Hi there,
Our Thorn EMI Apollo (15/30B) gas boiler has recently given up the ghost. We have only had the house a year, and the heating has worked well up until the last month or so.
The problem started a week ago, the day after a British Gas engineer attempted a service. He couldn't finish the service because the boiler was 'sealed in' by a previous resident. The boiler does indeed have a red silicone type bead around it's perimeter, and also around the view port (which indecently has a burn mark etched into the boiler housing coming off it)
Now, the boiler is really difficult to start (can take 10-20 clicks of the ignition), and 5 times out of 10 when you let go of the gas valve the pilot goes straight out. When the pilot does eventually stays lit, it seems to do so if the the main flame isn't on.
When the main flame starts (on both high and low thermostats) it stays lit for anywhere between 5 minutes and several hours (mostly 5 minutes though) before the gas valve clicks out, shutting off the pilot and main flame.
Also, not consistently, sometimes the flame seems to look more orange than others.
Before the British Gas engineer came round (the reason he came round in fact) was because the whole system seemed to start making some randomly timed clunking sounds, that seemed to get louder over space of a minute or so and ended with a pretty loud clunk, after which the system continued to run fine. I could not isolate the source of the clunking, but it seemed loudest at the boiler and in the storage tank cupboard (where the pump and motorised valve is kept)
Has anyone encountered this combination of events in the past with this boiler? or has an idea what the problem/solution is?
We asked British Gas to look into it but because of the age of the boiler, they suggested replacing it with a condensing boiler, in the same space (almost a straight swap), and quoted £2300 all in.
A local CORGI engineer has quoted just short of £400 all in to replace the seal and gas valve, or £1600 all in (excluding flushing the radiators individually - only using a chemical flush of the whole system) for a new ideal IKOS condensing boiler.
Do these seem like sensible costs / courses of action? He has told us "he will have a look at what he can get at" with respect to quitening the heating..
We've got another guy coming for a second opinion (third if you include British Gas's sales pitch) next week.
I really have no idea about heating systems, other than what Google tells me, and am concerned that I make a decision to part with a lot of money (that might not fix the problem) based only on internet research. Then I found this forum!
Finally, with the weather being like it is, does anyone have any suggestions to prevent / reduce the risk of pipes freezing with a dysfunctional boiler?
Many thanks for reading this far!!
Whitling2k
Our Thorn EMI Apollo (15/30B) gas boiler has recently given up the ghost. We have only had the house a year, and the heating has worked well up until the last month or so.
The problem started a week ago, the day after a British Gas engineer attempted a service. He couldn't finish the service because the boiler was 'sealed in' by a previous resident. The boiler does indeed have a red silicone type bead around it's perimeter, and also around the view port (which indecently has a burn mark etched into the boiler housing coming off it)
Now, the boiler is really difficult to start (can take 10-20 clicks of the ignition), and 5 times out of 10 when you let go of the gas valve the pilot goes straight out. When the pilot does eventually stays lit, it seems to do so if the the main flame isn't on.
When the main flame starts (on both high and low thermostats) it stays lit for anywhere between 5 minutes and several hours (mostly 5 minutes though) before the gas valve clicks out, shutting off the pilot and main flame.
Also, not consistently, sometimes the flame seems to look more orange than others.
Before the British Gas engineer came round (the reason he came round in fact) was because the whole system seemed to start making some randomly timed clunking sounds, that seemed to get louder over space of a minute or so and ended with a pretty loud clunk, after which the system continued to run fine. I could not isolate the source of the clunking, but it seemed loudest at the boiler and in the storage tank cupboard (where the pump and motorised valve is kept)
Has anyone encountered this combination of events in the past with this boiler? or has an idea what the problem/solution is?
We asked British Gas to look into it but because of the age of the boiler, they suggested replacing it with a condensing boiler, in the same space (almost a straight swap), and quoted £2300 all in.
A local CORGI engineer has quoted just short of £400 all in to replace the seal and gas valve, or £1600 all in (excluding flushing the radiators individually - only using a chemical flush of the whole system) for a new ideal IKOS condensing boiler.
Do these seem like sensible costs / courses of action? He has told us "he will have a look at what he can get at" with respect to quitening the heating..
We've got another guy coming for a second opinion (third if you include British Gas's sales pitch) next week.
I really have no idea about heating systems, other than what Google tells me, and am concerned that I make a decision to part with a lot of money (that might not fix the problem) based only on internet research. Then I found this forum!
Finally, with the weather being like it is, does anyone have any suggestions to prevent / reduce the risk of pipes freezing with a dysfunctional boiler?
Many thanks for reading this far!!
Whitling2k
