Ultracom 2 30cxi - CH not turning on using wireless

[mattdragon2]

I have a Ultracom 2 30cxi boiler.
Had a powercut and since then the central heating wouldn't come on using the wireless receiver.

If I turned the temp up on the wireless sender, the receiver would pick up the signal and show a green light but no heating would come on. I changed the frequency and it still no heating but a green light.

The central heating did come on a couple times and I could turn it off using the wireless sender. But it was random. If I tried the test mode to turn heating on, it would work but the test mode only lasted 15 mins. I couldn't find a way to manually turn on the heating.

I Called an engineer who said it's the wireless sender and pcb. He came round and fitted a new wireless receiver/ sender and a PCB but didn't fix the problem.
He managed to get the central heating to come on but it only comes on when you set the temp high enough on the boiler itself and doesn't turn off or on using the wireless receiver. It only turns off if I turn the temp down on the boiler, something I wasn't able to do before with the old wireless receiver.

They said they would call the manufacturer and find out what could be wrong, but i've spent £550 for the wireless/PCB and manual labour and nothing fixed. I'm worried they will start ordering my parts and spend more money on labour and nothing fixed!

The radiator light is flashing even when the heating is off. It never used to do this. It would just be constantly shown.
I was never able to turn the heating on using the + and - buttons with my old wireless receiver.

He said that the wireless receiver does work but from my point of view, it's doing exactly the same thing as the old wireless receiver/sender.

Any clues what it could be?

 

[muggles]

So you employed him to fix your boiler, then paid him even though he hadn't fixed it? More fool you. Are you sure the transmitter and receiver are properly paired? I'd be starting by doing a factory reset on both and then re-pairing them. What make/model of controller do you have? Is it GlowWorm's Climapro or something else?

 

[mattdragon2]

After the plumber installed the new wireless receiver and sender and PCB, he said the problem is now the boiler runs in heating mode constantly.

He said he thought it might be a diverter valve. At this point the wireless receiver couldn't turn the temperature down and the radiators have been blasting heat.
We had to put the temp down on the boiler from 75C to 50C so it wouldn't be living in a sauna.

They said if its not the diverter valve I wouldn't have to pay and be free of charge. So they came round, fitted it and said its working now, I went to turn it off, he said the signal takes about 20mins to kick in. So paid for that part and labour. He also showed me the old diverter valve saying where it was getting stuck. He then started saying the boiler wouldnt last long 6months maybe 2 years and should consider getting new boiler.

When he left, and I waited 20mins, the heating is still constantly on, the wireless thermostat doesnt turn the heating off. So I've paid for this diverter valve and nothing has changed.

I have a feeling I'm going to be paying for all these parts and then they will turn round and say I need a new boiler.

So far I've spent £800 on this.
£90 on diagnostic
£518 for new wireless, PCB, labour
£206 diverter valve and labour.

Is this right? Should I be paying this much to get it fixed? Can I ask them to fix it for free seeing as nothing has changed and my new wireless thermostat doesn't do nothing?

I tried repairing the wireless thermostat but it just seems the heating is constantly on.

When I set the boiler to 75C the radiators come on to full heat and stay on like that all day. If i try to turn down the thermostat it doesn't turn the heating off.
So i'm constantly at 75C heat on the boiler heating radiators and the wireless thermostat doesn't turn the heat off..

 

[muggles]

You don't need a new boiler, you almost certainly didn't need a new PCB and definitely didn't need the diverter. You should have told him to wait his 20 minutes (which is rubbish by the way - 2 minutes is closer to the mark) to prove that it worked before you paid him

I think all you need is the wireless communication between the controller and receiver resetting, which is something you can do yourself. If it was me, I wouldn't let those crooks back in my house again, and if you tell them you want them to come back free of charge you will almost certainly find they won't want to. You shouldn't have paid them the first time as it wasn't fixed, and paying them a second time suggests you're a slow learner I'm afraid

Post up what controller you have and I can talk you through the reset procedure. I really do think that's all that's needed, and you can do it yourself

 

[FlyingFish]

Sounds like a danfoss receiver that was faulty, which is common. Swapping the pcb may have brought in a new issue where it may not have been correctly installed and still has the link in place to run the heating. Just a thought.

 

[mattdragon2]

They installed honeywell cm921, I found a video on youtube and followed that to repair the device but it still didn't turn the central heating off. I changed the battieries just incase too, no change. I put to manual mode, turn temp up, green light comes on but boiler is already heating anyway, I turn temp down below target temp, boiler stays on.

Before on the boiler, the radiator symbol would be constantly on, now it keeps flashing, which is unsual as it never did this before.

When you turn the hot water on, the tap symbol flashes and the radiator symbol stops flashing and stays constantly on but when the hot water stops running, the heating kicks back on and the radiator symbol starts flashing again.

Is it fair to ask them to fix the rest for free including any additional parts considering the price I'm paying?
I have a feeling if they come down and try to fix it, they will suggest getting a new boiler, which means I've spent all this money for nothing. Someone suggested making a section 75 claim on credit card or small claims court. But I have no way to prove what he did was right or not, IE there are 5 parts broken not 1. But it seems strange that my boiler would break multiple parts all at once?

Any suggestions for the next step?

 

[mattdragon2]

I don't think its the receiver because when my old receiver broke originally, the heating wouldn't come on at all and the error code was:

S.30 - No heating demand from external controls.

Now the code is S.5 Post run pump/fan

 

[FlyingFish]

So the fault has changed from intermittent heating to constant heating? This would indicate incorrect wiring of the rf receiver or incorrect installation of the pcb. How you proceed is up to you. Add it is work on a gas appliance you could call gas safe and take their advice, which could 'encourage' your fitter to do the right thing and sort out his mistake.

 

[muggles]

So the fault has changed from intermittent heating to constant heating? This would indicate incorrect wiring of the rf receiver or incorrect installation of the pcb. How you proceed is up to you. Add it is work on a gas appliance you could call gas safe and take their advice, which could 'encourage' your fitter to do the right thing and sort out his mistake.

Good shout - I bet he's left the link in on the new PCB or something daft like that.

 

[mattdragon2]

Update:
I called the company and explained the heat is still constantly on and the diverter valve had no effect.
The guy on the phone asked me to check for any error codes, there were none.

They said that it could be due to the wiring of the wireless receiver since their plumbers aren't electricians. He said to get an electrician who can wire a wireless thermostat and they will refund the cost if it's that. However if it's to do with my house then no refund.

If it is their fault for bad wiring, aren't I entitled to a refund on the electrician job and the labour+parts for the diverter valve since that didn't stop the heating from going off?

If it is a wiring problem in my house due to the powercut, aren't I able to get any money back from them since they misdiagnosed the issue, if so what is fair?

If it is wiring of the house, the only thing I can't prove is if the powercut did damage to both the boiler and wiring of house.

Any opinions on what is fair to be refunded ( if any) that I should attempt to claim or dispute?

 

[muggles]

What you're morally/legally entitled to and what they want to give you are going to be entirely different things I'm afraid. If the PCB didn't fix the issue, nor the new receiver, nor the diverter valve, then theoretically you shouldn't have had to pay for any of them, and there's a good argument for saying that you shouldn't have to pay for all of the labour of the muppet throwing parts at your boiler without proper diagnosis either. The issues you have are a) it's difficult to prove what did or did not fix it (it may be that either the PCB and/or the receiver did provide a fix but weren't wired correctly), and b) they have your money and aren't likely to want to give it back without a fight. It would seem that the diverter definitely made no difference so you have a better case for getting a refund on that, but again you need their agreement. Ask nicely, you might well be in luck, but I wouldn't hold out too much hope

If they don't agree to at least refund the diverter valve then you need to consider whether you think it's worth going down the route of court action or not. I'd say probably not - it's a lot of hassle for probably very little gain, as I suspect a court would throw out a claim for the PCB and/or wireless receiver if it does turn out to be a wiring error on the new board, on the basis that they were both fitted at the same time and it's absolutely impossible to prove which provided a fix, so you'd be claiming on the diverter only and life's too short to spend months arguing over £200

 

[mattdragon2]

I agree that small claims court is not the route for reclaiming costs of the diverter valve, however I used a Credit card to pay for the labour+parts. Would it be possible to claim a Section 75 to reclaim any of the costs as they are over £100?

I want to be fair in what I reclaim. Though it's difficult to determine what is fair, when I can't figure out if the parts they threw at the boiler fixed it or not, and they don't know what the issue is.

 

[AGAS]

OP , why are you still dealing with these idiots , if you think you will get money back you live in cookoo land . cut your looses and get a recommended professional in to sort it out instead of wasting more time and money

 

[mattdragon2]

Had an electrician down, he said the link on the PCB board hadn't been removed due to the voltage.

I asked for a refund on the diverter valve and they said they would refund the labour and parts if they could fit my old diverter valve, otherwise they wouldn't.

Would the diverter valve that they replaced 5 days ago still be in good enough condition because it was taken out? I can't prove they have taken good care of the old part because they took it with them so don't want them installing my old diverter valve and it is iin even worse condition due to being taken out the boiler?