Combi Boiler – Is it dying :( ?

I know these posts are as bad as ‘what tyres’….

excuse my ingnorance relating to heating systems…

We have an 8 year old ‘Ideal’ combi boiler, its not a fancy one its all analogue (not like my mums fancy new digital one with lights)

anyway when the heating is on constant or timed after about an hour the heating turns off and you nocite the rads are cold. we then have to turn the water/heating dial OFF, then back ON you can hear the fan then she fires up and all is well again.

this happens a few times a day….

any ideas what i could be… the heating does work as i said but there seems to be an intermittent fault with a ‘thermastat’ type thing?? as in it cant re-fire itself automatically.
were just worried if we keep ‘manually’ firing it up, the system will blow up and die.

cheers

Could be something simple like the Thermocouple which needs replacing. My boiler kept going off recently and I had to manually start the boiler all the time…sounds like your problem?
If it is just that should cost no more that £45-£75 to replace, unless you live in London then it will be ‘oooooo…sucking through teeth…you need a new boiler mate’
Hope that helps and good luck
HB

cheers mate…. does sound the same problem…. i have a number of the plumber who did my mums but cant get hold of him….. hopefully it won’t be too much GULP

Try re-setting it real quick after it stops firing. It may be the thermostat on the output side. SO it fires up and gets hot, then at some point turns off and needs a manual re-set and then it works for another period. If it then runs for an hour sounds like it might be a wonky timer. Is the pressure over 1 bar all the time, have you tried to bleed the system and not topped it up through the filling loop. Wouldbe easier if it didnt fire at all . Not even certain if there is a pilot light with thermocouple on most combi’s. Mine uses a HT spark to fire the gas . Unfortunatly the coil could be overheating , or the plug overhetaing and not firing, then the safety cut outs will stop the gas. Could be dirty ionization probe or magic eye, although these tend to stop all firing until changed / cleaned.

Listen real carefully to your boiler . Is the pump on , is the fan on, firing sequence normally click click click on basic step programmer , fan on, click check with air preassure sensor, click click gas on louder clack as gas train opens, click click BBBzzzzzzzzzzzz spark plug arcing , whhooofff of gas igniting , click click, checking to see if there is a flame of correct combustion characturistics. Then you are on / off dependant on TRV’s and demand .

it’s not a ferroli by any chance is it?

my combi is doing pretty much the same thing, cuts out for no reason and i have to switch it on, off and reset it loads of times etc. to get it working at present i have to wait for things to cool down so i can switch it on – arrgghhhh!

i’ve called british gas out and it’s turned out to be an electrical fault. the guy said my combi was ‘special’ aka a pile of crap! 😆

Mine cut out when I was in the shower, t’other day. Just as I’d shampooed me head. I was stomping around in a towel, cursing, with shampoo in me eyes, trying to get the thing to come on again. Then, after a few minutes, and turning the shower off and on again, it fired up again. Bastard thing. Done that a couple of times.

ive checked the pressure and its fine, when it goes out you can hear a fan type noise but no flame.

sods law the heatig has been on since 7am and it hasnt gone out….

were being paranoid but prevention better than cure, i did call the plumber guy again he said it is a needle in a haystack to diagnose but is calling round next week to give it a good clean/mini service.

cheers all