Sime 80C Format

[martinwalsh]

Got a brand new boiler on moving house 3 years ago. Plumber recommended by Brother in Law whose pretty clued up and the fella did a good job for him.
We got the same boiler as he did a Sime 80c which had been fine for him for 18 months.
A week after we had ours fitted Brother in Laws virtually blew up.
I've had plumbers out three times with a total of £500 of repairs so far.
And its has started playing up again, my real gripe is the manual is rubbish. It makes no mention of the lights and what they mean. I have two lights on the right, oen has what looks like a fan icon next to it and this is always green. However recently it has started flashing and sometimes goes orange. Nothing in the manual. Have left boiler for 2 hours switched off and then it works again. However it stopped igniting again this morning and light flashed then wwent orange. Left for 5 hours before it worked. Nothing in manual about waht these lights mean though.
Do they mean somethign specific? Is this boiler brand a duff one, shoudl i stop throwing good money after bad and just get a new make?
Rgrds

 

[chrishutt]

martin wrote

I've had plumbers out three times with a total of £500 of repairs so far.

Are you sure you're using competent "heating engineers" who really understand how combis work? It's rare for a 3 year old boiler to develop faults of that scale. Sounds more likely that parts are being changed unnecessarily because "plumber" does not really know what he is doing.

 

[martinwalsh]

company i use are highly regarded locally and have fully explained everything, i also took two of the parts they said was faulty to another plumber who confirmed it. two of the times the boiler sprang leaks.

i have heard horror stories about this brand of boiler on other forums with one chap having engineers visit 19 times in 4 years.

 

[martinwalsh]

after managing to fill one bath, it has stopped workign again. doesnt ignite and then the light (as yet not known what it is) flashes after about 30 seconds. unit is makign some noise when water flows through it although i wouldnt call it loud.
pressure is at just over 1 bar and drops just below 1 bar when water running. water temp about 55 degrees when it does run.

 

[chrishutt]

Sounds like you haven't got the right manual. There must be adequate description of diagnostic lights, and a fault finding chart. Have you checked with Sime that you have correct manual?

 

[Agile]

If you find it difficult to find a boiler engineer familiar with this model then I suggest you call Sime and ask for their local service agent who is based not far from you.

Tony Glazier

 

[ChrisR]

From the manual. fig 22
Bi-colour green led off if power is cut-off
Bi-colour orange led: C.H. sensor (SM) fault
Green led flashing: fan/smoke pressure switch failure
[picture]
Red led on, ignition blocked/safety and smokes stats
tripped: turn the rotary switch in the position
(flame ) to restore functioning

 

[martinwalsh]

Thanks for all your help.
Its the Green led flashing: fan/smoke pressure switch failure error.

Also ive noticed that my pressure has dropped below 1bar and below the indicator the pressure guage on the front. Could this be the reason? Any tips here much appreciated.

 

[ChrisR]

Why don't you put the pressure back to 1 bar!

 

[DP]

Have you got a Benchmark logbook? Has it been completed with relevant details? If not, I would suspect corner cutting

Size of the company that does the work is no barometer of quality. Can see no reason why ANY boiler should BLOW up. If it has done that, then the incidence should be reported to HSE for safety reasons.

System components can and do fail. A heating engineer should be able to diagnose the defect and NOT HAVE to start changing parts to locate the defect.

 

[martinwalsh]

Why don't you put the pressure back to 1 bar!

How would i do that?

 

[kevplumb]

 

[martinwalsh]

thanks.

ok found that and boiler back to pressure it should be.

however still same problem, if i switch boiler off and on again a few times eventually it will kick in, but most times it ends up with light flashing again.

 

[martinwalsh]

anyone know sime website? i found it once but cant find it again. talk about a company that down want to be found. and before anyoen suggests ive tried google and about 20 different ways of searching.

thanks

 

[chrishutt]

Try here but I think it takes you to English version of Italian site. Sime have had problems with the UK operation in recent years.