M
Mr P
Hi everyone
I have joined this forum in the hope that someone has an idea of what is causing my boiler problems. We have had no reliable hot water since Christmas now!! Please help
Background
During the really cold weather in December the condensate line froze causing water to back up into the boiler. The boiler cut out and would not restart even when the water was drained out. A plumber was called who managed to get it going again (I was at work then so not sure what he did). The condensate is now running into a bucket.
A week later the boiler would not fire up. It would try 5 times and then lock out. After many goes at this it would eventually fire up, on some days it would even fire up first time. As soon as the room thermostat temperature was reached the boiler would cut out and we would have to go through this reset procedure until it finally relit.
A plumber was called again and he noticed the flame was more orange than it should be. He replaced the case seals which were damaged and ordered a new sparker.
He came back today with his gas analyser and found the CO figure was varying from 50 to 140ppm, changing as the flame colour altered (spec 50 to 90)
He measured the output of the boiler which was spot on, as was the gas pressure. He cleaned out the bolier, fan connecting pipes and burner. He took out the flue and checked the seals and that it was fitted correctly.
He replaced the sparker but the boiler would still not fire up easily. He placed his hand across the opening of the fan to check it was sucking air and this caused the boiler to fire up instantly! After this the boiler fired up first time every time, but we could now hear a soft hiss as the gas was being released which could not be heard before. Cleaning out a breather pipe (which was not blocked) caused it to go back to not lighting and no gas hiss again. A hand over the fan inlet and it is now back to lighting again.
The flame is still changing colour, shape and size over a period of time. A few times the flame becomes intense blue and the boiler makes a huming sound like someone reving a car gently, then it settles back to an orangy blue colour.
So what is happening! we think it may be the gas valve but don't want to fork out £120 if it is something else. So has anyone else had this? any ideas?
Thanks
I have joined this forum in the hope that someone has an idea of what is causing my boiler problems. We have had no reliable hot water since Christmas now!! Please help
Background
During the really cold weather in December the condensate line froze causing water to back up into the boiler. The boiler cut out and would not restart even when the water was drained out. A plumber was called who managed to get it going again (I was at work then so not sure what he did). The condensate is now running into a bucket.
A week later the boiler would not fire up. It would try 5 times and then lock out. After many goes at this it would eventually fire up, on some days it would even fire up first time. As soon as the room thermostat temperature was reached the boiler would cut out and we would have to go through this reset procedure until it finally relit.
A plumber was called again and he noticed the flame was more orange than it should be. He replaced the case seals which were damaged and ordered a new sparker.
He came back today with his gas analyser and found the CO figure was varying from 50 to 140ppm, changing as the flame colour altered (spec 50 to 90)
He measured the output of the boiler which was spot on, as was the gas pressure. He cleaned out the bolier, fan connecting pipes and burner. He took out the flue and checked the seals and that it was fitted correctly.
He replaced the sparker but the boiler would still not fire up easily. He placed his hand across the opening of the fan to check it was sucking air and this caused the boiler to fire up instantly! After this the boiler fired up first time every time, but we could now hear a soft hiss as the gas was being released which could not be heard before. Cleaning out a breather pipe (which was not blocked) caused it to go back to not lighting and no gas hiss again. A hand over the fan inlet and it is now back to lighting again.
The flame is still changing colour, shape and size over a period of time. A few times the flame becomes intense blue and the boiler makes a huming sound like someone reving a car gently, then it settles back to an orangy blue colour.
So what is happening! we think it may be the gas valve but don't want to fork out £120 if it is something else. So has anyone else had this? any ideas?
Thanks
