New to gas business

[winheat]

Hi all, im new to the gas business and have just had my first breakdown, thats a boiler not me. As you can imagine slightly nervous and have got a glowworm flexicom 30cx to fix that works fine for an hour or so on central heating then when switching to hot water demand the boiler can lockout to F1 and occasionally F4 doesn't do this all the time but seems to be more often the longer boiler on.Checked condensate and this is discharging normally. Got 21mb at the appliance and 22 at meter so no pressure problem. Have given ignition electrode a clean only slight dusting on them. Boiler seems to light then go out. Would greatly appreciate any help from the more experienced guys out there. Regards Joe.

 

[glenntaf]

click this link, http://www.bhl.co.uk/uploads/article1482/GlowWorm%20Flexicom%20CX%20HE%20Combi%2024%20&%2030%20Installation%20&%20Serving%20Manual.pdf it will take you to the manual of the boiler your working on. In the fault finding section their is a chart explaining things that could be wrong for each 'F' fault code. Another thing you could try is put your manometer on the burner pressure side and check you are getting the correct pressure when running normally on central heating and also when it switches to hot water. Good Luck

 

[wnjswozo]

give it a miss you,ll never fix ,pass it on to an experaiced he,
intermitant faults are nightmares,not worth the hassle of a phone call every other day

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

give it a miss you,ll never fix ,pass it on to an experaiced he,
intermitant faults are nightmares,not worth the hassle of a phone call every other day

i agree not the type of boiler for a newbie this shed could fry your mind,pass it on and gain some experience first

 

[winheat]

Thanks glenntaf, appreciate your help.

 

[winheat]

Cheers gas man, you're probably right but i like a challenge and as they say nothing ventured nothing gained.

 

[fuzzy]

change the circuit board, then the fan, then the pressure switch, then the flame rectification, if it doesnt work swap the boiler, lol, only joking. i dont work on boilers anymore for this reason, my mate does and he a van of parts, he just swaps em until he finds which one works

 

[winheat]

Thanks Wnjswozo, but got to give it a shot even if it means going over it with a fine tooth comb. I wont be beat by a boiler but i understand what your saying it is a nightmare.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

Thanks Wnjswozo, but got to give it a shot even if it means going over it with a fine tooth comb. I wont be beat by a boiler but i understand what your saying it is a nightmare.

well fair play to you winheat your determined but you are going to have a expensive learning curve good luck

 

[winheat]

I know your right Gas Man but just got to do it!!! will let you know when i fix it and the cost!!. Regards, Winheat.

 

[wnjswozo]

winheat ,you dont need the stress mate,if i was you ,get bg one off repair £160,meet engineer there see what he does.
when i worked at bg we would attend breakdowns and always the landlords plumber would be there waiting

 

[gasmarc]

fair play to you ,I have been like that in the past and learned the hard way sometimes, you can change everything and it will still have a problem , A job I did years ago on a potterton ,The customer told me I was the third engineer to look at it, I thought no big deal as i like a challenge , i changed pcb,gas valve ,APS,electode,fan, and nearly everything else, the customer was not happy as the boiler was still playing up,but rang potterton and got them out for a fixed price of £300 odd ,I could not charge him as i could not fix it and he paid me £100 as a good will token, I was gutted fortunately I had some of the parts from stock but this one was one of the worse jobs i have ever done.I spoke to a mate of mine who works for potterton and he was telling me about a job he was doing recently where a few of there engineers had had a crack at fixing this boiler and they could not fix it ,this guy and a supervisor were sent to sort it out and they could not find what the fault was and yes low and behold I mentioned the address and he said how did i know where the job was LOL , he eventually put it down to a wiring fault but is still not sure, I suspect potterton did not charge as this was over a very cold snap and they took over 2 weeks or more to fix it

 

[winheat]

Cheers fuzzy, know you're only joking but thats the best philosophy i think. Invest in a load of parts and it will save you time and effort, loads of phone-calls and tons of diesel going to and from parts-centre. Regards joe.

 

[gasmarc]

i always tell people who have really crap boilers when I know they are going to have to spend loads on parts I refer them to BG, A mate of a mate had a ravenheat or a swiftflow years ago and it was forever playing up and every time i would go there it would work fine ,I told him to get a BG contract ,Well i bumped into him buying petrol at the local garage and the first thing he did was shake my hand and said thank you. Apparently they rebuilt the boiler replacing everthing they were out over 10 times, happy days

 

[winheat]

Thanks gasmarc. Was beginning to think only me who gets the strug jobs. Its made me feel a bit easier. Have got a few parts for this boiler so might as well fit on monday and see if it works, will let you know if it does, regards, joe.

 

[winheat]

Great idea Wnjswozo, might just do that if no joy tomorrow. Cheers, joe.

 

[gasmarc]

an intermittent fault is the hardest fault to find trust me ,on some vaillant boilers if you replace the gas valve by itself you can blow the printed circuit board which aint cheap, fortunatley I have never had it happen yet avoided by changing the lead also

 

[moony]

learn how to use a multimeter - all parts can be checked with one to some extent or other - intermitant faults are the hardest to find - ive had one in a wiring harness that one of the wires was crimped - but i still found it witrh continuity on the wires. I would never walk away from a boiler fault as this is the only way you learn.

also ive had one where the coil in the gas valve broke at high temp, the resin then set when cooled and the coil regained continuity - you would never ever find it unless you knew what you were looking for (i didnt at the time but a lad i knew suggested try the multimeter on the gas valve as it cooled.

 

[dontknowitall]

change the circuit board, then the fan, then the pressure switch, then the flame rectification, if it doesnt work swap the boiler, lol, only joking. i dont work on boilers anymore for this reason, my mate does and he a van of parts, he just swaps em until he finds which one works

Excellent stuff!!!! Not that professional but I bet he manages to repair boilers quicker than most people which, of course, makes him look more professional!!

 

[Bernie2]

Hmm!

Basically a boiler manufacturer's service engineer usually works by swapping parts until they work. But its cost effective I suppose only because they are required to carry spares for one make of boiler. I can't imagine how much a pile of different manufacturer's PCB boards would cost just to carry around in case you got a problem with one.

Its slow but perhaps best to learn how to use a multi meter. You can go further of course and learn PCB board repairs if you want, but I would guess finding a PCB circuit fault, would cost more in time and equipment than it would to change it for a new one. But at least a multi meter should narrow the problem down to the PCB.

 

[gasmarc]

well you learn something new everyday I have been doing boiler breakdowns for years and only recently started using a multimeter for fault finding ,which i must say is excellent and if used correctly can pin point a problem in minutes as opposed to hours, just on a proving note I had a customer who called me and said he had replaced the main fuse and the pcb fuse on the boiler and he could not get it to work, well i arrived on job to find about 10 3amp fuses and 10 2milliamp blow, first thing I did was remove live wire from the pump in airing cupboard and hey presto problem found ,did an ohms test and got nothing ,changed pump customer delighted