Back Boiler Gas Fire front query

drpock

Hi folks, just looking for some advice

Moved into our terraced house in August 2006.

The front living room has a standalone effect gas fire, model unknown, but have never used it for last 6 years since Xmas 2006 as gave out very poor heat, most went up the chimney and was very uneconomic, so instead have been mainly been using the gas fire in the rear living room for day to day usage in spring/autumn/winter.

That is a Black Ash 3 BBU fire front, and the boiler is a Glow-Worm BBU (45/2 or a 56/2) which was manufactured in 1999 and installed in 2001.

No problems with either boiler or Black Ash 3 until our Homeserve Annual Boiler service this year. The engineer almost immediately as soon as he started checking the fire commented on the amount of soot and then stated the fire was dangerous and would have to stop the service inspection, condemn the fire due to possibility of
Carbon Monoxide poisoning. He has placed the Warning Sticker over the fire and shut it off.

He said the boiler is fine still to use for water/heating , but advised me to make a claim through Homeserve and they would be in touch
to his company for him to return and replace the burner. He also stated he expected no problems with getting the necessary part.

So rang Homeserve while the engineer was there, who initiated a claim and said they would be in touch once their parts dept had located the necessary part (which is 2000800448)

3 days later the Homeserve Parts dept rang , all their usual suppliers can not supply this part. He did say they would consider re-imbursing me for the part if I did locate the part myself and it was installed by a Gas-Safe engineer but did warn me to be careful with websites offering such parts as often they are not genuine parts or actually dont have them in stock.

I contacted Glow-worm who advised me the gas fire was discontinued in 2008 and parts are unavailable. Have tried various websites which seemed to offer the part , but
surprise surprise, they do not have it in stock , one company which i rang put me on hold while he checked his own website then came back and said he couldnt understand why it was showing as they've never had stock and no history for the item...so why offer it? Grr

Another company suggested I contact Saunier Duval as they thought the SD Opus/Opulence burner could be used instead on the Black Ash 3 , so I rang SD but actually turns out its glow-worm spares I was speaking to and use the same parts and therefore again discontinued 2008.

I am told you cannot replace a glow-worm BBU fire front with any other make, so appears my options are:

- replace the boiler (again though, Regular System boiler? Combi?) and buy a new gas fire

- just use the boiler and rely on the CH during winter

- could I just leave the Black Ash 3 turned off, and replace the fire in the front living room with a modern flueless gas fire? Unsure what state the chimney is in to use a High Efficiency Inset Gas fire

What do you reckon?

Owain_Moneysaver

The back boiler unit and fire-front are a single unit and if either part is faulty the appliance is considered defective.

It is not possible to replace the fire-front with one from another manufacturer.

It is possible that an independent Gas Safe registered fitter (i.e. one you are paying by the hour) would be able to take the time to strip the appliance down, clean and adjust it, and check the flue. There usually isn't much to actually break down with this sort of boiler, but it is essential that it is fully serviced annually. Sooting is a sign of incomplete combustion and is a warning that the appliance may be highly dangerous in its current state.

Open vented back boilers are horrendously inefficient and can only be installed now in very limited circumstances under Building Regulations. You would probably have to have a new condensing boiler. Some of these have various flueing options and can go in the loft and flue through the roof, etc. You would also have to arrange a condensate drain for a condensing boiler.

Baxi do a condensing back boiler replacement with an electric fire front, but you still have to arrange a condensate drain, and it's quite expensive.

Very few Gas Safe fitters will recommend a flueless gas fire. Apart from the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning if the appliance develops a fault, they produce a lot of water vapour which can lead to condensation and mould issues.

Owain_Moneysaver

Heating Spare Parts appear to have the Saunier Duval version available; it let me add to basket so I assume it's in stock?

mum2one

I don't do technical, so apologies in advance.

We had the back boiler, with the gas fire, homeserve yearly service, we had the fire condemmed as it was leaking carbon monoxide.

We had a new boiler (combi boiler) that was fitted in to the wardrobe in my daughters bedroom, (needed to be on on outside wall), what we did was have the fire disconnected, - for 6 years the fire was in place - unworkable, collecting dust and looking pretty, we managed ok with just the central heating.

What we did a couple of months ago was have the gas fire removed, the old parts taken out and we have put in an electric fire and surround (£200 from Argos).

If do you change to the combi boiler, your service agreement shoots up in price, as it costs more for the combi boiler than it did the old back boiler.

I would consider the combi boiler, its a lot more effective than the old back boiler system xx