Boiler cutting off!

[Sonia]

Hi there, my boiler has been playing up, on and off for a couple of weeks now. We switch it on and it will work sometimes for an hour, sometimes for 5m, switch it back off for a couple of hours and it will work, only for the same thing to happen again. I am covered by BG homecare plan so had a visit from engineer (at acost of £50/excess) today: he replaced a pump and a valve, left with central heating working well but told us if it cuts off again that we might need to flush the system ( not covered by homecare).
5m after he left surprise, surprise! Boiler cut off again and now it won't switch back on. Called BG again! Was told that I needed to pay another £50 which I bluntly refused and they then agreed on a recall! Haven't had 2nd visit yet but was told by BG that they do not guarantee that flushing the system will work and will not refund the money if flushing does not correct the problem! My boiler and valves were fitted 4 years ago by a local company, would they have flushed the system then? Do I really need a system flush? HELP! Don't want to pay a massive amount of money without guarantees that it is going to work!

 

[mrclemo]

hi sonia, i have just started in the industry, and ive been looking into investing in a power flush machine, so ill tell you what i know... Basically, if you do need a flush, you have "sludge" in the pipes which is basically small metal fibres, dirty water and gunk. you may of noticed cold spots on radiators, funny boiler noises? it can also work its way inside your boiler in the heat exchanger, but i wont pretend to know too much about that. what i will say is that you will find private gas engineers charge much much less than the big firms like British gas. Ive heard mad quotes like £650! a good private engineer should be much less - look on google, i have seen as cheap as £160! Unfortunatly, if it is the proplem you have it will have to be done by one person or another. Id suggest getting a private gas safe engineer to have a look, and get a second opinion. I hopefully will be offering the service soon so please let me no how it all goes etc.
hope that helped, good luck

 

[Sonia]

Hi and thanks for replying.
There are no noises from boiler or radiators but engineer did say there were signs of sludge! I am just not sure if I should go ahead with it because not even they know if it is going to solve the problem!

 

[Sonia]

...and also no cold spots in radiators, when is working... which is on and off! I have noticed though that the central radiator doesn't get as hot as the others...

 

[dontknowitall]

My feeling is it's either the water pump or a component in the boiler (but I don't do gas so can't help there). In my experience sludge is unlikely to force a boiler into shut down, especially after it's been working 5 minutes beforehand and if the radiators are giving an even heat then again it's unlikely to be sludge.

If you wait till this evening someone else should be able to help you better.

 

[mrclemo]

ok sonia, if there are signs of sludge, then the only way to get rid of it is a flush. to answer the earlier question, yes the other engineers should of flushed system on the boiler install. as i said, im really no expert yet, but i think if the central radiator isnt heating up as much as the others, this could be where the problem is. by central im guessing you mean the middle rad or 3rd of 5 if you like. I really would recommend getting a second opinion, you can get some private companies that will have a look for free. have a look at powerflushuk on google. it may not be the problem, which is very frustrating i completely understand, but you will have to have it done at some point, especially if it wasnt done on your last boiler swap, because it will defiantly cause problems for you in the future if it isnt the cause of this one.

 

[mrclemo]

it could also be something to do with your thermostat in the boiler - i didn't even think because i thought your bg engineer would of tested it. these sense the temperature of the water that you set, and turn the boiler off when the temp is reached. if this is faulty, the boiler will behave strangely, as the readings it is getting are wrong, so it doesn't know when to turn off heat to the water. it could also be a circuit board problem, valve prob(although you said he changed it), and there are a lot of things that can go wrong internally with the boiler. I really suggest a private engineer has a look for you before you go down the flushing route - what did the bg engineer see to say there are signs of sludge? do you know any good private engineers in your area?

 

[Sonia]

I am a bit weary of spending around £600 for a central heating flush especially after finding that BG recommends this to most of its costumers! This service is not covered by any of their insurance plans!

 

[mrclemo]

dont pay them to do it!!!! like i said before, many private engineers will do it cheaper and better. but you need to see if you actually need it at all, as the other poster said, it wouldnt make your boiler shut down as such, because in theory, unless the sludge has traveled to the boiler,there is no reason why it would turn off. what boiler do you have and how many radiators in total?

 

[Sonia]

My boiler is a Worcester Bosh. don't know the model will have to look up literature, have 5 radiators in total!

 

[Sonia]

The engineer found signs of sludge when fitting the new valve, I think... He had to cut the pipes to fit new pump and valve. Don't think he had a look at any water coming from radiators but again I am not sure... He spent a couple of hours here but i wasn't with him at all times!

 

[mrclemo]

Ill have a word with my bro in law today Sonia - he is a more experienced engineer than me, so ill see what he thinks and let you know. if it does seem to be a power flush that he thinks you need also, On a small instillation like that let me know what bg have quoted you, and im sure i can try and beat it, obviously depending on your location im sure between me and him we will no somebody in the area that can do it for you for a bit less than bg suggested. I still really think you need a second opinion on it though.
cheers

 

[mrclemo]

hi sonia, afte speakin to m bro in law, who is worcster bosch trained. He reckons almost defintley a boiler issue, and you can perform a test to check if your central heating does suffer from sludge in the system. let me know if this helps

 

[gasmarc]

the problem could be a boiler issue and nothing to do with a power flush ,regarding price an average price is around 4 or 5 hundred pounds as for someone mentioning a price of £160 for a powerflush they are having a laugh or they are con artists , i went to a boiler today that was apparently powerflushed 4 years ago ,then boiler was new and has got progressively worse he has had to have his cylinder and pump replaced , they even had a magna cleaner on it which was full of crap ,he is due to have a power flush on friday by an independent firm who only do power flushing , They have quoted £900 which i think is a reasonable price for 15 rads and a cylinder and boiler