone to Saunier and messing with dip switches etc.

They left at 7pm on the 5th day of this nightmare and still no closer! He said he is going to order ANOTHER PCB but I can't see how 2 new PCBs plus the original can all be wrong! He also mentioned trying a new Thermister (whatever that is) when they return tomorrow.

So I guess my question is: have any of you heard of or experienced similar issues with this or other boilers? Any suggestions I could pass on to the engineers?

Thanks guys and I hope you had a better Christmas break than we did!

Jon
 
Sponsored Links
Hope i dont buy your place! :rolleyes:

If they dont sort it tomorrow id be speaking to someone more senior,they have been good enough to take your money every month.
Tell them u are going to speak to trading standards and that u want them to send someone capable of fixing it ie.Group services at there cost!

If it aint straight foward your goosed! 80% of British Gas are a farce-Unless u get one of the competant engineers uve **** it.
Dont swallow it of them your paying for a service from them.
They think they have held there end up if they attend!
 
Haha! No seriously though, we've been up front with the agents and told them to tell all prospective buyers that the boiler will need replacing as well as some bits of damp treatment - which we have taken off the price of the flat (because we don't have the money up front to pay for these repairs).

This is why I need it to at least hold out till we sell as to be honest the only interest has been from investors who will get a good deal, do it up and rent it or sell it on.
 
I think you're right. I'll give him one more chance to sort it tomorrow and if no joy then I'll call BG while he is here and demand they do something. I can't face being stuck for the long weekend ahead as well with no heating or hot water.

Thanks :)
 
Sponsored Links
Dont know this boiler but is there an overheat stat that needs manually resetting?Just a thought.
 
Ive never worked on one but i know from some of the G Services boys on here THEY r a DOG of a Boiler and its likley if they cant sort it next time they will try to wash there hands of it.

Lets hope they prove me wrong!
 
dip switches shouldnt be an issue. They should all be set to off on this model. or just no.2 on. But should work either way.
need to check oheat stat, its in comb chamber on right of heat exchanger and check resistance of ntc. I'm assuming they changed both pcb and ignition module??
 
Thank you all for the questions/suggestions :)

As I have, for the most part, no idea what most of what you have said means (I'm a web developer), I will ask the engineer these questions tomorrow and report back his responses and/or results.

Thanks again.
 
So the engineer has arrived and I've bombarded him with your questions/suggestions and he said that mickyg was "bang on the money" but that yes, he has done all of those things. He is today installing another PCB as well as a thermister (which apparently is an NTC) so fingers crossed!

Will post an update...
 
We have hot water and heating for the first time in 6 days, woohoo! Turned out to be a dodgy thermister. Thanks for all your help, DIYers :)
 
Glad to here your sorted now-All that for a 15quid NTC
They should have tryed that before starting down the PCB route.
 
I knew of an S-D Thelia where the same BG engineer spent 2-3 hours on each of three days before declaring that it could not be fixed!

They are not my favourite boiler but measuring the resistance of thermistors is the most basic of checks that takes about two minutes and is something every engineer should do as a standard check anyway.

Tony
 
Hmm, jumped for joy too soon!

Whilst the heating is red hot, the hot water blasts out scalding for about 5 seconds then runs tepid at best. Have left it for 20 minutes, then run for 10 minutes and so on but no joy, even though the temp reads 70 and the hot water switch is all the way to the top :evil:

Have phoned BG and told them I want a new engineer as this is ridiculous. Got someone coming out this afternoon but God have mercy on us if another spare part is needed, being as it's NYE with a long weekend ahead.
 
Gotta luv bg, part chuckers :LOL:
Have you heard em mumbling under their breath "Ip dip, Dog sh*t, hairy willy, juicy tit, You are not it" :LOL:
 
Finally fixed - this time a real engineer turned up and fixed it in 30 minutes. Previous engineer had left the hot water dial connected at 90 degrees so it was permanently on cold! And he was shocked by the NINE parts the previous guy replaced when as he said, all that was needed was a new NTC.

Once he sorted the wonky dial it was perfect. Fecking British Gas - why couldn't they have sent out this real engineer in the first place instead of the amateur?

Well, happy new year all!
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top