rubbish boiler

[allus]

Help. I have a Britony 80 combi. When we switch the heating on, the system fires for about 30 seconds and then stops . When we switch the hot water tap on, the boiler fires on and off constantly resulting in a luke warm bath. I have had 2 plumbers check it out and after a lot of head scratching they say they cant fix it. We have had no hot water or heating now for 2 weeks.

 

[Paul Barker]

Tell it to John Prescot. My Ideal Mexico and gravity hot water system and rads correctly sized with no need for trv's and back up hot water system and back up heating system (coal fire) have worked relatively unchanged for 25 years and may well do so for another 25 years, and wife has a great big walk in cupboard to dry the clothes in.

But help you I can't, I like working on Brittony II multipoints because cleaning a pilot jet and changing an occasional diapragm is a lot more predictable than the problems you are encountering.

I run away from your type of boiler I'm afraid, they have that look about them that sends a shiver down my spine in these days where the customer is always right.

Hopefully Agile will have the answers for you, he's obviously a lot better at generic boiler repairs than me.

 

[allus]

Tell it to John Prescot. My Ideal Mexico and gravity hot water system and rads correctly sized with no need for trv's and back up hot water system and back up heating system (coal fire) have worked relatively unchanged for 25 years and may well do so for another 25 years, and wife has a great big walk in cupboard to dry the clothes in.

Eh?

It's never worked properly since a guy called Paul fitted my bathroom. Was it you? If so, come and fix it. One guy said it was the 3 way valve but, he seems reluctant to change it. I dont know why. Doesnt look too hard. The 3 way valve has a lot of lime on it and when he pulled out the thermistor temp sensor thing with the electrical connector on it, a load of mucky water came out. Why cant he just try and replace it? Far as I can tell it's only 3 clips holding it in.

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moderator

edited to correct quote

 

[chrishutt]

You need to find a heating engineer (not plumber) who knows how to repair Britony combi boilers? They're not that difficult to repair. Could well be a problem associated with diverter valve (spare £30 ish) although it might be connected with sludge in system. Did your bathroom work involve moving/changing rad?

 

[allus]

sorry, I meant heating engineer. slip of the fingers. Yes, we had a radiator moved and a new one fitted in the bathroom. This guy was corgi registered. The problems have only occured since this work was done. It has got worse overtime. Is it likely then that it is sludge? What is the best way to clear it out?

 

[chrishutt]

Is it likely then that it is sludge?

Probably, it fits. Draining and refilling can dislodge sludge that has collected at the bottom of rads. It can then find its way into combi hot water heat exchangers and cause the kind of HW problem you describe.

To clear sludge you need to flush out the system. If you do a search on this site you will find lots of threads dealing with it. Difficult to DIY unless you have a logical, engineering type mind.

I think a Heating Engineer would know how to fix your boiler, therefore the people you called out, who couldn't repair it, could not really have been heating engineers, even if that's what they called themselves.

 

[allus]

thanks very much for your advice.

 

[chrishutt]

Just remembered that the Britony combi has a return filter hidden away in the boiler, where the copper pipe rising from the return isolating valve enters the plastic body. Very likely that this filter is blocked (hence lack of CH circulation).

To clean, close isolating valves under boiler, drain CH water out of boiler, undo brass nut at base of copper tube, remove clip that holds top end in plastic housing, withdraw pipe forwards (O ring seal). Filter should be on end of pipe.