Combi Boiler!

[djr69uk]

For the last 2 months my combi boiler has kept cutting out randomly with an F1 fault. Did some reading and diagnosed the problem as an ignition fault with 4 possible causes.

To save calling out a heating engineer (to save money obviously) I thought I'd do some more reading and see if I could have a go at a DIY fix. I managed to find a service manual for the boiler and also a couple of bargain parts courtesy of Ebay. So this morning I set about taking the boiler to bits and swapping out the parts.

The interesting bit is that the whole thing was caked in crap and stuff inside. Dust, bits of plaster and lots of dead and fried insects to be found lol! There was also a long furry metallic looking thing laying across the burner which I immediately knew shouldn't be there, but later realised it was what remained of a long handled screwdriver!!! Probably there since the 'highly qualified heater engineer' installed the system 6 years ago.

Hoovered the thing out and washed the burner (as the manual suggests) and swapped out a couple of electrodes and much to my delight (so far lol) it seems to be working better than ever - definitely igniting quicker than before!

Anyway, just shows you what you can achieve with a bit of common sense and some knowledge (internet). Probably saved a good couple of hundred quid, so quite chuffed all in all

[Das]

Im signed up to the Scottish Gas Home Care Package. Im prepared to turn my hand to most things, but messing around with the boiler aint one of them.

[nibblitz]

Sorry, but your taking one hell of a risk servicing your own boiler (pulling it apart and replacing bits with parts bought on ebay) and probably breaking the Law too :-/

[Grimy]

Lol, screwdriver, Brilliant. That cant have helped. Its surprising what you can acheive with a little research mate. I'm sure the elfinsaftey crew will be along shortly to burn you (no pun intended) but i'd like to say well done for doing your research, getting the instilation manual and fixing it yourself. No different to people here fixing their own cars and then tanking it down the motorway.

I installed my own central heating system and boiler a few years back and service it myself too. Sure I wouldnt recomend it to most people and I still had the flue checked by a gas safe engineer to check the burn, (cheaper than buying your own meter) but their pretty much plug and play boilers these days. The engineer was suitably impressed actually and offered me a job should I ever need one.

Anyway, James May and the man lab team would be proud, Have a beer

[stig30]

As long as you don't start messing about witht he gas side of things you should be ok and like you said you did your research. A boiler service just tends to be a take apart and hoover out job anyway ?

[Graeme]

Sorry for hijack but we just moved to new house in sept with a combi boiler and itsvery noisy is this normal with them?

Again sorry for hijack. Braver man than me messing with boiler but i am a bit poor at any diy lol

[stig30]

Fisrt thing to always check with a boiler system is make sure you have the correct pressure, usually about 1.5 bar when warm

[djr69uk]

Cheers for the comments. Yeah I know about the gas SAFE thing, but when I scanned the manual it really was just a bunch of screws to remove to take some panels off - then replace the faulty part and gave it a general clean whilst I was there. I didn't actually break into the gas supply at any point. No more dangerous than taking the ring off the gas cooker to clean in my opnion! Running like a dream now, made a real noticeable difference! Obviously I'm not promoting people taking their boilers apart though lol

On the pressure side, I set mine at 1 bar - any reason to set it higher?

[Mopar Man]

[QUOTE=djr69uk;1

The interesting bit is that the whole thing was caked in crap and stuff inside. Dust, bits of plaster and lots of dead and fried insects to be found lol! There was also a long furry metallic looking thing laying across the burner which I immediately knew shouldn't be there, but later realised it was what remained of a long handled screwdriver!!! Probably there since the 'highly qualified heater engineer' installed the system 6 years ago.
Made me Chuckle
Thought you found a fried RAT

[djr69uk]

[QUOTE=Mopar Man;1467412][QUOTE=djr69uk;1

The interesting bit is that the whole thing was caked in crap and stuff inside. Dust, bits of plaster and lots of dead and fried insects to be found lol! There was also a long furry metallic looking thing laying across the burner which I immediately knew shouldn't be there, but later realised it was what remained of a long handled screwdriver!!! Probably there since the 'highly qualified heater engineer' installed the system 6 years ago.
Made me Chuckle
Thought you found a fried RAT[/QUOTE]

LOL! Easier to explain how a rat would get there!!