Hi, I have one of these ageing workhorse which is about 23 years old.
It was already in the house when we moved in 1996. It has been very reliable in all these years. Had a new fan put in about 10+ years ago. Had a new pump and Electronic wall timer replaced about 4 years ago and a new Air Pressure switch replaced about 3 years ago. About 2 years ago there was some ? gas smell coming from the boiler into the room when the boiler was operational. The Engineer whom I called checked the small gas pipe from the wall going into the boiler and said there was a slight gas leak there. He undid the pipe and ?cleaned it and put some thread seal tape (PTFE) around it and reconnected it back and then tested the boiler when it was running, with his electronic handheld device and said it was OK now. Subsequently it was alright for a while and the gas smell comes back sometimes, usually in the beginning period of operation. To be on the safe side, I always have the window next to the boiler slightly open when it is on.
It was last serviced about 2 years ago and every 6 months or so I take off the case and give the insides a hoover and spray some WD40 into the fan impeller joint and the burner assembly.
The problem I am having now, which was sort of intermittent about a year ago is, it fails to fire up sometimes. It is sort of becoming quite regular these days. What I have noticed is that when everything is switched on and running, if I were to raise the front glass fascia a few inches up and drop it on to its catch at the bottom of which the Automatic Ignition PCB with the switch is located, it starts firing up. Once it is up and running, it can go on working for about 10 hours without a problem, until it switches off either manually or by timer setting.
So I am not sure where the fly in the ointment is. Whether the Electronic Ignition in the PCB is playing up or something else. Perhaps it needs a good service?
Considering the age of the boiler, I am quite happy to replace it. However like I said it has been very reliable in the last 23 years and there is no guarantee that a new boiler is going to be this reliable and last this long.
Sadly they don't make them like these anymore.
Any advice or suggestions would be most welcome.
Kind Regards.
It was already in the house when we moved in 1996. It has been very reliable in all these years. Had a new fan put in about 10+ years ago. Had a new pump and Electronic wall timer replaced about 4 years ago and a new Air Pressure switch replaced about 3 years ago. About 2 years ago there was some ? gas smell coming from the boiler into the room when the boiler was operational. The Engineer whom I called checked the small gas pipe from the wall going into the boiler and said there was a slight gas leak there. He undid the pipe and ?cleaned it and put some thread seal tape (PTFE) around it and reconnected it back and then tested the boiler when it was running, with his electronic handheld device and said it was OK now. Subsequently it was alright for a while and the gas smell comes back sometimes, usually in the beginning period of operation. To be on the safe side, I always have the window next to the boiler slightly open when it is on.
It was last serviced about 2 years ago and every 6 months or so I take off the case and give the insides a hoover and spray some WD40 into the fan impeller joint and the burner assembly.
The problem I am having now, which was sort of intermittent about a year ago is, it fails to fire up sometimes. It is sort of becoming quite regular these days. What I have noticed is that when everything is switched on and running, if I were to raise the front glass fascia a few inches up and drop it on to its catch at the bottom of which the Automatic Ignition PCB with the switch is located, it starts firing up. Once it is up and running, it can go on working for about 10 hours without a problem, until it switches off either manually or by timer setting.
So I am not sure where the fly in the ointment is. Whether the Electronic Ignition in the PCB is playing up or something else. Perhaps it needs a good service?
Considering the age of the boiler, I am quite happy to replace it. However like I said it has been very reliable in the last 23 years and there is no guarantee that a new boiler is going to be this reliable and last this long.
Sadly they don't make them like these anymore.
Any advice or suggestions would be most welcome.
Kind Regards.
