servicing boilers

[sooey]

Hi lads
I'm newly corgi registered and feeling my way into things on my own. I've just done a combi swap where I took out an ariston eurocombi, no problem with the job, but I took the combi home to strip it down and have a play with it. I found that after removing all the screws from the combustion chamber cover it was so tight on the seal that I couldn't remove it without bending it badly (even taking as much care as I could not to). The seal had welded itself to the casing and the cover and was well knackered when I eventually got it off, more importantly the cover was badly distorted by my efforts, and I wouldn't have been confident that it was possible to bend it back and achieve a proper seal on it. If I had been servicing that combi in someones house I don't see how I could have done it without completely knackering it up. What would you more experienced lads do in a situation like that.
thanks for any replies ray

 

[Agile]

Simple really.

Knowing that problem, I would first ask when it was last serviced and then explain that their boiler has a problem if its not serviced regularly as required by the manufacturers.

I would warn them that it may be necessary to supply a new cover!

Tony

 

[ollski]

You would probably have found that after you had fired it up for a few minutes it would have softened the seal a little and it would have come off....might have required a new seal though.

 

[sooey]

agile & ollsky:- Thank you for the advice, that makes good sense to me. ray

 

[Paul Barker]

Wait 'till you have to change a fan on an older Vokera, the screw in the middle at the back of the fan hood is always rusted up good, and if a ham fisted fitter has previously changed a fan it will be mullered.

I find one of the things that sorts out the men from the boys in this trade is if people can't use a philips screwdriver properly. You must not let it slip, you maybe have to exert 10 times as much effort pushing it into the screwhead as the small amout of ewffort you use trying to turn it. There is no worse sound than that of an employee using a power tool on a philips #2 screwhead and you hear the bang bang bang as he both mullers the screw and your driver bit. The only employee more anoying than that is the one who uses your long philips for all jobs.

I tell them once, if I catch them again they have to have a very good reason or they're shown the door.

 

[Rob]

funnily enough i had to fit a a new combustion chamber case today to the DIA model. along with a new PCB

had the same problem with the seals where presumably had never been removed.

and at £14 for the new case its well worth doing properly!

 

[BOB.DOLE]

what i do is get my blow torch out and blast it a few mins seems to work for me.

 

[sooey]

nice one bob. good tip, although I think an oxy-acetylene torch would have been needed on this one, to cut the bugger off and weld it back on again. paul that was also useful info about the old vokeras, any more common pitfalls to watch out for when going inside existing combis (or anything else for that matter) would be appreciated, and probably not just by me. ray

 

[Paul Barker]

Yes, don't touch an older Saunier Duval, you'll live to regret it, just politely say I'm sorry I haven't any experience on this time of boiler and I wouldn't want you to pay for my mistakes and walk out. If you do have the courage to attack one you'll find the customer is extremely surprised and she'll list off all the great names in your area who said they were going for parts and never returned. When you're there the rest of the day trying to fix all the maintenance induced leaks you'll realise why.

If your first conclusionm is that a boiler needs a pcb, try something else it probably isn't.

If the manufacturers instructions flow chart leads you to "replace pcb" burn them.

If you phone the manufacturer and he says "new pcb", ignore him.

Sometimes it's the pcb but resist the temptation to skip proper proving of all other parts.

Especially push the button in on the oh stat before going away and ordering a new pcb.