Ideal Isar HE24 showing LF fault

[ripperuk]

hi guys,

I have a 4 year old ideal isar HE24 which has had a lot of problems. It's had a new orange pcb, pump replaced. It's also had a blockage, which turned out to be a blocked condensate trap, which was thoroughly cleaned out about 7 months ago.

Since yesterday though the boiler has gone into the L-F fault code. If i press reset, the boiler starts up and although it's slower and seems to be louder, it eventually goes from a sequence of D, 1, 2 to 0 and works okay for a bit with hot water, but then goes back to the L-F error code.

I've already checked the:-

1. Condensate trap and it only had a tiny bit of grit, which i thoroughly cleaned out.
2. Sump below the heat exchanger which was then cleaned out with loads of white dust
3. Insulation in the combustion chamber which clean and white
4. Ignition Electrode and although that seems to be okay, it looks a little used/burnt...is this normal?
5. Flame detector which again looks used/burnt, but my worry is why is it ACTUALLY touching the fins of the combustion chamber...is that normal?

 

[Dan Robinson]

Call a gas safe registered engineer.

 

[ripperuk]

why? has it got gas leak?

 

[Dan Robinson]

Because you have no idea what you are doing and you are monkeying around with flame detection/proving parts of your boiler inside the combustion chamber.

Nor do you have the required equipment to check that the boiler is working safely and within its parameters.

 

[ripperuk]

okay mate point taken. I'm not going to do it myself, i was actually planning to get a gas registered person to look at it, but just wanted to get an idea of what could possibly be wrong as i'm worried a gas guy will come out and try and rip me off. So if i can talk as though i know what i'm talking about, then at least it will make them think twice about taking me for a ride.

 

[Dan Robinson]

RGI's can spot a Google warrior a mile off. They will then also know you have been poking and prodding things.

Why do people assume automatically that an RGI is going to fleece them?

I'm not going to do it myself

But you have already:

checked the:-

1. Condensate trap and it only had a tiny bit of grit, which i thoroughly cleaned out.
2. Sump below the heat exchanger which was then cleaned out with loads of white dust
3. Insulation in the combustion chamber which clean and white
4. Ignition Electrode
5. Flame detector

 

[ripperuk]

Can you recommend any company that i can trust mate?

 

[Dan Robinson]

I am not from your neck of the woods, I suppose a British Gas fixed price job wouldn't be out of the question... loathe that I am to reccomend them.

 

[ripperuk]

Cheers buddy. Your right, i was looking for a cheap solution as i thought that if i could simply get a ignition kit or whatever is causing the issue, it'll cost much cheaper than paying an engineer.

Thanks though.

 

[Dan Robinson]

No worries.

Problem with your boiler and most other modern boilers - when you play in the combustion chamber you need to analyse the emissions with a very expensive and annually calibrated piece of kit.

On your boiler there are no adjustments allowed, so any discrepancies need to have their source found methodically.


Fingers crossed it is something simple.

 

[ripperuk]

Right I got the problem fixed! - it was the Flame Detection Electrode which had bent/melted and was touching the top of the burner. I also paid to get the Ignition Electrode replaced too as that was a little worn too.

The boiler is working okay, but now i have found 2 new problems (1st problem is my main concern!):-

1. The boiler RESET button has stopped working, i.e. nothing happens if i LONG or SHORT press it. We have tried another new control panel and wire that connects the panel to the pcb, but still the reset button does not work. However if i press the reset button many times quickly, it gives the Error code h6 or hb. By switching the boiler off for 30 seconds, clears the error, but the reset button still won't work.

2. The boiler burner is taking time to "ACTUALLY" kick in when the DHW tap is opened, even though the boiler shows "D" as soon as tap is opened - it takes approx 45 seconds to 1 minute to kick in and by then the water is coming cold from the tap.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Problem 1 is an error code related directly to the reset button itself.

New user control needed.

Problem 2 could be a number of things ranging from temperature sensor, to fan fault, to PCB.

In which case we are back to my posts from last night.

 

[ripperuk]

okay mate, thanks. Regarding the reset button problem. Since the boiler seems to be functioning okay for now, is it important to get the control panel replaced urgently or could i wait?

Also how is it that we've tried a new control panel and still get the same error and the reset button still not working?

 

[gaswizzard]

Try giving the loom/connectors a good clean , if not stick a replacemrnt loom on it.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Frankly I wouldn't spend any more on this POS than you have to...

The Hb code is specifically for the reset button, but I suppose it could be a fault on the main PCB (orange ones are no more reliable than the others despite what Ideal will try and tell you).

If the boiler works, leave well alone I would.