Boiler Problems - Any Plumbers here?

[Gimpymoo]

Boiler Problems Glow Worm 24ci - Any Plumbers here?

Hope some of you may be able to point me in the right direction.

This morning, while filling the basin with hot water to have a shave, the water suddenly went cold followed by a loud "gurgling" noise from the boiler???

I checked the boiler and it had no error LED's but the pressure had gone down a little to 0.4 so increased pressure to 0.8 and tried again... still the same noises with the same outcome.

The Central Heating is working as normal so it appears the issue is relating only to the hot water supply.

The boiler was newly installed 3 years ago. For about 18 months we have had issues with loosing pressure if the central heating is left on for prolonged periods of time and the heating switches off, but manually increasing the pressure by letting in more water as fixed the problem.

Call it dumbness on my behalf, but the boiler has not been serviced since it was installed.

Im too scared to call a plumber incase:

A. I get a cowboy (Dont know any reputable plumbers)
B. Its knackered

Just after some advice so can at least be prepared for the worse.

If anyone can give ideas, very much appreciated.

Can give further info to help with diags.

Many thanks to anyone who can help.

Gimp.

EDIT: Boiler = Glow Worm 24ci

UPDATE:

Ive noticed an unusual high amount of water being omitted from the overflow pipe from the boiler going outside... any ideas what would cause this?

 

[KASM]

You can guarantee that if you're consistantly losing pressure you have a leak somewhere ( at least thats what my plumber told me )

At the end of the day you going to need a heating engineer to look at it.

 

[Gimpymoo]

Although I cant be 100% sure, im almost certain there is not a leak as weve had the problem for 18 months and if a leak was present, im sure we would know about it by now, id think.

 

[Tesla]

I am no heating engineer but iirc we had this problem and some vavle was at fault.

I would recommend speaking to some friends and family for plumber recommendatios, one of them will put you onto a good one

 

[Gimpymoo]

Thanks for the above.

Any ideas on how much it cost in total to repair, presuming mine is a similiar issue?

 

[Tesla]

Dad said that he cannot remember the cost, however our problem was the same, no error codes on the boiler (the boiler is Valiant, rabbit logo I think) and heating was fine but hot water wasnt present.

 

[Gimpymoo]

Cool, thanks for the info anyway

A problem with a boiler is worse than going to the dentist

Now I know how none tech folks feel when their PC goes up the chuff.

 

[dannyjo22]

If you have lived with it for that long what I would do is join a heating insurance plan for a year. I pay £12 a month for total heating plumbing/hot water support. To make sure they dont get hot with existing faults you have to wait a month for your first claim. Wait a month then get them out to fix it.

Also In the summer in the price you get a service which would cost you around £60 anyway.

Problem solved.

 

[Vertigo]

Saw "boiler problems" and immediately thought this was another relationship thread

 

[Siliconslave]

if your with british gas the do a preaproved repair man thing thats worked out pretty well for friends in the past, not cheap but better than random cowboys

 

[Gimpymoo]

If you have lived with it for that long what I would do is join a heating insurance plan for a year. I pay £12 a month for total heating plumbing/hot water support. To make sure they dont get hot with existing faults you have to wait a month for your first claim. Wait a month then get them out to fix it.

Also In the summer in the price you get a service which would cost you around £60 anyway.

Problem solved.

Thats what I was thinking of doing...

Any company in paticular?

The free service sounds good

EDIT: Found it.. Not who I would have thought for that price, very cheap.

£144 for a year is a BARGAIN.

Google is everyones friend, but in the T&C's, it says I cant join if my boiler is allready faulty Nevermind

 

[Dange]

If the pressure is low it most likely means youve got a leak on the system somewhere. It might be under a floorboard or in a wall so you cant see it, but doesnt mean it isnt there. The gurgling noise is probably air trapped in the system, bleeding the radiators may help with that. Hope thats helpful.

 

[drunken fool]

There could even be a leak inside the boiler causing the problem. We had our boiler pack up 2 weeks ago after 6 months of it losing presure. Turns out the heat exchanger was split and leaking water onto the burner internally. End result was £1300 and a new boiler

I you are worried about cowboys just get a couple of firms round to check the boiler. Normally the will look at it for free and give you an estimate before you sign up to them doing any work.

 

[Snash]

It's worthwhile getting yourself over to these forums: DIYnot

I had a problem with my boiler recently (Potterton - do a search to see just how many problems they had ) and got some Sterling advice. Good luck.

 

[wozzizname]

If it's a Vaillant boiler you could get their own engineers out to look at it - I took that option after suffering at the hands of a cowboy earlier, and the Vaillant guys were efficient and not really any more expensive.

 

[LordSplodge]

We have a Potterton Combi 80 and it has been nothing but trouble. Three years in our current house and for the last two years the boiler has gone kaput.

Once was the famous PCB fail (thanks for the Forum link - Snash) and this winter the fan failed (a 175 quid for the fan, never mind the fitting!)

So yes boilers (esp Potterton) suck. Luckily we have found a good, reliable, professional and resonably priced plumber who knows this boiler.

 

[VIRII]

We had issues with our boiler some years back (3 I think) and phoned British Gas about coming out to service/fix it.
The BG phone person suggested I joined their £15? /month service plan.
The next day they came out and serviced the boiler and repaired it.
So far we've had a heat exchanger, 3 way valve and a new thermostat.
All parts and labour were included although we did have to wait 24 hours before we could call them out after joining.

I highly recommend them and an annual service is a must. Last week we had our boiler serviced and we asked them to look at the gas meter as my wife thought she could smell gas by it. It turned out that gas was seeping through the shut off valve handle.
Within 60 minutes transco had replaced the gas meter and associated valve/pipework.

Give them a ring and see what they can do for you.

 

[dannyjo22]

Thats what I was thinking of doing...

Any company in paticular?

The free service sounds good

EDIT: Found it.. Not who I would have thought for that price, very cheap.

£144 for a year is a BARGAIN.

Google is everyones friend, but in the T&C's, it says I cant join if my boiler is allready faulty Nevermind

Mines a glow worm boiler so i went direct through them. British gas are good too, they all go through the same insurance company anyway.

Ive had 2 new pcbs and 2 new pressure switches. A bad batch of pressure switches where ruining my pcb.

What bugs me more than anything is a pcb costs nearly £100. It does a max of 6 functions. Yet thats still more expensive than My Sli motherboard.

WTF is that all about.

 

[Retsef]

I think you actually have 2 problems.

First one is that your losing water. This is usually from the central heating side, which is related to the drop in pressure. You have a leak.

Secondly, if you don't have hot water but you do have central heating, this is usually related to the 3 way valve. This valve opens up when the hot water heating comes on. If it doesn't open, you get cold water only. The valves cost about £60+VAT.

 

[basmic]

What bugs me more than anything is a pcb costs nearly £100. It does a max of 6 functions. Yet thats still more expensive than My Sli motherboard.

WTF is that all about.

Think gas leaking and cheap PCB sparking/arcing.