Intermittent noisy Ignition

Hello,

I have recently had a Glow-worm Flexicom 15hx boiler installed by a registered Corgi Plumber and it intermittently ignites (say 1 in 10 cycles) with a bit of a "bang" which is about 4 times louder than the more frequent and acceptable muted "boomph" sound.

I would like to know if this is safe and what could be causing it, before I go back to this easily rattled individual who would win no prizes at charm school!

I have trawled these forums and seen similar occurances commented on, but would appreciate any feedback relating to this specific boiler model.

Many thanks

Definitely needs looking at. Should ignite first time with no excessive noise. Get installer back to check his set up of boiler and working pressure at gas meter. Could be low pressure. Ideals suffer from this with low working pressure. If he can't fix it then it's a call to glow worm under warranty

Hi

Call Glow worm and get a service call under warrenty. 'Hard ignition' is the problem I had the same problem on combi fitted in our last project. Glow worm have machined the heat exchanger around the spark electrode to cure the problem in new ones. The ones that are out there get modified spark assembly.
The only reason I am using Glow worm on the next one is that I got £50 cash back from a one day course.(haven't actually got it yet though!)

Thanet.

On such a low power boiler its unlikely but could you do a little test first?

Turn on the three largest burners on a cooker hob and see if it still does the same thing?

Tony

Hello all,


Am very grateful for all responses - will set to work on your recommendations and repost outcome here.


Many thanks

Hi all,

I called the installer first thing in the morning and he was refreshingly un-defensive (compared to the morning after installation, when after a visist to the Glow-worm website, I had to ask him "Why have you installed a boiler that Glow-worm describe as heating only, when I need hot water too?").
He was happy to state that the boiler should not be making these unusually loud ignition bangs and said that he would contact Glow-worm Technical Support and get back to me.
He got back to me very promptly with the news that a Glow-worm engineer would call in 48 hours to check the bloiler out and that if I wasn't satisfied with the outcome he would take the boiler out again and install a new one.
I certainly could ask for more than that, could I?
Additional information from my first posting is that I am asking for hot water and heat to 6 radiators in a semi-detatched bungalow.
I have 15mm gas pipe due to the age of the property and the boiler is sited 8 - 9 feet away from the gas meter.
The choice of replacement boiler was apparently limited owing to the configuration of the previous - a Baxi WM 38/3 RS and my asking the installer to try to limit the spend by re-using as much of the existing system as possible as the cost was having to come from my very limited redundancy pay.
Originally the plan was to install an Alpha CD32, but this turned out not to be suited.
I fully accept that these pre-conditions may have limited the installers options.
So on the bright side we wait for Thursdays visit with optimism.
Finally, with some additional gas burn courtesy of the cooker, we notice some lessening of the rogue ignition but have to admit that a 1 day sampling of an intermittent problem probably will not assist those extremely charitable tradespersons who give their knowledge so freely here to draw any substantial conclusions.

Sincere and grateful thanks to all for both your time and your interest.

eljay376 said:

Hi all,

Finally, with some additional gas burn courtesy of the cooker, we notice some lessening of the rogue ignition but have to admit that a 1 day sampling of an intermittent problem probably will not assist those extremely charitable tradespersons who give their knowledge so freely here to draw any substantial conclusions.

Sincere and grateful thanks to all for both your time and your interest.

Click to expand...

Nice to have someone who values our help!

If running the gas hob lessens the problem it may turn out to be a sticky gas regulator at the meter. Thats something the installer should diagnose as its outside the control of the boiler manufacturer.

Its also nice to hear of a responsible attitude of an installer. That makes a change from the cowboys we hear about and shows that there are some good people about! Thats made my night so I will go and have a drink to celebrate!

Tony

Hello once again all,

Rule number 1 - enjoy your grandchildren, putting right as many of the mistakes as possible that you made when you really did mean to enjoy your own kids growing up.

Seriously though, the Easter holiday intervened and the opportunity to have some precious time out with two smashing grand-children took priority over further postings here.

So - all agreed and arranged, the p.m. visit from the Glow-worm man bought me crashing right back to the real world when he arrived A.M. and no-one was here to let him in, (sounds familiar?)

That's about what an old pessimist like me would have expected.

But the good news is that it is now 3 days since we have "ducked the bullets" of the spasmodic explosive ignition!

Would anyone be prepared to go the final mile with us and support the theory that new parts are often "tight" and just need a bit of use to get them functioning correctly?

I would really like to now get to grips with "boxing in" more pipes with more bends than an 8-lane American highway.

I really think that plumbing should count as an art form as such a "pigs ear" can be created by the unseeing who rate function over "easy on the eye".

After my original installer introduced good taste to his craft, my upgraded system can only be described as "industrial" to the beholder, (it might keep us warm and provide limitless hot water, but you wouldn't want to contemplate the pipework for too long or it might make you giddy).

Once again, sincere thanks to all who have parted quite freely with information they might otherwise have made a fair living from.

Your assistance has been very much appreciated and I for one won't deny you the "warm glow" very much deserved for your charity toward our ignorance of the craft of plumbing.

Thank you all, very much.

Best regards - eljay.