Ongoing problem with Worcester-Bosch boiler

[manxman]

I wonder whether any of you gentlemen (or ladies) would be kind enough to come up with some ideas to help me solve an ongoing boiler problem that four separate engineers have now failed to rectify.

The boiler in question is a Worcester-Bosch Greenstar HE 25 combi supplying heat and hot water to a large two bedroom penthouse apartment. Each radiator is controlled by TRVs, which I regularly adjust to control heat, and there are no room thermostats.

For the first year and a bit I owned the flat (which I bought from new), the central heating gave no trouble. Then the boiler started failing overnight with increasing regularity, showing an error code of “EA” (flame not detected). This required rebooting the system, meaning I would awake in the middle of the night or the early hours, freezing cold. Also, the boiler leaked copiously from inside the casing when the heat output setting was not set to maximum or the E position.

Engineers from Manx Gas, the sole gas provider here in the Isle of Man, concluded that the flue had been incorrectly installed and sealed, leading to condensation running back into the system. However, they had little or no knowledge of Worcester-Bosch boilers, so my managing agents appointed another firm to examine the flue, who reached the same conclusion, as did the original installer.

At this point, Worcester-Bosch themselves became involved, and appointed their service agents in the island to examine the boiler. This engineer reached a different conclusion, stating that the flue installation was perfect and that the problem was resulting from an overflowing condense trap, which he cleaned and emptied. The system worked perfectly for the next few months, and then the fault returned (when it happens during the day, the boiler produces a most terrible groaning sound when attempting to locate the flame, and will sometimes switch off and produce the error command “EA” if not rebooted).

At my most recent service, the Worcester-Bosch service agent speculated that the problem could be due to dirty points within the system, which he cleaned, but the problem persists. I am now in two minds as to whether to pay him for the service, as he has failed to resolve the problem after two visits – what do others think?

And with regard to the ongoing problem, any ideas? To summarise:

• The fault is intermittent, and the boiler can work perfectly for days on end, then have a day or two when it misbehaves constantly.
• The fault tends to occur much more when demand for heat is low (one or two radiators switched on, with the TRV set to a low or medium setting).
• The fault may occur more often when there is a strong wind from a particular direction (I am recording every instance now to test this hypothesis).

Any bright ideas as to how this can be resolved? Is it anything to do with the way I am using the boiler or central heating? And who should be liable for paying to have it remedied? Thanks for all your help!

Next time it stops working do not reboot it and get the engineer back out. you may be hiding the fault when you reboot it, I am not an engineer but i have a customer that had a problem with her boiler and she also got water out of the case, we did the work to stop this happening again by fixing her gutter (when it was raining the gutter overflower at 1 point the water went down the flue and stopped the boiler from working ) rebooting it could dry out the water in the flue so the engineer would not see the problem,

as for withholding the payment this is the wrong site for that

[fizzput]

Just a thought, does this problem occur during wet weather? Had a case recently on a 37cdi combi where condense was connected to drain pipe, 3m below there was a blocked connection to a water butt (one of those water saving/storage thingies...) this blockage backed up the drain pipe, water found it's way up the condense and gave us EA...emptied water from gas govenor (!?!?!) fan, heat exchanger etc etc....boiler worked fine....

changed condense route....prob solved.

[mcmoby69]

flue is made up of two pipes(coaxial)where the inner pipe fits into the plastic terminal ther is a rubber o' ring. i have had a factory assembled flue 'pinch' this o ring. it caused the condensate from the flue gases to leak into the outer f pipe(air intake)and because condensing boiler flues should be angled upward the condenste runs into the combustion chamber. the technician should look in the space between the two pipes for water . if there is he should check this o ring seal. if it is this it will be intermittent because the boiler is not always in condense mode.the water could be dripping onto sensors etc.

[manxman]

Yes, I've been trying to see whether there is any discernible correlation with the weather - wind direction and speed, rain, etc. I'm still not certain. The central heating worked perfectly all night, despite severe gales and lashing rain, but has played up today whilst the weather was calm and pleasant - so maybe it's to do with damp rather than rainfall?

[h4den1]

probally a long shot , but i have had bother with 2 boilers doing the same thing both were faulty ignighter/ionization rods , also had another where the regulator was playing up every now and again dropping the gas pressure, there for brining up EA


my 2 pence worth

[mounsey]

Originally Posted by uug197h

Next time it stops working do not reboot it and get the engineer back out. you may be hiding the fault when you reboot it, I am not an engineer but i have a customer that had a problem with her boiler and she also got water out of the case, we did the work to stop this happening again by fixing her gutter (when it was raining the gutter overflower at 1 point the water went down the flue and stopped the boiler from working ) rebooting it could dry out the water in the flue so the engineer would not see the problem,

as for withholding the payment this is the wrong site for that

Hello everyone.

Just happened across this useful site after Googling for an intermittent similar problem we have with our W/B boiler..

This particular reply got my attention (re: blocked guttering..) - as we have had some water leaking from our boiler for the first time today (lower-left side) - and I know for a fact that a) the wooden guttering about the flue is (badly) blocked and b) it's been p!ssing it down out there today!

So...

I was wondering if this DID turn out to be the problem here (i.e. on this thread - blocked gutter leading to water down the outside wall, into (behind?) the external flue and then "down" back into the boiler....?

Our's was on ignition lock-out for a while but I've now got it going again (model is the W/B Greenstar 24i Junior (or perhaps 28i Junior..) by the way).

The water seems to have stopped and I've also managed to partially clear the gutter in question.. but it'll need a pro to sort as it's out of reach mostly.

Questions then if I may..

1. Is a blocked gutter likely to be the cause?
2. If "yes" then has any long-term damage likely to have been caused as a result? (boiler hasn't been serviced but has also given us no trouble.. - a few years old).

Any input would be appreciated.

I'm an End User / consumer by the way not a pro, so apologies if I'm not supposed to post on this forum?

Cheers,

John.