Boiler stopped working today. No lights and dead as a dodo. As you do, I decided to take it apart. Was clearly something on the PCB which after a little investigation turned out to be the transformer.

It’s a greenstar 15ri if that matters but my question is can I just buy a new one and whack it in. Are transformer failures on these things a common failure?

Thanks for any help!

Should be available off the shelf.

Keen DIYer here – just sorted our central heating by fitting a new circulation pump and have previously diagnosed and fixed a boiler PCB fault.

As long as you’re not messing around with the gas pipework and are decently competent then you’ll probably be ok to fit a new transformer.

Caveat: I take no responsibility for anything going wrong should you choose that course of action!

Thanks…. Figuring if I can take it out which I have…. I can put it back in 🙂

Just wondering if it’s plug and play and if I need to reset anything or do anything.

This could be my last post. It’s been emotional.

It’s a gas appliance and therefore you are required to be gas safe registered to remove the cover and perform any work whatsoever on the boiler.
That said, if you are the home owner I guess you are free to do whatever you like. Unless you’re considering turning yourself in?

Plug in, changed a few, think less than £20

Gears suck and you do too. Get your facts right before you comment.

From the gas safe fact sheet :
Overview
Gas safety legislation in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and Guernsey set out what is defined as
gas ‘work’. Generally the definition of “work in relation to gas fitting” lists specific activities which are:
• maintaining, servicing, permanently adjusting, disconnecting, repairing, altering or renewing the fitting
or purging it of air or gas;
• where the fitting is not readily movable, changing its position;
• removing the fitting.
These activities can only be undertaken by a competent Gas Safe registered engineer.

Taking the cover off is fine.

No he is right, if you take off a cover that forms a combustion seal then you need to be suitably qualified.

You need to look up the definition of gas fitting.

There are some things that you can do on a boiler but a lot of boilers now have only one case therefore to remove it you need to be qualified.

I am not Gas-Safe registered but I have also repaired the control circuitry* on my Boiler.

I have also dis-assembled the case and disturbed the combustion seals 😛

* electrical and plumbing circuitry 8)

Little bit unnecessary with the personal insult there old chap.

Integral casing:
Many appliances have cases which form a seal around the gas carrying components e.g.
burner, combustion chamber, etc as well as being decorative. If removing the case involves undoing a
number of screws, this normally means it is a functional case and it should not be removed by the consumer.
or a person who is not Gas Safe registered.

I think you’ll find the 15 RI case forms a gas tight seal for the purpose of containing the air used for combustion and preventing that air from being drawn from the environment directly around the boiler.
But of course you’d know that if you were gas safe registered.
Personally, I could care less what you do.
But when you post a question, people will reply. Sometimes you will receive answers you weren’t expecting. There’s no need to be rude though.
Edit: JAG. You’re probably going straight to hell. 😆

No he is right, if you take off a cover that forms a combustion seal then you need to be suitably qualified.

That’s right, but there are still an awful lot of boilers out there with a second sealed cover inside, and most of the easily fixable bits – pumps, electrics, expansion vessels etc – very much accessible outside it.

Look I didnt mean to be rude and I apologise. However I am not going to pay someone to replace a component I accessed in 5 minutes by removing 8 screws. That’s my choice. So back to my question…. If you are gas safe registered care to help out?

my old boiler worked better with the cover open a bit and the flue sensor disconnected…

The part is readily available,you have accessed the old part,you dont wish to pay for a gas safe operative to install the part and by doing this yourself you will not be covered by your home insurance from this point on, why ask?

• maintaining, servicing, permanently adjusting, disconnecting, repairing, altering or renewing the fitting
or purging it of air or gas;
• where the fitting is not readily movable, changing its position;
• removing the fitting.

DIYer and tick to all of the above, do I win a prize?!

No I don’t want to pay someone as to be honest I don’t trust anyone else and am perfectly competent to work on electrical systems. Not the gas side – I would not mess with that.

Gass safe registered friend is coming to look tomorrow so will grab the part and he will fit. So you can all calm down now.

Thanks for all the help everybody

” you will not be covered by your home insurance from this point on, why ask?”

Aye its a right bugger when you fix your boiler and the roof starts leaking then you find out cause you fixed the boiler your house insurance policy ceased.

Footflaps this is the thing…. It’s not rocket Science. I installed all my CH, shower install, rewired the whole house…. Stuff that most enthusiastic diy’ers do. Not bragging but I have seen plenty of work by those in the trade that does not come close.

I appreciate why the gas safe system is in place and totally behind it. But I diagnose industrial electrical faults with HV (three phase supplies motors inverters transformers etc) so feel quite happy working with this stuff and probably more competent than a heating “engineer” when it comes to the electrical side.

But in the eyes of the law and as someone pointed out above insurance, I am supposed to leave this task to a plumber. I would have thought a spark would be more suitable to work on boiler electrics? Or do they have to be gas safe registered too?

If you change the circuit board it can effect combustion on some boilers as it controls the gas valve/gas rate.

Seriously though, if the house burns down, how on earth would anyone know you’d changed a transformer in the boiler yourself? Even if you’d paid a pro, the receipt would be burnt along with everything else including your insurance policy. As for sifting through the rubble, do you really think they’ll be looking for finger prints on the charred remains of the boiler parts?

As long as you don’t do anything really daft like post it all in a social forum, you’ll get away scott-free!

Ha yes very true. If they go the the extent of checking a mtb forum then fair play they got me.
Mark – yeah says in manual that gas flow rates will need to be checked if PCB replaced. But I am not replacing PCB. Just the transformer at the back. That’s the kind of advice I was looking for so thanks for the reply.

If you are gas safe registered care to help out?

I totally agree with your logic regarding wanting to do this and I don’t doubt that you’re perfectly capable of performing this relatively minor repair.
The problem is that the regs are really in place to meet the worst case scenario. Unfortunately there are many users out there who will unwittingly put themselves and other in grave danger.
You would most likely have to buy the part on line because a lot of gas spares suppliers will not sell to joe public these days.
The whole house insurance thing is a bit far fetched but, you never know what those buggers will dig up when they’re trying to avoid a payout.

Gears suck (and they really do)… I do agree and apologies again for the personal insult – it was uncalled for.

As I said, will pop down to local heating suppliers tomorrow with my mate. At least I have diagnosed the issue which I am happy with. He can install and get a nice certificate for the installation and all will be well with the world.

So how many new boilers can’t you take the cover off? I quite like our old Worcester where lots of the non-gas parts can be accessed.

I don’t begrudge paying gas-safe plumbers, but in all the times I’ve watched our boiler get “serviced”:-

Never seen one check the flue gases.

Never seen one consider changing that critical inner combustion chamber seal (now been baked for 15 years and disturbed many times).

Once had to suggest how to correctly recharge the pressure vessel (after they did it wrong).

Even the original install was crap – running new gas pipe diagonally plonked across the loft floor joists shortest route a to b. And that guy had a great reputation and 40 years experience!

I can appreciate the OPs frustration when the day job involves far more dangerous kit.

Gears – are you gas safe registered? If so, sounds like there are plenty of frustrated would-be customers on here who’d like some good service 🙂

You don’t like personal insults gears suck?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/our-boiler-is-broken-options-on-a-saturday-night-near-wigan

oh lets be very clear if you experience a fire or other issue that might involve the emergency services the gentlemen and ladies from gas safe will be over your boiler like a rash.. it ll be down the manufacturers before you can whistle and they ll know instantly if all the parts are correct and original or not.. they love nothing more than a conviction and jail time is now common place as are 20k fines.. gas safe arent cuddly and forgiving they love you doing porridge. and for good reason gas and the products of combustion kill.. it may not be you but the 9 month old kid next door visiting the undertaker..

Total shell do you know what a broken record is?

And there is no 9 year old kid next door.

Continue with whatever you want to discuss. I am done here. Thanks all

shifter – Member
You don’t like personal insults gears suck?
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/our-boiler-is-broken-options-on-a-saturday-night-near-wigan

It’s been 8 months, fella, let it go.

It depends on the boiler model, my new Greenstar has nothing more than a vanity cover, everything is still open to the elements. Although on a similar vein, should the syphon be completely empty on the drain side? I only ask since mine is half full (had the cover off to fit it back on properly) which seemed odd and no real info in the installation manual. Just wondering if theres an issue with the pipework I should be looking at.

A few years ago in our first property i put in all the gas pipework for cooker/fires etc, just called British Gas to come and check for leaks.
They commented on what a good job i had done.

oh lets be very clear if you experience a fire or other issue that might involve the emergency services the gentlemen and ladies from gas safe will be over your boiler like a rash.

Even if that were the case (which it isn’t) there is bugger all you’ll be able to tell from a burnt out shell of a boiler, certainly not who did what when…..

twinw4ll
A few years ago in our first property i put in all the gas pipework for cooker/fires etc, just called British Gas to come and check for leaks.
They commented on what a good job i had done.

In my experience, a good DIY installation is generally significantly better than that done by a commercial gas engineer. This is because the DIY’er is not trying to make a profit. A blind, one handed monkey, high on amphetamines, could make a better job of the boiler installation that was done on my sisters brand new house………

What qualifications do you need to become a Gas engineer. I’m guessing you don’t need a PhD?

Take the transformer in the OP’s post. Whilst a registered gas engineer could come round, identify the fault, then remove and replace the faulty part, they almost certainly couldn’t tell you, in engineering terms HOW a transformer works, or be able to design one from scratch. Whereas, i could do all three of those things……..

These laws are a bit like speed limits, they are there to protect the stupid from the stupid. Necessary, but imo, ignorable by people with the ability to think, act, rationalise and assess their actions.

“In my experience, a good DIY installation is generally significantly better than that done by a commercial gas engineer”

the issue is that all DIY’rs think they are good.

my houses previous owner was a plumber on the ARK.

his rewiring was SHOCKING – literally.

When we moved into our existing property we had a British Gas engineer put the gas pipework from the new gas meter into the house, it was painful to watch, i could have done a better job blindfolded.