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By Big Dex
#1885034
Hmm, I would not be paying for that PCB as I’m 99% certain there was, and is, nothing wrong with your old one., A genuine Baxi air pressure switch is sub £40 inc vat, and a very quick thing to replace.
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By Flying_john
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1885145
Sounds to me that the plumber did not do a proper fault find on the boiler, the air pressure switch is a simple one to test and if believed to be open circuit, it maybe linked out briefly to see if the boiler fires.

I have a 32 year old + Gloworm that I fitted when we bought the house to replace an old floor standing Kingfisher. Good old fashioned cast iron heat exchanger. The pump and 3 way valve mounted elsewhere.

During the boilers life so far it has only needed a new fan. The system has required two replacement 3way valve heads.

A plumber friend tells me he is replacing modern boilers he fitted 5 - 7 years ago. At that rate I would have needed 4 replacement boilers and that buys an awful lot of gas.
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By Jim Jones
#1885151
Flying_john wrote:
A plumber friend tells me he is replacing modern boilers he fitted 5 - 7 years ago. At that rate I would have needed 4 replacement boilers and that buys an awful lot of gas.


But think about how many polar bear cubs you drowned …
By GAFlyer4Fun
#1885382
AndyR wrote:Well done to those who can get a gas engineer/plumber to actually bother either turning up to quote, or having turned up, to actually provide a quote.

Are they all really so over run with work?


My guess would be the peak demand is on the main season change from warm to cold weather as some people will have the heating off all summer and then it doesnt start up if some part has got stuck through lack of recent use.

Suggests might have better luck changing a boiler in the middle of summer? ... and more time to shop around for options without getting cold.
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1885975
AndyR wrote:Might have to wait until summer to get one to come back with a quote.

Not a single response yet :x


Haven't you made the case for having an annual service contract with someone?

British Gas looked after our two (yep we had two gas boilers but that's another story) in our previous house even though BG weren't our dual fuel suppliers .

They coaxed our main boiler (Potterton) along for thirty years, every year for the last fifteen of them telling us that they wouldn't be able to get spare parts and every year issuing us with a notice that the balanced flue guard was no longer legal (It was legal when boiler was fitted in 1984. )

Both boilers were still going strong when we knocked the house down, the second boiler was c 28 years old.

Now we have a pressurised system/hot water at mains pressure and a maintenance contract with the plumber who fitted the whole system in the newbuild.in 2016.

Only thing I have to do is check pressure is above a certain mark and top up if nec (usually every 15-18 months.) :wink:
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1886251
@Big Dex A question for you whilst you're here....

I've got a 10 year old Grundfos 15/60 that seems noisier than I recall it being. Is that a sign of wear? It gets even noisier as the TRVs gradually close off. Would I be better getting one of the newer variable speed/constant head ones? (or is that just adding in complexity to fail)
By Big Dex
#1886254
Hi @rikur_ , the bearings are ceramic, and lubricated by the primary water itself. If you have bits of sludge/rust running around the system, that will accelerate wear, but at 10 years old, it’s doing ok. I personally far prefer the older selectable speed pumps over the newer variables, but of course they are less efficient (electrically) than the newer ones (albeit I don’t think that there’s a noticeable difference in running costs).

Initially though, I would check the orientation of the pump head; you ideally don’t want the head pointing upwards, as it can catch and hold any air passing through. With the pump running, I’d suggest loosening the silver bleed screw at the top; air can make them noisy. If air comes out, great. If it dribbles water, also good. If it squirts water, the bearings are worn. If it is suspect, I’d recommend getting an old-style head from eBay ( https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GRUNDFOS-15- ... 635-2958-0 ); you’re less likely to disturb stuff by isolating the pump, removing the 4no cap-head screws, and refitting the new head than by changing the pump in its entirety, and the bit that remains is a steel casting that will see us all out.
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1886266
Big Dex wrote: you ideally don’t want the head pointing upwards,

that's the first fail - that said, it's always been upside down, and the layout of the airing cupboard doesn't lend itself to easily inverting it

Big Dex wrote:
.... With the pump running, I’d suggest loosening the silver bleed screw at the top; air can make them noisy. If air comes out, great. If it dribbles water, also good. If it squirts water, the bearings are worn.
will try tomorrow. The system struggles with trapped air due to badly routed pipes, and was recently drained down to remove a radiator - so I suspect air is still gradually working it's way back to the vent pipe and bottle bleed valves, so it may be small amounts of air getting trapped in the inverted pump.
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By AndyR
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1886267
Big Dex wrote:
AndyR wrote:Might have to wait until summer to get one to come back with a quote.

Not a single response yet :x


What is it that you need doing Andy, and where in the world? Feel free to PM me if you wish, I can likely help.


Just down the road from @avtur3 . So wrong part of the country I believe. Appreciated though.

We would like a new boiler. We moved earlier this year knowing that it would need to be replaced. The few who have been in and looked have all agreed that it’s not worth servicing as it needs replacing. They then go away promising to send a quote and that’s the last one hears of them. Not a single person/company seems to answer their phone, letting it go to ansafone (seems to be the way of getting calls).
Why bother to come round if you’re not going to bother quoting or returning calls.

Might have to call British Gas or another national company as local guys don’t seem to want or need the work.
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1886276
AndyR wrote:They then go away promising to send a quote and that’s the last one hears of them. Not a single person/company seems to answer their phone, letting it go to ansafone (seems to be the way of getting calls).
Why bother to come round if you’re not going to bother quoting or returning calls.


Are you sure you dont live here in France ??
:roll:
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By simon32
#1886287
The pilot light on our Godin gas range failed to stay alight. Since it is almost impossible to get hold of a plumber or gas serviceman in France I realised that I was on my own. The pilot light is rather far back in the fire box and I could not clean it with a toothbrush on the end of a stick
The whole stove had to be disconnected and moved out. It is very heavy and I enlisted the help of a very competent neigbor. The fitting on the back had to be cut off to enable removal of the burner assembly.
I ordered a new pilot light assembly, but after a week realised they were out of stock. Since it was installed 25 years ago, nearly all the screws were rusted tight. After much frustration I managed to clean the individual parts of the pilot light assembly (igniter, gas injector and thermocouple). All the gas inlet fittings had to be changed as the old type of bi-conic compression fittings are no longer available in France. After even more frustration and fiddling it is all back together and works properly.
I can now see why it is not easy to get hold of plumbers as it was around a week’s work off and on.
Simon
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1886337
rikur_ wrote:
Big Dex wrote:
.... With the pump running, I’d suggest loosening the silver bleed screw at the top; air can make them noisy. If air comes out, great. If it dribbles water, also good. If it squirts water, the bearings are worn.
will try tomorrow. The system struggles with trapped air due to badly routed pipes, and was recently drained down to remove a radiator - so I suspect air is still gradually working it's way back to the vent pipe and bottle bleed valves, so it may be small amounts of air getting trapped in the inverted pump.


A very brief whish of air, and then a dribble - so perhaps all is good. So that doesn't explain why it's gone so noisy. The water is clean and correctly inhibited having recently been drained to remove a radiator - albeit that's when I noticed it being noisier, so I am suspecting air or debris trapped somewhere (albeit also a theory that it may be the ABV that's whistling)
By Bill McCarthy
#1886359
Pump cavitating due TRVs shutting down causing reduced flow.
You shouldn’t have to drain down the system to remove a radiator - shut the TRV and the throttle valve at the other end, noting how many turns to shut.