Boiler fails to come on at night….

[Cherry28]

Boiler is a Fagor FEB- 20E UK ECOPLUS in a holiday home (static caravan).

It has had a new thermostat fitted. We set it at 22c and switch the dial on the boiler to Winter, for the radiators. We do not use the timer as it should come on when it goes below set temperature.

The problem is.

It fails to come on at night time. You can hear it turn on, but it fails to ignite. It will do this a few times, then stop.

Often, it does not come on at all.

Very occasionally, when it does actually come on, it only stays on for under one minute before stopping.

It appears to work in the daytime, but I can’t be absolutely sure, as we are out.

I realise it sounds odd that it won’t come on at nighttime, but it’s a real problem, as at this time of year it gets very cold at night so we can’t use our holiday home with the boiler like this.

We have been told that it has been assessed by a plumber in the daytime who said it works, but it does not work at all at night.

Any ideas, solutions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 120897]

What type of thermostat is it?

 

[Cherry28]

What type of thermostat is it?

I’ve no idea as to it’s type. It just looks like a regular thermostat to me. It was fitted to the wall in the van’s hallway just recently in an attempt to solve the problem, but it hasn’t.

 

[Deleted member 120897]

Can you post a photo of it?

 

[Cherry28]

Can you post a photo of it?

I can post a photo next week. Do you mean a photo of the boiler or the thermostat?

 

[Deleted member 120897]

I can post a photo next week. Do you mean a photo of the boiler or the thermostat?

I meant the thermostat, but one of the boiler showing the dials May be of use too.

 

[Cherry28]

I meant the thermostat, but one of the boiler showing the dials May be of use too.

Ok, will post photos next week if nothing has been done in the meantime. Thanks for your replies.

 

[Cherry28]

To continue…..
A plumber has now replaced a fan and claimed the boiler was working now. He returned several times in the day to check it, including at 7.30pm and said it was working properly.
We stayed in the van and the boiler was working, but at 10.45pm, as the room temperature dropped, we’ve had the same problem as always, the boiler wouldn’t ignite again, just a green light and the noise of it failing to ignite. When we tapped the outer casing it ignited, but only for a couple of minutes. This went on the entire night, as usual, with the room temperatures now down to below 15c. At 9am the next morning, the heating was at full belt, having come on all on its own.
Nobody understands why it won’t ignite at night time, it’s bizarre to say the least. We can’t stay there anymore as it’s too cold at night. We are totally new to caravans and have only had this van since the beginning of April.
To recap, it’s had a new thermostat and a new fan replacement. Below are photos of how the plumber left it, which we haven’t changed. The thermostat photo didn’t turn out, but it’s just a small round dial with the degrees around it, set at 22c. My husband took videos of the boiler malfunctioning, so I might be able to retrieve a thermostat pic from that.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Try turning the heating thermostat on the boiler down to 3/4

 

[Cherry28]

Try turning the heating thermostat on the boiler down to 3/4

We aren’t there now, we left as it was too cold to stay another night. I can give that a try this Saturday, but what will that do by turning the thermostat down to 3 or 4c? I’ve been saying it might be a faulty clock, but we really don’t know.
Also, we don’t know what those settings mean on the left hand dial on the boiler.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Just adjust the left hand dial back a bit eg 3 o clock / pointing at the o, that controls the heating water temperature

 

[Cherry28]

Just adjust the left hand dial back a bit eg 3 o clock / pointing at the o, that controls the heating water temperature

I’m not quite clear on what you mean, sorry. On the left dial on the boiler, turn that little switch within it to the middle position (3 o clock) ?
Or, turn it towards that little clock icon that says 3:0 clock, just above the 0?
We’ve never seen clocks like these before, so apologies for my ignorance.

 

[Phill K]

Personally I’d say forget the thermostat and start looking elsewhere. You’ll need a RGI for it though. Sounds more like a sticky flow switch or a dodgy thermistor.
You say you can hear it start the ignition process which kinda says that it’s receiving the signal ( thermostat ) to fire but is failing. The three lights on the fascia or your fault indicators. It will be a sequence I.e one red one second green flashes on off etc:

You’ll need the manual to work out what it’s failing on.

 

[Cherry28]

Personally I’d say forget the thermostat and start looking elsewhere. You’ll need a RGI for it though. Sounds more like a sticky flow switch or a dodgy thermistor.
You say you can hear it start the ignition process which kinda says that it’s receiving the signal ( thermostat ) to fire but is failing. The three lights on the fascia or your fault indicators. It will be a sequence I.e one red one second green flashes on off etc:

You’ll need the manual to work out what it’s failing on.

Many thanks for your help. Is it worth replacing the entire boiler or could this one be fixed? Also, would it have to be the same make of boiler? Are these boilers expensive?

Finally, I found this user manual, is this the right one?

Apologies for the questions, but that’s it after this. Thanks for your time, much appreciated.

FAGOR FEB-20E UK ECOPLUS USER INSTRUCTIONS Pdf Download

View and Download Fagor FEB-20E UK ECOPLUS user instructions online. FEB-20E UK ECOPLUS boiler pdf manual download.

www.manualslib.com

 

[Deleted member 120897]

Yes, I agree (now you’ve described their thermostat), forget the room thermostat. If you’re able to “tap” the boiler, and it springs into life, then I’d suggest a loose wire.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

I’m not quite clear on what you mean, sorry. On the left dial on the boiler, turn that little switch within it to the middle position (3 o clock) ?
Or, turn it towards that little clock icon that says 3:0 clock, just above the 0?
We’ve never seen clocks like these before, so apologies for my ignorance.

 

[Cherry28]

Personally I’d say forget the thermostat and start looking elsewhere. You’ll need a RGI for it though. Sounds more like a sticky flow switch or a dodgy thermistor.
You say you can hear it start the ignition process which kinda says that it’s receiving the signal ( thermostat ) to fire but is failing. The three lights on the fascia or your fault indicators. It will be a sequence I.e one red one second green flashes on off etc:

You’ll need the manual to work out what it’s failing on.

Thanks for this info re sticky flow switch and the thermistor. We’ll relay that to the caravan sellers for their plumbers to consider.

 

[Cherry28]

Yes, I agree (now you’ve described their thermostat), forget the room thermostat. If you’re able to “tap” the boiler, and it springs into life, then I’d suggest a loose wire.

Yes, good idea, another one to add to the process of elimination.

 

[Cherry28]

Got it and partly understand the basic reason. We can give this a try ourselves this Saturday, thanks so much.

 

[Cherry28]

Got it and partly understand the basic reason. We can give this a try ourselves this Saturday, thanks so much.

I’m not quite clear on what you mean, sorry. On the left dial on the boiler, turn that little switch within it to the middle position (3 o clock) ?
Or, turn it towards that little clock icon that says 3:0 clock, just above the 0?
We’ve never seen clocks like these before, so apologies for my ignorance.

Got it and partly understand the basic reason. We can give this a try ourselves this Saturday, thanks so much.

 

[Cherry28]

If anyone has any more ideas or obvious next steps, please let me know. As it is, thank you all very much for your time and help. I was becoming uncomfortable telling the vendors and insisting the heating wouldn’t work at nighttime.
So, with the video, the User Manual, loose connection, sticky flow switch, thermistor and adjusting the heating thermostat down to 3. 0 clock that gives a few good leads.
Thank all, much appreciated.