Combi boiler reducing house value?

jennifernil

Abbymoo wrote: »

I meant when the tank runs out and you need more ASAP.

Though this is not relevant to the OP, with a conventional system with a HW cylinder, the water would be reheated long before your bath went cold, as long as you had the water heating turned on of course.

We have ours on all the time, it only uses gas when it needs to top up the temperature.

It would be unwise to plan a long deep bath without ensuring you had the water heating on, but in any case the CH boiler would reheat the water much faster than an electric immersion heater.

Combi boilers do have a few good points, but I prefer to have some stored cold water available for toilet flushing as well as showering.

There seems to be more to go wrong in a combi, and when it does, you have no means of heating water.

For those reasons, I would not buy a house with a combi boiler.

Roundabouts

espresso wrote: »

You need to find someone who knows about the Gledhill Boilermate II. Parts are available if you search on-line but you first need a diagnosis of what is causing your fault. There are two printed circuit boards located behind the front panel (pump drive and a delay timer) and these are prone to fail, however they can easily be repaired by simply replacing a few electrolytic capacitors. The right person will be able to repair it for you and that would be better than fitting a combi boiler.

Many thanks for your input. All the 'external' components that are fixed onto the outside of the cylinder like the circuit boards you mention and also the pumps were tested and replaced if necessary. But that didn't solve the problem. So the electrician concluded that it must be an 'internal' problem (if that makes sense) with the boilermate cylinder. Maybe a loose wire inside or something? I guess if this is the case then it'll be impossible to fix. Looking at the cylinder I can't see a way to open it up without ruining it permanently.

keystone

Therein lies the problem with running two threads at once on the same subject. On the "In My Home" Board we've been trying to encourage you to say what the problem is and its only by accident that I have discovered it here. There visn't any internal wiring in the Boilermate II. There are things that can go wrong with them such as the coil scaling up, or a sludge buildup or the feedpipe getting blocked but none of that is electrical and all are solvable without throwing the thing out.

Why should the sparky be an authority on whether or not your Boilermate needs replacing or not? He isn't.

If you have an electrical problem its external. Concentrate on that and stop worrying about replacing something that, at present, clearly presents no evidence that it does need replacing.

Kick BG into touch unless they can provide soimeone who does know about these things. Get yourself an independent heating engineer that knows about the electrics and the control system of your DHW/CH system. Relying on a sparks who clearly knows very little on that subject seems a tad back-to-front.

Cheers

espresso

Roundabouts wrote: »

Many thanks for your input. All the 'external' components that are fixed onto the outside of the cylinder like the circuit boards you mention and also the pumps were tested and replaced if necessary. But that didn't solve the problem. So the electrician concluded that it must be an 'internal' problem (if that makes sense) with the boilermate cylinder.

Your problem is that most electricians and most plumbers are not capable of fault finding on these. You need a Boilermate expert who fully understands how they work, knows what the common problems are and how to rectify them without just poking and hoping.

keystone wrote: »

There visn't any internal wiring in the Boilermate II.

This is a Boilermate II as shown by the label fitted 2001.



The Boilermate II has two small circuit boards that are located under the long white cover to the left of the label. I know that they are there because I have repaired them.

Roundabouts wrote: »

Maybe a loose wire inside or something? I guess if this is the case then it'll be impossible to fix. Looking at the cylinder I can't see a way to open it up without ruining it permanently.

As your problem is the RCD tripping in the consumer unit when the heating system is switched on, a competent electrician should be able to locate the cause, however most would simply check the wiring and state that the problem must therefore be in the thermal store. This is why you need to find an expert who is completely familiar with how they work and can diagnose down to component level. Most electricians and plumbers only replace and do not repair even though the spares are definitely available and the circuit boards can easily be repaired.
.

Roundabouts

keystone wrote: »

Get yourself an independent heating engineer that knows about the electrics and the control system of your DHW/CH system. Relying on a sparks who clearly knows very little on that subject seems a tad back-to-front.

espresso wrote: »

Your problem is that most electricians and most plumbers are not capable of fault finding on these. You need a Boilermate expert who fully understands how they work, knows what the common problems are and how to rectify them without just poking and hoping.



As your problem is the RCD tripping in the consumer unit when the heating system is switched on, a competent electrician should be able to locate the cause, however most would simply check the wiring and state that the problem must therefore be in the thermal store. This is why you need to find an expert who is completely familiar with how they work and can diagnose down to component level. Most electricians and plumbers only replace and do not repair even though the spares are definitely available and the circuit boards can easily be repaired.
.

Sorry for the delay and many thanks for the sensible advice. Over the last few days I've contacted several local heating engineers and mentioned the 'thermal store' problem and they've all run a mile! I also asked them to recommend someone who was knowledgeable on the subject but without success.

I guess all I can do now is google thermal stores repairs in my area and see what happens! Wish me luck as my house is absolutely freezing! Any other suggestions as to where to find a competent thermal store heating engineer would be most welcome.

ultrarunner

there is a guy called mike the boilerman who has a website (no connection to him)

maybe try contacting him, he is based in Reading which is not a million miles from your location

keystone

Roundabouts wrote: »

I guess all I can do now is google thermal stores repairs in my area and see what happens! Wish me luck as my house is absolutely freezing! Any other suggestions as to where to find a competent thermal store heating engineer would be most welcome.

Thats exactly what you should do and include the terms "Gledhill" and "Boilermate" in your search don't just restrict it to "heat bank" or "thermal store". Of course you could do a lot worse than ringing Gladhill direct and ask them to give you the name of trained and accredited Service Engineers in your area.

Cheers

Roundabouts

ultrarunner wrote: »

there is a guy called mike the boilerman who has a website (no connection to him)

maybe try contacting him, he is based in Reading which is not a million miles from your location

Many thanks .Before I had read your post, his web page came up on the first page of my google search. He seems to really know his stuff. But he lives a 100 miles away and would mean over 4 hours travelling there and back which I have to pay for. So I thought maybe I could find a Gledhill recommended engineer closer to home....

Roundabouts

keystone wrote: »

Of course you could do a lot worse than ringing Gladhill direct and ask them to give you the name of trained and accredited Service Engineers in your area.

Cheers

Thanks for the very sensible advice. I phoned Gledhill an hour ago. They offer a fixed price repair option for £390 which doesn't seem too bad.

I also asked them to recommend an engineer in my local area but they said they don't do this. This is in spite of them having a section on their website - Gledhill Engineer Location - Looking for a Gledhill Engineer in Birmingham, etc. And Mike the Boilerman stating on his website that Gledhill recommend him to people in the Reading area who phone Gledhill looking for a repair. They obviously want to push people towards the Fixed Price Repair option, there must be more money in it for them.

Roundabouts

Heating Saga Update:
Gledhill Engineer came yesterday and stayed for 2 1/2 hours. He concluded that there was nothing wrong with the thermal store and that I need a new RCD trip switch in the consumer unit. I'm a bit sceptical to be honest. But had no real alternative but to contact a local electrician. The RCD replacement is not readily available and he has ordered one on the internet for me. He should get it next week. If this doesn't fix it then Gledhill will return with a more senior engineer to fix it (hopefully). I'm £390 out of pocket though with the electrician's charges still to come.

So it's looking like Christmas with no hot water or central heating ( I do have a gas fire in the lounge to keep me warm). I wish I'd stayed renting to be honest, I never had this grief when I was a humble renter.;)