Glow worm 18 hxi - Update - driving me insane!

[armyash]

Ok here's what's happened today.

Been back to look at the 18hxi.

Following MI's I set CO2 to correct settings. The 'aeroplane' noise disappeared.

Ok now no noise but back to original scenario in that the boiler would fire up, flow pipe was getting very hot as you would expect but no circulation. It's not tripping the over heat stat either. Pump tests ok also.

BUT THEN..... fuse blows in PCB. tell the boss, not my fault, he comes down with new fuses and we try replacing the fuse but no luck. PCB has gone. Replaced PCB boiler turns on but will not fire up. Now showing F1.

Boiler attempts to light, spark is present and gas valve appears to test ok. (although we have one on order but we are not convinced it's the gas valve as it has been functioning ok up to now)

Yesterday I removed burner (seals were replaced). Cleaned the heat exchanger, and cleaned the condense trap.

Me and the boss were there this until about 6 tonight and we are going back tomorrow.

I now think it's either the heat exchanger is knackered (but no obvious signs of damage but blocked maybe?) or perhaps the Condense is playing up.

Been driving me insane, can anyone add their own thoughts?

Thanks

 

[lame plumber]

pump tests ok, what tests did you do, swap out the pump then you know you have a good pump and your dealing with blockage in hex or system

 

[buckley plumb]

thermistors on this boiler can fail .could be cheaper to get glowworm on fixed repair £260

 

[southcoastboile]

Is it locking out on ignition sequence or after it has been running due to poor flow?

Isnt f1 low water pressure or gas fault on this boiler?

 

[armyash]

Thanks for the replies so far.

lame plumber, With a gun to my head i'd say it's the Heat Exchanger as even though the aeroplane noise had disappeared there was a 'clunking' noise coming from the heat exchanger, or a blockage in system somewhere else thats all i can think of.

Buckley plumb, in your old thread that i replied to yesterday, did you ever get to find out what the cause was? http://www.ukplumbersforums.co.uk/g...mbers-only-private/29483-glow-worm-18hxi.html

 

[lame plumber]

ignition issues, gas valve issues inc co2 levels etc as in the post about glowworm 30cxi did you leave a drop of sweat on the pcb that caused it to blow, did myself once and thats all it takes, blody careful now when adjusting the potentiometers

 

[buckley plumb]

gas valve mate .

 

[armyash]

Will see what the boss says tomorrow then. it's had a new PCB, will possibly need a gas valve if that is the fault. Also requires new side panels at £90 each. Might be in their interests to have the boiler replaced as it doesn't look as though it has been looked after as it is.

Lame Plumber, we inspected the PCB and couldn't see anything to indicate it was faulty must have just been one of those things.

I hate having to ring the boss and say something has gone I feel like it's my doing! i let it all stress me too much!

 

[armyash]

Guess what. Not the gas valve.

Well not entirely, the gas valve was faulty as when i switched the boiler on, it was doing nothing, switch to service mode and it would attempt to light once then show F1.

Ok so changed the gas valve, attempted to light now it would attempt to light once in normal mode before giving F1.

Called Glow worm again, they said remove the lead from the gas valve and switch on again. Now the boiler attempts to light numerous times before locking out and showing F13. PCB connection fault. GW said it requires a new wiring harness. GRRRR. It did not do this with the old gas valve in as i checked that this morning.

Very frustrating couple of days and doesnt look good. As my boss said thats a couple days labour gone plus parts. Obviously that can be recuperated over time but i've probably cost him money this week. As my boss said we can put it down to experience and next time we get this scenario it will be a case of telling the customer to call GW.

I still think there would have been issues if we had got it up and running. We are quoting for a new boiler.

Not entirely my fault as the boiler hasn't been looked after anyway but a very good learning experience. Just hope the customer accepts our quote for the replacement boiler.

 

[Ermintrude]

Best way to learn. Boilers with lots of niggles take se learning

 

[armyash]

I feel frustrated but also happy knowing the experience i have got from this job is priceless.

 

[buckley plumb]

glowworms not worth messing with the parts are to expensive - unless 100% let glowworm fix it

 

[zeebeedee]

You won't do it again! Been there done that etc etc. Get this in ya

 

[Nostrum]

Glow worms are a complete pain from my experience, and tech support across vaillant, glow worm and saunier is very poor, at best hit and miss. I've had rows with their tech dept. over basic gas principles. They are quite happy to suggest a part to get you off the phone.

Ive had issues with gas valve wiring harness before, usually pins on gas valve lead are slack and need bending back in to make a tight connection.

Some you win, some you loose. Your boss sounds like a reasonable bloke so take it on the chin, to be fair he was there for half of it anyway so don't worry about it.

 

[Ermintrude]

Loads of glow worm threads at moment. Perhaps they should have own category along with ferolli

 

[Nostrum]

Here, I'll start it.

 

[Ermintrude]

Nice, will you be ensuring it's emptied regularly?

 

[armyash]

Glow worms are a complete pain from my experience, and tech support across vaillant, glow worm and saunier is very poor, at best hit and miss. I've had rows with their tech dept. over basic gas principles. They are quite happy to suggest a part to get you off the phone.

Ive had issues with gas valve wiring harness before, usually pins on gas valve lead are slack and need bending back in to make a tight connection.

Some you win, some you loose. Your boss sounds like a reasonable bloke so take it on the chin, to be fair he was there for half of it anyway so don't worry about it.

Had to make a few calls to them today. Phone signal was so bad that customer let us use the house phone. Took 24 minutes to get through to someone at one point - ridiculous, for anything else i'd have hung up but had no choice today.

Boss is quality, can't be easy to run a company, on top of that he is out doing jobs too aint like he is sat in the office with his feet up. never talks to me like an idiot which he has had chances to do.

I think with this job obviously letting glow worm fix it would have been best but with hind sight knowing how we have gone about it, if I had the option I would have replaced the parts yesterday all in by 12/1 still not working. Replace. Would be in same position as we are now but i could have gone and done another day and a halfs work and took less of a hit on the labour.

Not a great couple of days all round but now we know.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Nostrum]

No, I don't think there will ever be much space in this one.

 

[arran197]

These boilers are rubbish. The condense trap leaks, the heat exchange seal is the rubbish vaillant type and the pcb blows when you switch the power off! I had the combination version throwing up a fault code which was totally unrelated to the actual fault, a faulty flow switch! Have you checked the ignition electrodes and the inlet pressure?

 

[armourer]

It just sounds like a pig of a job.
Don't be too hard on your self Ash.

You did say your boss was on the job with you too and he didn't sort it.
Your a relatively new starter. These jobs happen.

Have a pint and forget about it.

 

[Whyme]

As your god awful experience has told ya, if the faults vague in the mi's, tech aren't very helpful and you're not confident the pricey part your gonna fit is THE fix. cut your losses and bat it to the service call. i feel for you, we've all been there.:smile5:

 

[armyash]

Cheers guys boiler swapped over now. Good experience for me so can take something away from it.

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Cheers guys boiler swapped over now. Good experience for me so can take something away from it.

Never fit a glowworm?
:lol:

 

[Linkyplumb]

Sounds like you have a friday afternoon boiler.
Last year fitted 37 glowworms, and year before 46
No problems with any yet.
How old is boiler? The hex on these are not very tolerant to dirty systems