One for the plumbers!

[Smoothound]

Looks like the fan in my old boiler is dying so it's not firing properly. I've researched the price of a fan but I'm just after a ball park figure for the rough labour time to replace it. It's an old Prima F40. I know I should really replace it completely but I just can't stretch to that sort of money currently :(

[Rctintin]

I'm a Gas Safe Registered engineer, and I would be charging £30 plus VAT to fit the fan.

Be very careful doing it your self, as you are removing the cover of the boiler which is against the regs, which would render your house insurance void (and a HSE investigation) if you then had a gas/carbon monoxide leak.

I may cost a few quid, but be safe, and do it the correct way.

[joe_uk]

We had ours changed out when the boiler was serviced at no extra cost. Then a year later i had the auto vent valve changed on the service, again at no extra charge.
Worth asking next time your yearly service is due.

I bought and supplied all the parts as i work near to a heating supplies shop- the part numbers are in the service manual that came with the boiler.

[joe_uk]

As rctintin said- DO NOT open the gas cover yourself.

[Smoothound]

Bloke came to sort it. Agreed fan was toast. Got new fan. New fan was faulty but he said it flagged up an issue with the PCB and he noticed the flue was damaged/corroded. Couldn't get another fan yesterday but was supposedly going to phone later in day with quote for full job. No call. Another day with no hot water :(

I have looked at the flue and can see it is tired. I'm not happy about him lumping the cost of a new PCB on top as these boilers are well known for dodgy PCBs. The issue is poor usually traceable to poor soldering, dry joints and 3 dodgy capacitors that cost under a quid and 5 mins to replace!

[joe_uk]

Take out the pcb, reflow all the joints and replace the caps. I'd do it for you for free (i repair electronics all day at work) but dont live local so you'd have no boiler for 2days :-\

Ask plumber not to change pcb this time, and if it fails later change it yourself. You can order a new one yourself from places such as MJT Controls who i use in Bristol, for example.

[Smoothound]

Already done 3 days with no boiler :nopity:

Yeah, I swapped it out a few years ago for a recon one but this time I will replace the Caps myself. Thanks for the offer though :) Hopefully he won't get too peeved! That is assuming he does return as he failed to call with a revised quote yesterday!

[joe_uk]

[QUOTE=Smoothound;808303]Already done 3 days with no boiler :nopity:

Yeah, I swapped it out a few years ago for a recon one but this time I will replace the Caps myself. Thanks for the offer though :) Hopefully he won't get too peeved! That is assuming he does return as he failed to call with a revised quote yesterday![/QUOTE]

Thats fairly standard for plumbers lol

[Adrian]

get another quote, there must be more than one plumber around yours thats top notch! and willing to do it soon

[Smoothound]

If I had a quid for every one I phoned who didn't even call back I'd be rich!

[Rctintin]

[QUOTE=JoeB;808309]Thats fairly standard for plumbers lol[/QUOTE]

Shame you don't live near me!! I have built my business up over 11 years being self employed, and work very hard at keeping ALL of my customers happy. I even ring to say if I am only running late by just half an hour!!

Corrosion in the flue is fine, so long as the inner pipe is not rusted through. Just use a pipe brush to clean it through.

How can the fan toast the PCB? What was your symptoms? Usually fans have the bearings go because they are sat in over 200degC and the bearings fail. The control board is outputting 240v to the fan. If your engineer put a meter to the fan terminals, did he get 240v? Did he check the resistance of the fan coil? If 240v was there, the PCB is fine.

Just a thought, your system must be open vent, do you not have an immersion heater on your cylinder?

Lastly, not me nick picking, but Plumbers don't need to be qualified to call themselfs that. A Gas Engineer has had to go through alot of training and test (of which you have to get 100% pass in only 2 goes)to be able to do gas work. Just be sure you have a registered Gas Engineer come out, not just any old plumber. Ask to see his Gas Safe Card. It is the law we have to keep that with us to work on a gas appliance.

[Smoothound]

[QUOTE=Rctintin;808412]Shame you don't live near me!! I have built my business up over 11 years being self employed, and work very hard at keeping ALL of my customers happy. I even ring to say if I am only running late by just half an hour!!

Corrosion in the flue is fine, so long as the inner pipe is not rusted through. Just use a pipe brush to clean it through.

How can the fan toast the PCB? What was your symptoms? Usually fans have the bearings go because they are sat in over 200degC and the bearings fail. The control board is outputting 240v to the fan. If your engineer put a meter to the fan terminals, did he get 240v? Did he check the resistance of the fan coil? If 240v was there, the PCB is fine.

Just a thought, your system must be open vent, do you not have an immersion heater on your cylinder?

Lastly, not me nick picking, but Plumbers don't need to be qualified to call themselfs that. A Gas Engineer has had to go through alot of training and test (of which you have to get 100% pass in only 2 goes)to be able to do gas work. Just be sure you have a registered Gas Engineer come out, not just any old plumber. Ask to see his Gas Safe Card. It is the law we have to keep that with us to work on a gas appliance.[/QUOTE]

Hi Rob,

I wish you lived near me as well ;)

PCB looks fine but they are well known for 1 of 3 Caps going bad and it causes the fan to cycle on and off and never create enough pressure in the flue to turn on the gas/burner. I'm unsure how he fitted the new fan and although it was faulty managed to deduce the PCB was also shot having decided previously that the fan was the issue? I know the fan was faulty for sure as it was making a right row! The flue is pretty corroded/holey now I've got up and looked. Which probably explains the slightly less blue flame recently, I assume from pulling burned gasses back into the burner?

Need to see what his quote is and go from there as I'll be mad if he tries to charge me £200+ for a new PCB when they are around £35 on the net!

[Rctintin]

You can fit your own PCB, as you don't have to remove the cover. Or supply it for him to fit.

If you have a hole in the flue tube, you have to get that replaced, as the gasses leaving the boiler are being sucked back into the boiler, thus incomplete combustion.

[Smoothound]

[QUOTE=Rctintin;808412]

Just a thought, your system must be open vent, do you not have an immersion heater on your cylinder?
[/QUOTE]

I missed this bit :)

There is an immersion in the tank but it has never been wired in. I had a good look yesterday and it appeared brand new so I tested the resistance which came back correct so I will get the correct cable, MCB and switch and wire it in. My mate who is a Sparky can check it after I've done it and tell me how bad my install is :)

[Rctintin]

Just use a 2.5mm twin and earth cable, and put a 13A plug and fuse on the other end, and just plug it into a socket. It's only 3Kw max, so the same as a Kettle.

(Ment as a temp fix for a few days till boiler is done)