HALSTEAD FINEST SAFETY LOCKOUT

[99JASON99]

MY (APPROXIMATELY 5 YEARS OLD) HALSTEAD FINEST COMBI BOILER SAFETY LOCKOUT LED IS CONSTANTLY SHOWING RED AND THE IGNITION ELECTRODE DOESN'T EVEN ATTEMPT TO SPARK. I HAVE CHECKED THE TROUBLE SHOOTING GUIDE IN THE MANUAL, WHICH SAYS CHECK THE SUPPLY VOLTAGE AND THE PCB FUSES - WHICH ARE ALL HEALTHY - AND IF THEY ARE OKAY REPLACE THE PCB.
FOR ABOUT A WEEK PRIOR TO THIS HAPPENING THE BOILER SEEMED TO FIRE UP FOR ABOUT TEN SECONDS AND THEN WENT OFF, THIS WAS HAPPENING EVERY FIVE TO TEN MINUTES (THE ONLY DEMAND WAS THE RADIATOR IN THE BATHROOM - THE ONLY RAD WITHOUT A TRV).
WE HAVE HAD THIS PROBLEM ONCE OR TWICE BEFORE BUT IT WAS RECTIFIED BY TURNING THE POWER OFF COMPLETELY FO TEN SECONDS AND THE TURNING IT BACK ON AND THIS SOLVED THE PROBLEM.
ANY ADVICE REGARDING THIS PROBLEM WOULD BE VERY WELCOME AS I DON'T REALLY WANT TO REPLACE THE PCB DUE TO THE COST!

 

[ChrisR]

Please turn your caps lock off!

Does the red light come on constant or flashing?
When you turn the boiler off and on it goes through a self-test. Does the fan start? Pump? If it fails, it will lock out and hold red light on.

Which fault finding flow diagram are you following?

 

[99JASON99]

-The red light is constant
-The fan starts up and stays on
-Pump, not sure if it starts up or not
-The flow diagram is in the manufacturers manual for the boiler.

 

[ChrisR]

Does the red light come on immediately the boiler is turned on (after several seconds off) or does it do its test (pump and fan run) then put the light on after several seconds of the fan being on?

One is familiar with the manual. It has two fault finding flow charts. Your tests don't seem to follow either of them.

 

[99JASON99]

I'm referring to flow chart 1 on page 27 of the manual, I think I may have misread the diagram slightly, I veered off where it says 'is the green light illuminated', the green light stays on and the constant red light comes on and stays on immediately.

 

[99JASON99]

Is there a possibility of air in the pump and if so how do you bleed it? I bled all the radiators and this had no effect.

 

[scatmanjohn]

Look under the boiler on the left hand side near the front. You will see a little red button, press it and then try again.

That should get it going but there is some underlying fault causing your problem (overheat)

 

[99JASON99]

Any likely suspects for the overheat problem?

 

[scatmanjohn]

Any likely suspects for the overheat problem?

Did it work?

 

[ChrisR]

And what does the pressure gauge read?
Have you turned the boiler on with pressure reading zero?
Have you refilled the system after bleeding the rads?

 

[99JASON99]

Firstly, the overheat thermostat hadn't cut out.
The pressure gauge reads approx 1.5 bar
The boiler hasn't been lower than 1.0 bar, and didn't need refilling after bleeding the rads, there was hardly any air in them. I have checked the fan, which is running, the pump feels like it is pumping, the primary flow switch was faulty (permanently closed) so I have replaced this with the flow switch from the heating and left the heating clock in the off position and still no joy, just straight to the red lockout. HELP!!!!

 

[corgiman]

halsteads are buggers for this and i have only cured it in the past by replacing the pcb and both thermisters

 

[99JASON99]

Cheers Corgiman, would you recommend replacing the thermistors first? Or is it a straight to PCB renewal job? Any idea why it doesn't even try to spark and goes straight to lockout.

 

[corgiman]

i have tried before to replace thethermisters and the pcb seperatly but it never seems to work

halsteads arehatefull buggers to fault find

so good luck

 

[ChrisR]

You can check the thermistors with a meter, they should be about 10kOhms cold.

Any idea why it doesn't even try to spark and goes straight to lockout.

Sparking is well down the sequence. WHen you first switch it on, with no call for heat/hw, it won't try to light. As I indicated above it should turn the fan on and test the air pressure switch closes, and it should turn the pump on and check for water flow. It does that as soon as its turned on even if there isn't a call for heat. ANything wrong there and it'll lock out when it finds it, and never try to light.
To check(only) the air flow you can short the air pressure switch leads all together, but don't be tempted to run it longer like that. Any fault there could be dangerous to run with.
But it sounds like its failing before going into the test sequence. It could be that faulty primary flow switch (that's the one on top, not on the end, of the brass casting, if that's the one you mean) doing it - it might test for water flow without the pump running, and lock out if it's obviously wrong - so try it with the flow switch disconnected. If that is the problem, it should take a few seconds to find it, not go to lockout before the pump starts. That flow switch is needed for HW as well as CH.
(Sounds like you may have the two flow switches confused because: "the primary flow switch was faulty (permanently closed) so I have replaced this with the flow switch from the heating" doesn't make sense. There isn't a heating flow switch, you need them both for HW).
I've changed several pcb's but only ever one temp sensor!
Email me if you do need a pcb, address in profile.