Advice re: heating please?

Trafford321

Hi everyone,
I have posted something similar on the 'in my home' category buy didn't get many replies.

We have a really old Apollo Thorne EMI heating system in our house which we are starting to have problems with.

It makes a clicking and scraping noise sometimes which is so bad you have to switch it off as it can be heard outside and scares the children. This then means we have no heating. The other thing is you can't switch the hot water on without the radiators coming on.

Until I posted on the other category we assummed we need to change the lot. Someone has suggested this is unnecessary as it can be fixed.

We don't know any gas people so have to rely on calling someone out. The last time we had someone to it they said it needed changing but we never know if they say it because they want us to pay them to do an install?

We were going to ring BG to do a service and thought they might tell us but I believe they are just as bad as wanting to get a sale.

How much would you spend repairing a 25+ years boiler? Sorry for the long post! Thanks for reading!

footyguy

Trafford321 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I have posted something similar on the 'in my home' category buy didn't get many replies.

We have a really old Apollo Thorne EMI heating system in our house which we are starting to have problems with.

It makes a clicking and scraping noise sometimes which is so bad you have to switch it off as it can be heard outside and scares the children. This then means we have no heating. The other thing is you can't switch the hot water on without the radiators coming on.

Until I posted on the other category we assummed we need to change the lot. Someone has suggested this is unnecessary as it can be fixed.

We don't know any gas people so have to rely on calling someone out. The last time we had someone to it they said it needed changing but we never know if they say it because they want us to pay them to do an install?

We were going to ring BG to do a service and thought they might tell us but I believe they are just as bad as wanting to get a sale.

How much would you spend repairing a 25+ years boiler? Sorry for the long post! Thanks for reading!

Your previous thread is here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5402923

The suggestion that HappyMJ says there is what I would also have suggested in regards to the issue of the radiators coming on when you only want hot water.

In regards the clicking & scraping noises, you need someone to identify the cause.
If it's mechanical, then it simply sounds like something that is moving (perhaps a fan?) is hitting something else. Possibly very simple to fix.

If the clicking is electrical, possibly needs a new circuit board. The question is are new circuit boards still available.

Somewhere like 'keeptheheaton.com' is a good source of finding out if spare parts are available and their cost.

As you say in your other thread "Believe me we wouldn't change it if we didn't need to"
Well I believe you
You just need to believe yourself now.

Trafford321

Thanks for your reply. I guess what I am trying to establish is if we spend say £500 getting it working properly will that be it for 5 years or will they're likely be other things that go wrong if so, would we e cheaper just changing the boiler? I guess its just one of those things. Thanks though.

HappyMJ

Trafford321 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. I guess what I am trying to establish is if we spend say £500 getting it working properly will that be it for 5 years or will they're likely be other things that go wrong if so, would we e cheaper just changing the boiler? I guess its just one of those things. Thanks though.

Not for 5 years no...you will have some maintenance costs. You might even need to replace the boiler in 5 years. There's no reason to replace it now if you don't have to. New boilers will also have components that may fail within the next 5 years.

Also, look at the lifespan of brand new boilers. If they last 10 years you've done reasonably well.

You've got a good old boiler that works reasonably well that just needs a bit of TLC.

Don't ever get BG out. As it's older than 10 years they just want to replace it and then put you on a service contract which would cost more over 5 years than just maintaining your boiler. You need to find yourself a local gas safe registered engineer who can give you advice whilst standing in front of the boiler with you. They might suggest replacing it now to prevent you from being without heat for a week waiting for a part that is hard to find or they might suggest a few small fixes to keep it going for a few more years.

Have you had the boiler inspected any time recently? You should always, even with a brand new boiler, get a gas safe engineer out every year to look over it and make sure it's still running safely.

keith1950

Part of the problem with the hot water could be that the 3-way diverter valve is faulty, when it fails it sometimes also emits a clicking noise although this is usually quite quiet. Without hearing the other noise it would be pure speculation to even guess.

Trafford321

Thanks again everyone, especially you HappyMJ as you came back to me on the other thread!

We have had it serviced once in the 8 years we have been here. Naughty I know. We had the thermocouple replaced a couple of years ago too. I wouldn't use either of those guys again if I'm honest. One wouldn't fix the thermocouple as he said the system was too old and wanted to charge 5 grand to put a new boiler and 5 radiators in a bungalow! We are only young but not daft!

Second guy lives at the end of the road and charged £85 call out and £75 for the thermocouple. This was not a out of hours call out either.

I'll bite the bullet and get someone round to service it and see what they say. Thanks again you've been a big help and probably saved us a couple of grand!

Trafford321

The noise is a bit like someone blowing a horn with metal being scraped at the same time. The clicking is as if you were pushing the ignition in to light the flue.

unclebulgaria

I can't be certain but it sounds to me like the boiler is kettling. Its caused by water not moving through the boilers heat exchanger at a fast enough rate and expanding to such an extent that it is forced through the piping causing pops and bangs. Dirt and scale within the heat exchanger constrict the flow. Its quite easy to try a fairly cheap fix for this with an additive called boiler silencer. The clicking could be the same thing, I don't think its the 3 port valve unless its very close to the boilers position. Not having control of the heating and water separately is almost certainly an issue with the valve, possibly not closing off properly when in heating mode only. Get an RGI in who has perhaps carried out work for a friend or relative and has good feedback.