Boiler goes "BOOM"

[vexation]

Three-month old GlowWorm Flexicom 30hx occasionally fires-up with a window-rattling, door shaking boom.

Checking the diagnostics it shows Average ignition time=1.5 secs. and Maximum ignition time=4.4 secs. No Unsuccessful ignitions are logged.

I've never had a boiler do this before, is someone going to tell me it's normal? The cat won't sleep in the boiler-room any more, and I can't blame him.

 

[gas4you]

Call Glow Worm out under warranty. Ignition electrodes my be failing so it doesn't ignite straight away.

 

[superdupergasman]

The boiler may not have been commissioned properly and the min/max CO2 readings may be out causing problems, or a faulty component as suggested

alternativley What size is the gas pipe to the boiler and how far does it run??

May be undersized???

 

[bengasman]

contact installer and explain problem

 

[vexation]

Thanks. Just wanted some opinions before (potentially) getting fobbed-off. Sounds like we're in the hands of the experts again.

 

[vexation]

What do you know. After my last post above (Jan '09 ) An engineer "fixed" the fault by replacing the ignition electrode/cable assembly which did indeed seem to be arcing in all the wrong places. Now, Nov '10, it's suddenly started doing the same flipping thing again.

Well, not exactly. It only occasionally goes bang where as before it was almost every time it lit. Not often enough to be on hand to catch it in the act (to see if it arcs where it shouldn't) but often enough to keep the cat from staying in (after we finally managed to "convince" him it wasn't going to go bang again).

What someone could perhaps confirm for me is whether the spark is normally visible as a dim orange flash at the base of the white insulator - I can see it flash once or twice everytime it fires "normally". You sure don't see anything like this with a car spark-plug (but then again they're built to withstand engine compression). Mind you, the top of the combustion box takes a hit when the gas ignites late - I think I can see signs of blow-by at the corner near the spark unit. The bang is fierce enough to blow the top of the flue pipe off outside.

 

[jtech24]

the spark of an ignitor is normally a bright blue colour at the top of the spark generator which can usually be seen quite clearly so if you are seeing an orange type glow at the base of the igniter it may be that there might be a small gas leak at the base of the pilot assembly which could be causing the failure in ignition thus leading to the bang of a gas build up,have it checked by a proper engineer

 

[Deleted member 63160]

It wont be the pilot assembly. More likely the flux capacitor on this model.

 

[Agile]

There seems to be a lot of woolly words above.

In a boiler there should be a spark at one place only and that is the ignition electrode gap which should be about 4 mm.

Tony

 

[vexation]

Thanks to those that have been helpful, I'm now thinking the odd orange flash is a breakdown somewhere at the base of the (new) electrode, because I've now watched for some time and when it ignites properly (silently) there's no orange flash at all. I've still not been able to watch it when there's a really explosive ignition but I bet it'll be flashing orange almost all the time.

I fully understand "the mood in here". But having already had a replacement ignition fitted just over a year ago, I want to draw on the experience of others so I'm able to talk semi-intelligently to the RGI when I next call them out. It's obviously not reasonable to have to pay for a part to be fitted on a yearly basis, yet if I didn't do anything more than just keep calling them out, that's what would seem to be in prospect.

 

[vexation]

In yet another thread about explosive ignition in Glow-worm Flexicom's I was very interested to read this:

Call Glow worm and get a service call under warrenty. 'Hard ignition' is the problem I had the same problem on combi fitted in our last project. Glow worm have machined the heat exchanger around the spark electrode to cure the problem in new ones. The ones that are out there get modified spark assembly.

One week out of the two-year warranty and I see this. Anyone got serial numbers or do I have to pay a 60p/minute ransom to find out if our boiler needs the modified electrode or not?

For reference I'm making a list of other threads discussing explosive ignition in Flexicom's here:

Glow Worm Flexicom HX pops on ignition - common fault?
Intermittent noisy Ignition
New Glow worm Flexicom Anyopne used and or have comments?

 

[vexation]

Looks like mitch66 was right when he mentioned the "flux capacitor". That orange glow I was describing is def. a failed electrode (dielectric flux travelling through a capacitor )

Untitled

• vexation
• 16 Nov 2010
• 1

On the phone Glowworm tech admitted there were problems with the electrode assemblies used in earlier models. Looks like the replacement fitted last year was pulled from the same batch.

 

[bengasman]

If your boiler was legally installed by a bona fide RGI, the repair under warrantee has a warrantee in itself.

The fact that the faulty part was replaced by another faulty part indicates that it was done by a cowboy. Dito for the fact that you are on here again for advice whilst you could get it done for free by vailant.

This has all the hallmarks of an illegal install; it appears to be proving again that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.[/url]

 

[vexation]

If your boiler was legally installed by a bona fide RGI, the repair under warrantee has a warrantee in itself.

The fact that the faulty part was replaced by another faulty part indicates that it was done by a cowboy. Dito for the fact that you are on here again for advice whilst you could get it done for free by vailant.

This has all the hallmarks of an illegal install; it appears to be proving again that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.[/url]

Well, the boiler was installed under the Warm Front initiative. Its servicing and repair was therefore carried out by Warm Sure. They appointed the installers but we've seen several different contractors come in for various remedial work. I contacted Warm Sure about the latest breakdown but they told me the system was out of warranty now (which I knew expired 7 Nov. '10) and that the previous repair had no warranty at all. I did quiz this point as it seemed wrong but they stuck to their guns.

For those who may think I've been whining and stereotyping too much, I've seen a significant number of accredited engineers come through my door and all have failed to remedy the various faults effectively. For example, in my thread Has our plumber put us in danger? we had numerous attempts by different engineers to stop the pump-over (including jacking up the cold feed tank on empty plastic bottles). Nobody understood the problem (not any of the plumbers that came to the house) and despite 7 pages of assitance on these forums, it was left to me to figure it out and finally fix it by matching the bore of the vent pipe to the bore of the system (as I theorized in my last post in that thread). Once again, I feel that I've had to "roll up my sleeves" to understand and remedy a problem in a technical arena that I normally don't operate within. Fortunately my own electronic and mechanical engineering abilities seem to cross over quite well into the magical world of domestic plumbing.

 

[JohnD]

Warm Front, you say?

What do you think of them now?