boiler sounded like chugging then stopped working

[cliffG]

My Worcester Bosch Greenstar 24ri LPG was making a strange chugging noise then has stopped.
I am covered by my insurance ( up to £500 ) but the engineer they sent is struggling to find a fault. It is day 7 without heat and hot water, just some advice please. He came out and changed the fan as he told worchester bosch it was reading 9 they said it should be 300 ? that was changed and still no good.
He then came out today and changed the gas valve again still not working. He has told me at no cost to me as the charges are already over £500 ( covered by insurance) he will change the board.
I have already paid on top of this for the fan and gas valve. He suggested it could be the earth rod for the house ? but that would not be down to him, any advice would help on what it could be. He told me on the first day he cleared the condenser and pipe? I also have 55% gas in the tank so not out of gas. He is due back Monday with new board

Cliff

 

[durhamplumber]

Jeez,,if WB Engr has been testing it and throwing parts at it for a week with no success,,miracle if anyone in here can help...House earthing rod,,,really,,Best I can say,,he/she is there, I am not....Good luck,you will need it.Is condensate definetly clear,,trap,,,the lot,,bacause combi boilers make alsorts of gurgling bubbling noises when condensate blocked.

 

[ianmcd]

Earthing rod ?????? have heard it all now

 

[FiremanT]

Jeez,,if WB Engr has been testing it and throwing parts at it for a week with no success,,miracle if anyone in here can help...House earthing rod,,,really,,Best I can say,,he/she is there, I am not....Good luck,you will need it.Is condensate definetly clear,,trap,,,the lot,,bacause combi boilers make alsorts of gurgling bubbling noises when condensate blocked.

I don’t think it is a WB engineer. He says he has as insurance policy so could be anyone.
I think I would be asking why he thought it was the fan, then the GV, now a PCB.
The earthing rod, if there is one, could be elimated by doing an earth impedance test. Why has he picked on this - even if by some miracle he is correct, it does not explain the chugging.

OP: it is difficult when one is not present, but this guy sounds hopeless. The problem is that insurance companies generally do not have in house engineers but use contractors. I would be making some investigations with a view to asking for money back.

Ask him what was 9, but should be 300. If the boiler is not running, I can only assume he is referring to te electrical resistance on the fan. But 300 is not right, but you may have misheard.

 

[fixitflav]

My Worcester Bosch Greenstar 24ri LPG was making a strange chugging noise then has stopped.

Nobody's mentioned the pump. Is that OK? Could be the explanation of the chugging noise.

 

[cliffG]

He is not a worchester bosch engineer, he was appointed by insurance company. the chugging noise was coming from the boiler, I heard as walking past the vent / exhaust pipe outside (sorry dont know what it's called). The pump is upstairs away from the boiler, yes will be asking for a refund as already over the £500 allowed. I suspect he has done something as told me today when he left he will replace the board at no cost to us on Monday as we have been down for so long. Morale of the story just get a heating engineer in to fix and dont get insurance with Admiral.

 

[ianmcd]

A Worcester Bosch fixed price repair would have been about £300 and would have included all parts with a warranty

 

[cliffG]

my insurance covers the first £500, so far it has cost me £140 only because the engineer had to come back 3 times. the first time he didnt know what was wrong had a look and was going to get parts. Yes a WB engineer would have had them on his van, the 2nd time he forgot to take down the serial number his fault so that also came off the amount. By the time he came back with some parts the bill was already £395.
obviously I now know I should just call WB but the insurance was stating i was covered so went with that. I am in the process of moving so know for the future the route to take.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Blocked trap - or second trap inline.

 

[FiremanT]

Nobody's mentioned the pump. Is that OK? Could be the explanation of the chugging noise.

FFS. The "enigneer" may see this and add a pump to his list of wrong parts

 

[cliffG]

lets hope he learns something over the weekend so he can fix it.

 

[fixitflav]

FFS. The "enigneer" may see this and add a pump to his list of wrong parts

This time it might do the trick!
I wasn't suggesting the pump is changed on the off-chance, but altering the speed and seeing if the chugging changes might give a clue to the problem.

 

[MeldrewsMate]

I'll go with Dan's suggestion, and get the fitter to check the condensate trap or drain is not blocked. You'll be pleased to know that no parts are required for this!
Beyond this have him check that the pump is clear, and rotates freely.
Have him explain how the PCB failing can cause the reported chugging noise, then rejoice in the squirming body language - it's the only pleasure you'll get out of this episode!

 

[FiremanT]

This time it might do the trick!
I wasn't suggesting the pump is changed on the off-chance, but altering the speed and seeing if the chugging changes might give a clue to the problem.

my insurance covers the first £500, so far it has cost me £140 only because the engineer had to come back 3 times. the first time he didnt know what was wrong had a look and was going to get parts. Yes a WB engineer would have had them on his van, the 2nd time he forgot to take down the serial number his fault so that also came off the amount. By the time he came back with some parts the bill was already £395.
obviously I now know I should just call WB but the insurance was stating i was covered so went with that. I am in the process of moving so know for the future the route to take.

TBF, I was just taking the p out if the engineer.

It more likely to be the pumo than the fan, GV or the PCB. If the pump is stuck or sticking, there may well be some "chugging".

We are in danger of getting too close to giving gas advice, whoch is not allowed.

But, OP, what actualy happens if you do a Reset (turn the knob clockwise amd holding a few seconds). ?

Are any of the pipes leaving the boiler hot?

Did the engineer use a multi meter at any stage of his diagnosing? (did yousee my question about 9& 300)?

These are not particularly complicated machines, and a total failure (as opposed to intermittent failure) should be reasonably easy to fault find.

 

[cliffG]

Thanks for all the advice as you may have guessed I have no experience in this field ( just like my engineer ) but will try and answer the questions.
Yes he used his multi-metre and said the resistance on the fan was reading 9 and didn't know if that was good and would check with WB. When he came back the next time he told me 9 meant it was bad and should be closer to 300 as told to him by WB, He was also told remove orange wire and do something ( sorry cant remember that bit) and if fan started it was not the fan. He did all this and said it will be the valve. When he comes back today I will mention the pump etc, I cant check that as the boiler is not working at all but will get the traps etc checked. The reset when it first stopped I did try a reset and it tried to start and then nothing, further resets did nothing. So far he has changed the following:
fan, wiring loom, gas valve and today it's the board.
Thanks everyone for all the advice so far, if he does manage to fix it I will make sure i put the reason on the post.
Cliff