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Boiler troubles

34 posts & 13 voices | Started 4 months ago by Taff | Latest reply from supertramp

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Taff - Member

Hot back from this afternoons ride to discover we have no hot water. Got a Worcester Bosch 28CDI [fanned flue] and the flame detection icon is blinking quickly ie a fault. Looked up in the manual and tried doing a reset and turning off the unit and turning it back on again. When there's a boiler demand then the flashing comes back, still no hot water or heating.

Got an engineer friend coming out tomorrow to have a look but is there anything in the mean time I can check/do? I'm presume not but thought would ask.

Posted 4 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

Check the boiler pressure. It should be somewhere between 1 and 2 bar.

My boiler did same thing after i had some work done on my central heating system. Fortuneately for me i had the guys still in my flat and it was sorted within 20 minutes.

Posted 4 months ago #
Taff - Member

Pressure had dropped to just below 1bar. I topped it up to just over 1bar but no change. Will go an put some more in and see what it does.

Posted 4 months ago #
Taff - Member

Just put it back up to 1.5bar and no difference. Having taken the cover off it's not igniting by the looks of things. Will just leave it to my mate I reckon, just hope the boiler will live to fight another day

Posted 4 months ago #
fastindian - Member

I've got an older WB boiler that went dead just before xmas, check if it has a thermal cut out switch (on the top right hand side of mine) if so check it hasnt popped and if it has press it back in.

Got mine going again

Posted 4 months ago #
wrightyson - Member

It'll run happily under one bar so that's not the issue I'm afraid. Maybe anything from pcb to fan, time for trial and error me thinks. Hope your mates got time and patience!! What does the flame symbol relate to by the way?

Posted 4 months ago #
wrightyson - Member

Oh and the first word of your op is somewhat ironic

Posted 4 months ago #
Taff - Member

The manual says Air Flow Fault. My mate was overjoyed to hear about it, he said there would be several things that it could be ie flue fan etc. will just leave it now. Going to work unshaven which is fine but brushing my teeth in cold water is wrong. Thank god for the electric shower!

Posted 4 months ago #
chickenman - Member

When the fan goes it often blows the pcb fuse; I went through 3 fans before someone suggested a blocked condensate trap (moisture in combustion chamber was corroding the fan motor windings). Mine's 11 years old now; maybe the newer ones don't have this problem.

Posted 4 months ago #
Taff - Member

Are your houses nice and warm? I think I have icicles starting off my ears.

Posted 4 months ago #
wrightyson - Member

Had to turn the heating down earlier coz the multifuel was cooking us in the lounge
You had no joy i take it???

Posted 4 months ago #
coffeeking - Member

Going to work unshaven which is fine but brushing my teeth in cold water is wrong

Woahwoahwoah hang on a second, crank that back. You're saying you brush your teeth with warm water?! You sick.....

Posted 4 months ago #
Cougar - Member

Is your kettle broken too?

Posted 4 months ago #
Taff - Member

He was in London today and tried gettig back early but got caught in traffic apparently. He's here first thing so he says. Had gas fire on but house is now so cold it's not doing much. Got hot water bottles in bed!

Posted 4 months ago #
coffeeking - Member

They do, I think, fire up the fan before igniting, so it does sound like it might be the flue fan failed. (I have the 30cdi).

Posted 4 months ago #
totalshell - Member

ok stand by your boiler.... create a demand.. switch the ch on.. you should hear a fan start? if you do the fans working ..if you dont it could be the fan or the pressure switch.. if the fan does run it could be the pressure switch or the venturi.. can you hear it clicking like its trying to light if so its none of the above and is an ignition fault possibly cable or spark gap..
my money on fan venturi or air pressure switch.. nothing you can leagally or otherwise do only if the venturi is bloked or the spark gap incorrect can your repairman do a parts free repair.. fan 150 aps 25 anything else.. mortgage.. no there is a simples answer.. bg do fixed fee repairs starting at 69 quid.. bloke comes 15 mins later tell you how much it will cost to fix .. you say yes or no.. max is 300 i think.. or WB have a fantastic set up and fixed fee repairs are 180 ish

Posted 4 months ago #
Rusty Mac - Member

Morning Taff,

Hope your boiler is fixed now, thinking back i think the problem with mine was eventually put down to the new control unit being wired in wrong. This gave similar symptoms to your problem but i am guessing you have not changed the timer control unit as you were out biking when it failed.

Appologies that my first advice proved to be duff.

Posted 4 months ago #
Taff - Member

Hi Rusty Mac. Left the keys with my mate so will see if he comes around today. He's not called me yet but he may have been around and just sorted it then again he may not in which case I'm probably going to go mental.

Thanks Totalshell. Not at home but don't recall hearing the fan. I have a feeling this is the culprit though. Is the fan located at the top either near the flue or within the flue? If so there was a bit of a squeal coming from it after a few hours of use and just before shut down. Only really noticed it late at night when the mrs was using the hot tap and the demand clicked off. Will have a look at those and see what i can make out. Southern Electric did contact me a few weeks ago about their boiler repair program. Think it was about £15 a month of something similar.

Posted 4 months ago #
sandwicheater - Member

I had a similar problem. Worcester have a help line with engineers that can talk you though problems. Was a great help when my own died.

Posted 4 months ago #
Taff - Member

Will see if he comes around if not will look at calling them before 8pm for some advice.

Just been having a look at those service plans. Seems quite steep for what you get. Also a few of them ie SE, want to come and check your boiler first so that's no good. If he doesn't come may well try the BG number first.

Posted 4 months ago #
totalshell - Member

i'd plump for the wb fixed price repair my self.. i d suspect from your description of the fan squaling that perhaps the mounts have failed on the fan unfortunately that means new fan as above fans about 130 -150 plus 45 min for fitting.. fixed price repair did i mention that.. wb wont talk you through an issue beyond customer controls unless you are gas safe reg. AND although they do have a help line it can be a loooooong wait to get through and is more heavily staffed during business hours....

Posted 4 months ago #
TomB - Member

We've got (I think) that exact boiler, and have had the same fault (air flow fault, fast flashing light) 3 times in the last 3 months, it's only happened when very windy. The first 2 times it has rectified itself in a few hours (2nd time was on Christmas eve and we were on the verge of a Christmas day callout!). We are now without heating waiting/hoping it will sort itseld out again, if not I think a WB call out/service plan may be the way forward......

Plumbers- could the wind affect the flue to the extent the boiler will shut itself off? Less windy today but no joy yet I don't think (wife's sorting it while I'm busy ~~on stw~~ at work). Lucky kids got hats and scarves for Chrimbo!

Posted 4 months ago #
coffeeking - Member

nothing you can leagally or otherwise do only

IIRC it's not illegal to do your own repairs, just illegal to be paid for doing repairs when not Gas Safe registered... But I guess if you can't identify it yourself and understand the issues you probably shouldn't be doing the work to be fair.

Plumbers- could the wind affect the flue to the extent the boiler will shut itself off?

We've had 100mph winds, that could fire up the flue directly, wind direction dependent. That could well confuse the boiler, yes! However it shouldn't stay out of action, unless it possibly has a system of a number of tries then shutting itself down for safety. The manual tells you how to do a full reset procedure IIRC.

Posted 4 months ago #
totalshell - Member

in theory yes the wind blowing down the flue could influence the air pressure switch.. but once the wind dropped it would start again i think worcesters attempt to light 5 times before going into 'lockout'..

Posted 4 months ago #
Taff - Member

No wind when it went the first time. Was the next day. Yes it attempts to re-light every 4 minutes and hasn't sparked again but then since then it's been blowing a fgale constantly.

Posted 4 months ago #
Bear - Member

BALANCED FLUE should not be affected by the wind as the pressure is the same for both sides.

Posted 4 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

We had an issue with the Air Pressure Switch on our Worcester.

The air elimination valve at the top was weeping causing a small amount of water to pool in the bottom inside the outer case.

The air pressure switch has a little rubber tube that runs from the bottom of this casing so it can detect the drop in air pressure to know whether the outflow fan is working or not. It won't ignite if it can't detect that drop.

In our case a drop of water got into that tube. So I just take the tube off, blow it clear and re-attach. Job done.

Posted 4 months ago #
Taff - Member

Just heard from my mate and he's popping around tonight after he's finished work. Hopefully some stella will cover 'having a look' just hope the actual repair isn't too much but we'll see. He only charged 20 for a service despite it being a mission last time so fingers crossed.

Posted 4 months ago #
wrightyson - Member

Get the Stella and repair in the right order or you could have lots of fun !

Posted 4 months ago #
Taff - Member

Boiler fixed. Bit of a mission apparently but it was a seized pump or at least part of the pump was seized

Posted 4 months ago #
wrightyson - Member

Quick call to the north sea rigs to let them know about the suddend gas demand heading their way! Can't beat mates with spanners!!

Posted 4 months ago #
supertramp - Member

Taff - you brush your teeth with hot water? from the hot tap? Now that is wrong lol

Posted 4 months ago #
Taff - Member

I have whacked the thermostat up for tonight to get some heat back into the walls.

Out of the whole topic and you pick up on how I brush my teeth! Cold water makes the bristles really hard doesn't it!!

Posted 4 months ago #
supertramp - Member

Taff - I had never thought of that! I'll try it tonight

I know nothing about boilers and felt the need to contribute!

Posted 4 months ago #