New home oil boiler - fix or replace?
Discussion
Hi all
Moved into a new place with a 2006 Worcester oil boiler
We have had it serviced but about once every couple of weeks it is locking out. Call out the repair man and he adjusted the photocell and said should be fine - then it goes again.
Reset and still nothing. Call him out again and he reboots and it works. Says he can throw parts at it but difficult to diagnose further as all looks ok.
What would you do in this situation? New boiler?
Moved into a new place with a 2006 Worcester oil boiler
We have had it serviced but about once every couple of weeks it is locking out. Call out the repair man and he adjusted the photocell and said should be fine - then it goes again.
Reset and still nothing. Call him out again and he reboots and it works. Says he can throw parts at it but difficult to diagnose further as all looks ok.
What would you do in this situation? New boiler?
We had similar issue after moving into our house last winter. Turns out the main issue was incompetence of the ‘engineer’ they had been servicing the boiler for years and we had called out for the repairs. Numerous items were assembled incorrectly, one of which was a shroud around the burner leading to the photo sensor getting sooted up.
Oil boilers are generally very reliable IMHO.
Ours has been going since 1990 and still working fine, had to fix a leaky oil pump last year - just a couple of 'O' rings and every so often fit a new nozzle to the burner but otherwise been trouble-free.
Noisy bugger though, good job it's in it's own room.
Ours has been going since 1990 and still working fine, had to fix a leaky oil pump last year - just a couple of 'O' rings and every so often fit a new nozzle to the burner but otherwise been trouble-free.
Noisy bugger though, good job it's in it's own room.
Go straight to Worcester.
We had an old Worcester boiler (granted, it was a gas-fired combi, not an oil burner) and we got a local boiler repair chap to look at it when it went wrong. He was stumped.
Spoke to Worcester and we got a fixed price repair where they replaced everything that needed replacing for a fixed cost. From memory, we had a new tank, a new diverter valve and a new manifold for about £250. Would have cost three times that if we’d had the parts replaced individually.
We had an old Worcester boiler (granted, it was a gas-fired combi, not an oil burner) and we got a local boiler repair chap to look at it when it went wrong. He was stumped.
Spoke to Worcester and we got a fixed price repair where they replaced everything that needed replacing for a fixed cost. From memory, we had a new tank, a new diverter valve and a new manifold for about £250. Would have cost three times that if we’d had the parts replaced individually.
LR90 said:
Go straight to Worcester.
We had an old Worcester boiler (granted, it was a gas-fired combi, not an oil burner) and we got a local boiler repair chap to look at it when it went wrong. He was stumped.
Spoke to Worcester and we got a fixed price repair where they replaced everything that needed replacing for a fixed cost. From memory, we had a new tank, a new diverter valve and a new manifold for about £250. Would have cost three times that if we’d had the parts replaced individually.
This^^^ but it was more like £350 on our 15 year old WB gas boiler. That included a service and guarantee on the parts they replaced. The guy turned up in a fairly new WB signed van, so he probably wasn't a sub contractor.We had an old Worcester boiler (granted, it was a gas-fired combi, not an oil burner) and we got a local boiler repair chap to look at it when it went wrong. He was stumped.
Spoke to Worcester and we got a fixed price repair where they replaced everything that needed replacing for a fixed cost. From memory, we had a new tank, a new diverter valve and a new manifold for about £250. Would have cost three times that if we’d had the parts replaced individually.
RSstuff said:
LR90 said:
Go straight to Worcester.
We had an old Worcester boiler (granted, it was a gas-fired combi, not an oil burner) and we got a local boiler repair chap to look at it when it went wrong. He was stumped.
Spoke to Worcester and we got a fixed price repair where they replaced everything that needed replacing for a fixed cost. From memory, we had a new tank, a new diverter valve and a new manifold for about £250. Would have cost three times that if we’d had the parts replaced individually.
This^^^ but it was more like £350 on our 15 year old WB gas boiler. That included a service and guarantee on the parts they replaced. The guy turned up in a fairly new WB signed van, so he probably wasn't a sub contractor.We had an old Worcester boiler (granted, it was a gas-fired combi, not an oil burner) and we got a local boiler repair chap to look at it when it went wrong. He was stumped.
Spoke to Worcester and we got a fixed price repair where they replaced everything that needed replacing for a fixed cost. From memory, we had a new tank, a new diverter valve and a new manifold for about £250. Would have cost three times that if we’d had the parts replaced individually.
Well, that's about a complex as an anvil. A decent engineer should be able to sort that thing out.
https://www.nu-way.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/1...
Page 9 gives you the lockout timings, which are usually a hint at the cause of a lockout, and page 13 gives you a diagnostic flowchart.
If it was me, I'd replace (not "wash in kerosene") all the filters from the tank valve to the pump's internal one, fit a new nozzle, check and set the electrodes, adjust the pump pressure. Basically, give it a thorough service.
If all that's already been done, check the photocell, eg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBZ7NIEEvck
None of that is complicated or difficult, but adjusting the oil pump requires pressure gauges which probably aren't worth buying for most people.
(note, I'm a DIYer who services and fixes my own, I don't do it for a living)
https://www.nu-way.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/1...
Page 9 gives you the lockout timings, which are usually a hint at the cause of a lockout, and page 13 gives you a diagnostic flowchart.
If it was me, I'd replace (not "wash in kerosene") all the filters from the tank valve to the pump's internal one, fit a new nozzle, check and set the electrodes, adjust the pump pressure. Basically, give it a thorough service.
If all that's already been done, check the photocell, eg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBZ7NIEEvck
None of that is complicated or difficult, but adjusting the oil pump requires pressure gauges which probably aren't worth buying for most people.
(note, I'm a DIYer who services and fixes my own, I don't do it for a living)
Up until 2 weeks ago, I had a "smaller" version of that boiler.
Installed in 1997, according to the label under the lid.
It did go through a period of locking out. The trick is pinning down exactly what it is trying to do when the lockout happens.
In my case, it was a weak ignition transformer. It would start up perfectly well from stone cold, but sometimes fail when trying to restart when hot. Motor would start ( purge cycle), try and light, but fail and lock out.
Easy and cheap DIY fix.
It also had a new motor (noisy bearings) and a new oil pump (minor leak).
It was still performing fine when it was ripped out and replaced with a heat pump. My problem was with the oil tank - surface cracking from UV exposure. Tank location wouldn't be legal now, so it was either resite a new plastic tank in the middle of the garden, or go for a fireproof new tank in the existing location.
A heatpump installation worked out at the same price as a fireproof tank, because of the government grant.
Installed in 1997, according to the label under the lid.
It did go through a period of locking out. The trick is pinning down exactly what it is trying to do when the lockout happens.
In my case, it was a weak ignition transformer. It would start up perfectly well from stone cold, but sometimes fail when trying to restart when hot. Motor would start ( purge cycle), try and light, but fail and lock out.
Easy and cheap DIY fix.
It also had a new motor (noisy bearings) and a new oil pump (minor leak).
It was still performing fine when it was ripped out and replaced with a heat pump. My problem was with the oil tank - surface cracking from UV exposure. Tank location wouldn't be legal now, so it was either resite a new plastic tank in the middle of the garden, or go for a fireproof new tank in the existing location.
A heatpump installation worked out at the same price as a fireproof tank, because of the government grant.
Baldchap said:
They no longer do the whole country, sadly. So if you're unlucky enough to be in one of the areas they don't cover, (as I am) they won't come to you.
I'd had a few online quotes for around £2k for a new boiler. Before a local heating engineer told me about the WB scheme, there was a WB base only 25 miles away though. That is the same as our oil boiler (Worcester Danesmore 26/32). Ours is about 25 years old and has largely been trouble free. They are very basic. A good heating engineer used to working on oil boilers should have no problem in sorting it out and giving you many more years of trouble-free performance.
clockworks said:
Up until 2 weeks ago, I had a "smaller" version of that boiler.
Installed in 1997, according to the label under the lid.
It did go through a period of locking out. The trick is pinning down exactly what it is trying to do when the lockout happens.
In my case, it was a weak ignition transformer. It would start up perfectly well from stone cold, but sometimes fail when trying to restart when hot. Motor would start ( purge cycle), try and light, but fail and lock out.
....
Boilers are often pretty simple, there's often only a few inputs to the logic which can 'lock the boiler out'.Installed in 1997, according to the label under the lid.
It did go through a period of locking out. The trick is pinning down exactly what it is trying to do when the lockout happens.
In my case, it was a weak ignition transformer. It would start up perfectly well from stone cold, but sometimes fail when trying to restart when hot. Motor would start ( purge cycle), try and light, but fail and lock out.
....
Modern stuff will give error codes.
Older stuff, you may have to catch it in the act and observe the inputs to the PCB.
Boilers from last century are often more about relays and the odd logic IC, modern ones are fully of microprocessors and software.
If you can find a schematic of the PCB, it may be easier to understand.
Reasons for locking out a boiler would be things like too many failed ignition attempts, low water flow, low airflow in the flue, overheat somewhere...
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