no heat or hot water, boiler shuts off

[tonka]

Hello all I really hope someone can point me in the right direction with this.

We have an Ideal Icos HE18 condenser boiler, about 5 years old, which starts up then starts banging and clanging and shuts down within a couple of minutes. There are no error codes showing.

The boiler is downstairs, it has a spiro magnet thingy fitted just above it. The pump and hot water cylinder are upstairs on the opposite side of the house. The system has fernox inhibitor added.

Someone has been looking at it but i have lost confidence as i have realised he seems to be doing stuff and just keeping hingers crossed.

So far

Cleaned out condensate trap and pipe
Fitted new boiler overheat thermostat
Drained spiro magnet thingy
Fitted new pump
Connected hose to cold water feed to check if blocked.

In addition radiators bled - no air, have opened little bleed valve next to cylinder but no air there either. These were both done by me so i suppose I could have done them wrong but don't think so.1

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[jtsplumbing]

We cant really give you to much information , but you seem to have a circulation problem, may be pump facing wrong direction [arrow on pump should point away from boiler] or valves on pump not open

 

[newcastle phill]

As JTS says.
Sounds like an issue you need an expert with experience of these boilers.
They were a ground breaking boiler when they came out and now are just heart breaking lol

Simple things first though...

Any recent work done where all radiators are (now) TRV'd, also has it got a bypass

 

[tonka]

No work since last may when a new bathroom radiator was fitted.
What does a bypass look like and where would I find it?

Cheers

 

[hammers4spanner]

honestly scrap it

 

[PhoenixServices]

^Sadly that is some of the best advice that can be given.
Have so many problems with them. Just make sure it's a boiler problem not a system problem first.

 

[gasmanrob]

That's definitely a circulation/heat issue.

You mentioned a spiro spiro tech fitted was this added after the boiler based on advisory or at the time of installation?

from cold when you switch heating or hot water on in the 30 seconds before the boiler fires do you hear water movement either at the boiler or at the pump?

again from starting cold before it clangs and thumps how far round the system are you getting heat? Flow pipe from boiler to the pump or nothing to the pump?

after say five minutes is the pump hot and the pipe work a foot either side of the pump cold?

whats the water quality in the system like? Clear, black, orange? Same question about the water in the f and e tank? But particularly the bottom two inches?

 

[Elgordo]

Try checking that the circulating pump is actually pumping water through the system , usually you can hear it running if you are beside it or try varying the speed selector , this will give a fair idea if its running ok . If no sound try checking that power is getting to pump with a multimeter across live and neutral , if not then problem lies in the boiler . Check also that spiro is not blocked and any zone valves are manually opened.

 

[tonka]

Thanks for the replies

Spiro was fitted at the same time as the boiler. Have opened the valve on it and some black cxrap came out followed by clearish water. I think this is what should happen.

I doi hear water movement for a few seconds.

Boiler seems to be running for less and less time before cutting out. At one point pump and pipework eitrher side were getting warm but now cuts out so quickly that I dont think there is time for much heat to be generated.

Water quality is pretty clear, fe tank seems ok not much sediment or anything and seems to fill normally.

Pump is brand new and seems to be operatinhg ok, have varied the speed selector and you can hear the sound change

Cant think of anything else.

 

[Elgordo]

If all rads are open and pipework is not blocked and pump is circulating as it should then it can only be the heat exchanger in the boiler itself . Check through the system from start point at boiler , on to radiators hot water tank pump etc and if water is clear from spiro . If it is the heat exchanger at fault you could try getting it flushed out but you would need to weigh up the cost of this against age of boiler etc , get a quote from a reputable plumber .