Any Central Heating Experts here? Advice needed.

cambsno

cambsno

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Came back from a weekend away to a freezing house (house just over 3 years old and had no problems so far).

The CH and water was off and the boiler had an A.01 error code - Boiler failed to light, and had gone to lockdown. I turned off and reset, it seemed to make noises like it was trying to start but after a minute or 2 would lockdown. Burner light came on for a second a couple of times but didn't stay on. Tried about 3 or 4 resets. On the next one it the burner worked and all works fine.

In the manual it gives Check gas supply and gas valve operation, or clean/replace ionisation probe & lead. Further actions include check flue for blockage. I have a carbon monoxide detector which has been reading 0, so all seems safe.

My questions:

- Was this likely to be a 'one off'?
- If I need to get someone out, what should I expect to pay?
 
£40 - £60 for a boiler service then about the same for the new parts.

Do it today or it may be £1000's
 
anybodys guess , could be a one off , could happen again , i doubt a service would help although it should be serviced once per year anyway , to be fixed it would need to be at fault when someone looked at it , or all you are going to do is a wild goose chase of part replacing :(
 
pay £20 per month to british gas then have it serviced once a year and if anything goes wrong they fix it for free.

my thermostat was faulty and cost me £300 to replace.

I pay the £20 per month now.......sorted.
 
If it's working now then I wouldn't worry about it too much. Most modern boilers have enough safety features that they will shut themselves down if they are not happy.

Also, modern boilers are either balanced flue or fan assisted flue. In both cases, exhaust gas can only escape if replaced by fresh air from outside. Boilers do not take their air from within the room like the old boilers like the Ascot used to.

This means that even if your boiler was burning very badly and producing lots of carbon monoxide, it would all go out through the flue and not enter the room.

Obviously it should be checked out but if you normally have an annual service, then leave it until then.


Steve.
 
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jolsterj said:
pay £20 per month to british gas then have it serviced once a year and if anything goes wrong they fix it for free.

my thermostat was faulty and cost me £300 to replace.

I pay the £20 per month now.......sorted.
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They saw you coming! Still, if it's the only thing to go wrong in a year then you would still pay British Gas £240 for it!


Steve.
 
Had a similar probelm recently with mu Vokera combi boiler, kept going into lockdown. After the guy replacing a couple of sensors which didnt fix the problem he then replaced the main circuit board and the problem remained. Next guy to come a few days later took the top part of the boiler out, the flue & fan and spoke about a venturi, whatever that is.
He stuck a rubber tube onto something and proceeded to blow through from the mouth as if he was trying to clear something. He said it was a bit of crap had got somewhere stopping the boiler from re-igniting. Put it all back together and it's never been a problem since. Luckily it was still under guarantee or the parts would probably have cost a fortune.
As you might tell from the above I know nowt about the gubbins of a boiler.

I think I'll be taking out a maintenance contract when warranty expires, the above might have cost me more than a yearly contract.
 
Most comon failure points tend to be build up of dust/dirt/blocked up flues, which you can easily check youself, or probes. Wouldnt reconmend changing them unless you know how to, not that there that hard, followed by the control circuits, the actual valves tend to be pretty good, but thats deffo not a DIY job.
 
Steve Smith said:
They saw you coming! Still, if it's the only thing to go wrong in a year then you would still pay British Gas £240 for it!


Steve.
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that is tiny amount of money to ensure it is serviced each year and if it goes wrong it is fixed straight away...[and it has been]

£240 peanuts for peace of mind.


but you could say the same for any insurance my house has been insured for 22 years and never claim.......but i wont stop insuring it.


do you not have any insurance?
 
jolsterj said:
do you not have any insurance?
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I have the usual buildings and contents and car insurance but I don't insure things which I can repair myself.

It's also not worth getting insurance on domestic equipment in my opinion. I once bought a fridge and was offered the extended warranty - which was almost half the price of the fridge. definitely not worth it for something with only about three moving parts.


Steve.
 
I dont get the extended warrenties on fridges etc...............but I cant fix the central heating therefore its insured. whats so wrong about that?
 
jolsterj said:
but I cant fix the central heating therefore its insured. whats so wrong about that?
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Nothing wrong with that at all. I can fix my central heating so I don't insure it.

However, a Vaillant Ecotec boiler is listed at around £1200 (probably £1000 trade). At £20 a week that would buy a new boiler every five years. Boilers last longer than five years so to me, I don't see any point in paying out more for insurance than you would if you had to buy a new boiler when required.


Steve.
 
but its not just the boiler it protects with the british gas cover though, it covers all your pipework, radiators etc in the house, i think the £20 a month one also covers electrics and drains.

whilst the cost does add up if you dont use it but when you take the cost of a yearly inspection and service off of that its not too bad, given the one off cost of replacing the parts and call out/labour fees if something fails, your lucky in that you can work on things like that, most people lack the training to work safely on gas appliances, personally ill do anything water etc but wont touch gas because if it goes wrong then your in the **** if you aint certified.


that said BG dont like covering anything that is over about 30seconds old 'cant get the parts for it mate'
 
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As said it is not just the boiler its the rads and thermostat drains and electrics.

and servicing cheap in my opinion but then each to there own.
 
whitewash said:
personally ill do anything water etc but wont touch gas because if it goes wrong then your in the **** if you aint certified.


that said BG dont like covering anything that is over about 30seconds old 'cant get the parts for it mate'
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Same as wiring this days, under part p, alot of insurance companys now dont pay up if you have had work done that isnt certified, and it the wiring at fault.

You'l find most of these insurance policys, have a subject to parts availabilty clause.
 
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