Vokera 20-80 RS Flowmatic fault

[Pugs]

Since I bought the house 2 years ago the boiler has been fine. Recently ( about 4 weeks ) heating water has been a problem. When the radiators are on it tries to gives me hot water but can't maintain a steady temperature. It gets red hot, then goes off the boil. It fluctuates like this for a short while and then becomes incapable of even doing that.
If the heating isn't on there is no warm water produced when I run the tap. Happily the radiators work brilliantly. They were bled about 3 months ago. I can see or hear nothing different which may give a reason for this. The pilot light is on and is the correct colour.
I know the boiler is old ( our neighbours confirm this from the date of the kitchen extension) and the timer on it is dead but the previous owners dealt with this by having an external one fitted next to it.
I am a lone home owner with a mortgage and, like other on this site, would like to get it repaired properly without having to get a loan out. Help!

 

[gas4you]

I would initially suspect the diaphragm has gone. if this is the case I would expect a charge of between £80-£100 + VAT

 

[scatmanjohn]

Sounds to me like you have a few problems going on there.

When was it last serviced?

 

[Pugs]

I have no idea when the last service was. The previous owner of the house had emigrated before I bought it and there were no manuals or paperwork for any of the electrical or gas fed appliances left in the property. I know I am going to need to get it serviced. But if I can get a fair idea of what's wrong and how much it will cost to put it right I can hopefully prevent myself from being ripped off by a cowboy who just wants to put in a brand new boiler, regardless of whether I need one or not.

 

[corgiman]

There are very few "cowboys" as you put it out there most of us just want a fair days pay for a fair days work

havent any of your friends or family had a boiler chap out recently? if the answer is yes and they thought highly of him get him in (in these PC times it could be a woman so mebbe it would be worth gettin a bird in BTW I kid)

just get someone decnt to have a look, am I sure that Vokera have agents in your area.

also Boiler replacement is not nearly as profitable as boiler repair these days what with the poleskis under cutting everyone and the paperwork involved so I would not worry as much as you seem to be

Good luck

 

[Agile]

I have no idea when the last service was. The previous owner of the house had emigrated before I bought it and there were no manuals or paperwork for any of the electrical or gas fed appliances left in the property. I know I am going to need to get it serviced. But if I can get a fair idea of what's wrong and how much it will cost to put it right I can hopefully prevent myself from being ripped off by a cowboy who just wants to put in a brand new boiler, regardless of whether I need one or not.

Its recommended that you get the boiler serviced every year! Clearly you have not bothered since you bought it two years ago.

but your boiler is old and other issues usually arise when doing that repair and it usually takes about 2.5 hours on your model and sometimes have to get other spare parts and return to complete the job all within the original quoted price.

The thermostats are usually in need of replacement by now and the settings are often way out if its never been serviced.

Tony

 

[DP]

Great boiler. Well worth fixing. I have attended totally soaked Flowmatic, serviced it and dried with hair dryer for it to carry on working faultlessly.

I would be looking for someone who knows how the boiler works (this can be difficult) to locate point of defect. Service diverter, HW manifold, flow manifold, clean fan, burner and heat exchanger. Fit new seals, washers and case clips where needed. Charge expansion vessel. You end up with a boiler goes on for ever. Am still repairing Turbos which can be 25 years or older.

 

[Pugs]

My apologies to Tony if I lead him to think that I believe all plumbers to be cowboys but I have already met one gentleman who looked at it, scratched his head and said he'd find out if the spares were still available for such an archaic machine. He called the next day to tell me that they weren't and it was a new boiler or nothing. He seemed to expect me to lay out a grand and a half without checking to see if what he'd said was true or if I could find a more competetive price. Forvive me, but I got the distinct impression he wasn't interested in a repair at all. Anyway, thank you all for your help. I'll keeping plugging away.

 

[Agile]

You do not say how you came across that fellow.

Clearly he is not primarily involved with repairing boilers otherwise he would immediately know what the fault is and would know that the parts ARE available.

I always recommend that householders find out what model of boiler they have and then ask the engineer if they are familiar with that model BEFORE engaging them to repair it.

Tony