Ideal Classic FF250 boiler problem

chrisalang

My girlfriends boiler, an Ideal Classic FF250 has ceased to work. It will ignite occasionally, heat the radiators and hot water for a few minutes and then the burners go out. It immediately attempts to re ignight but all you can hear is a clicking sound, as well as the fan running. As I do not have an installation manual and fault finding chart, I am working from my engineering knowledge and possibly testing by substitution. Does anyone have detailed knowledge of these boilers and therefore the problem or a manual I could have a copy of? Many thanks Chris lang

Razor

Could be anything from a blocked pilot to a dodgy solenoid (common on these), do you get a small flame when you look through the window?

Gas valve or pilot RGI territory I'm afraid.

chrisalang

There is no pilot on this boiler it is an electronic start. The clicking is it trying to ignite. There appears to be no gas for the burners. If this is a gas solonoid valve do you need to replace the whole valve or is the solonoid just a part. Any idea if there is a downloadable parts number web page for this boiler. Ideally I want to order the part for my gas engineer to fit when he is back from holiday. Thanks for your advce so far.

EliteHeat

There most certainly is a pilot for this boiler, it is just not a permanent one. The pilot flame must be present and detected within 6 or 7 seconds of igniting before the main burner can operate, this is known as flame rectification.

Razor

Think you should get someone in as you have just demonstrated a lack of knowledge with this.

Its funny how engineers, electricians and mechanics can all work on boilers but although I work with pipes everyday I'm not allowed to carry out heart bypasses.

chrisalang

I was talking about there not being a permanent pilot. Your initial post suggested that the pilot may have simply gone out. Not sure about your analogy with heart surgery. Engineering is engineering requiring a systematic approach to fault diagnosis using information hopefully readily available. Unfortunately it appears this information is not on the net for this boiler. Once you have the information it is easily fixed. Surgery is completely different! Anyway it appears that it is the gas control valve that is at fault not the pilot.

Razor

Where does my initial post suggest the pilot has gone out?

This is one of the most reliable and best loved boilers ever made, it was manufactured in slightly different specifications for years and almost any decent engineer will very shortly get to the bottom of the problem even me and I mostly do installation work rather than breakdowns.

If you were systematically approaching this problem with the information readily available you would have answered the question I asked about whether there was an initial pilot flame.

As you have confidence in your diagnosis I suggest you replace the gas valve then the pcb followed by the APS and fan.

Luckily pilot injectors never block up so change that last.

Heres a clue for you there are two solenoids on the gasvalve, one controls the main burner I wonder what the other one is for?

capita_guy

Suggest you leave well alone and get a qualified person to look at it. You are not exactly showing competance here and are then defensive when someone tries to post help. The least you will do is cause more problems by poking around the worst ????????????????