Stelrad Ideal Elan2 80NF Boiler Won't Switch On

rozel

Thanks for your help - I couldn't reply last night as the site was temporarily down. I will call out someone local to check things out for me now. It must be something which has blown/is faulty which affected the PCB and which remains blown/faulty - once known/repaired/working, I will post back.

Paul

rozel

Ok the guy called as promised and he said it is the fan unit. He proved this by switching the front switch on and off several times - the fan started very slowly but immediately stopped after say a quater of a revolution. After explaining the sequence of events he could not explain why the PCB went and then the fan. He says the fan unit could not be responsible for putting the PCB out but could the blown PCB put the fan unit out? He definately says the fan unit is the problem but in view of the age of the boiler his advice would be a new boiler. He didn't really test much else but if it has to be a new boiler, then I will use the services of the original guy who diagnosed the PCB. Looking through my old invoices, I notice that the fan unit was replaced in January 2008 - for the first time. Why then has it just gone? It was working before I looked for the LED on the PCB - that was about noon yesterday? All this is making my head hurt as I'm sure there must be a sequence of events that can explain all this, without a glib comment "you boiler needs replacing mate" and I don't mean on here I am really frustrated now - a new Fan Unit looks easy to install although if I can get one, it will cost £170 ish but that still is a far cry from the price of a new boiler. Any further thoughts please?

Paul

rozel

Just called round to a local parts dealer and sought some opinion from a senior experienced guy behind the counter and a gas fitter who walked in coincidently. Both confirmed that if the Fan Unit sticks and the power to it is on for long enough this could cause a relay on the PCB to burn out - this is what seemed to have happened originally. If the fan unit is not working then this will cause the boiler NOT to light up. Both have told me that the new Programmer I've bought (Drayton LP 522) is better than the existing Honeywell ST699B although this is a secondary consideration.

gas4you you have been really helpful to me and so I will delay buying the fan unit until I hear your opinion. The guy today definately said the Fan Unit could not be responsible for the burnt out relay on the PCB, but these guys just now said "ohh yes it can". I know I may be throwing good money after bad but even allowing for the two call out charges, hte cost of the replacement PCB and a new Fan Unit, this will still be considerably less than the cost of a new boiler. And I may be even lucky with a return/or sale via ebay on the PCB/Fan Unit. Let me know what you think please?

Paul

gas4you

I would say that the fan is one of the most likely things to take out a pcb, generalising here.

Does your flue terminal get most of any bad weather blown on/into it? Does the flue slope very slightly down to outside?

It could be that you have just been unlucky with the new (ish) fan. I had a classic NF that needed a new fan, and it took 3 from my supplier before I actually got one that worked.

Only you can decide whether you want to repair or replace the boiler. You know your financial situation, others don't and shouldn't.

I have in the past, but only as a temporary measure to get customers over the weekend, sprayed WD40 onto the fan bearings, but I have yet to find this any good for a long term fix.

With a new boiler you will hopefully save around 15-20% off your gas heating bill, but this, obviously, will still take years to recoup the installation cost.

rozel

Wow, what a speedy response - thank you so much

If anything the flue pipe slopes ever so slightly down from the outside to the inside rather than the other way about although if I'm pushed I would say it is completely horizontal. It exits in a small path running down the side of the house which has a brick wall running down the other side of the path so although it can get bad weather - like my Sky Satellite Dish it is reasonably sheltered , although the dish is up higher than the adjacent brick wall - could you briefly explain why this may be relevant?

Think I might try to get the fan working temporarily with some WD40 and if it works, then I probably will be persuaded to buy another Fan Unit.

What do you think?

Paul

gas4you

I was just wondering whether any rain could be getting into the flue and making the fan bearings wear out prematurely. A wild guess really.

The flue on a standard efficiency boiler should drop to the outside so any condensation or water droplets do not enter the boiler.

rozel

Well I will have to check that out - but in the meantime I sprayed WD40 carefully into the fan bearing assemblies and switched on after establishing first that the fan moved more freely -

revelation !!!!!

it worked :beer::beer::beer: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As soon as I switched on the fan rotated as it should making it's usual sound and hey presto the electrode started to spark and the gas immediately lighted up.

I will leave it running for a few days/cycles do some more research and ultimately will probably buy a new Fan Unit.

I am ever so grateful for your help and advice with this really I am. My wife could not believe what I showed her lol!

I once had a grundfos heating pump which "froze" every year after the heating was turned off - every year after turning it back on, it required a deft hammer blow to get it started again lol! Bet the Fan is the same! The big learn here for me was that I didn't know that if the fan doesn't work then neither will the spark generate from the electrode. Given the fan is relatively young, I never thought about it - I knew it wasn't working around noon yesterday - it probably wasn't before then too - but thought something else in the "chain" might have been the problem.

Thank you Gas4you - you have been a complete star :A:T:)

Paul