Ideal Classic Clicking Noise

My boss was called to look at an Ideal Classic boiler because the customer was complaining that it would regularly make a clicking noise for an extended period of time whilst the boiler was running. He visited but could hear no noise, although the customer said it had been making the noise all afternoon. He left them to monitor the situation.

They soon called him back because it was still 'clicking' more or less constantly. Once again the boiler was working perfectly upon his arrival. He assumed that it may have been one of the gas valve solenoids breaking down and causing the boiler to constantly re-light. He changed the gas valve and left with the boiler working perfectly.

Being on call the following week the customer called me out because the boiler was still 'clicking' and the problem had not been solved. Once again, I arrive to find a boiler working perfectly that had been 'clicking' all morning. Using my experience I looked at the PCB as I recall having the same problem before. I could see that there was some blackening to the relays on the PCB. When the relays become blackened I think it is more difficult for them to maintain contact and do their required task. I replaced the PCB and left the boiler working. I had to re-visit the customer a week later for an unrelated issue and he said the boiler had been working silently since my visit.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Ideal Classic Sealed System Tripping Electrics

I was called by a customer because his electrics kept tripping off, and he had isolated the problem to be with his central heating system. He suggested that the consumer unit tripped off whenever the heating came on. I decided to test the system to narrow the fault down.

Firstly I switched the boiler off on it's power switch before turning the fused spur back on. The electrics stayed on and so I switched the hot water on. The system has two zone valves and so after a few seconds the valve opened and powered the pump. As soon as the pump started I could hear that it was making an unusual noise but still sounded as if it was working, then after five seconds the power tripped out. I reset everything and decided to try the central heating, and everything tripped out in exactly the same way about five seconds after the zone valve opened.

I removed the casing around the sealed system unit and then altered the position of the pressure vessel to enable access the electric of the pump. After removing the electrics cover form the pump I could see that there was quite a lot condensation within the pump electrics and this was without doubt the cause of the problem. I replace the pump and set the system going again, and all was working correctly.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Ideal Minimiser Not Lighting

I was called to look at an Ideal Minimiser by a customer today as their boiler had required resetting a couple of times in the week after noticing that the heating and hot water were not working.

I ran the boiler and it appeared to be running and lighting with no issues. I could hear the spark across the electrodes which was rapid and maybe more prolonged than it should have been. I let the boiler cool a littler before stripping out the fan and burner.

As can be seen from the picture above, both the sensing probe and electrodes were distorted and required replacement. There are a number of different setups that can be found on these boilers and this is the original burner plate and electrodes. As far as I am aware the original electrodes cannot be replaced as they are. The new electrodes are stouter and come with a new burner mounting plate. The newer boilers had an atmospheric kit fitted and some older ones have it retro-fitted. On these boilers there is no tube connected to the burner plate. If there is no atmospheric sensing kit fitted then then the burner plate replacement will need to have an orifice for the existing tube which connects in on the right hand side of the burner plate.

I replaced the burner plate and electrodes Parts Center no. 462190, and the boiler has been of no trouble since.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Ideal W2000 No Heating or Hot Water

I got called out at the weekend to look at an Ideal W2000 which was not working for either heating or hot water. The customer said he could hear the pump running when the hot water was set to be on but the boiler was not firing. He turned the hot water off and turned the heating on and again could hear the pump running but the boiler still was not lighting. The customer also reported that the pilot light was still lit.

Before I arrived I already had a good idea of what the problem could be. Firstly I checked that the 'kettle plug' electrical connection was fully in the control box connection. I removed the control box cover and checked for power on the switched live which there was. There was also power coming through the boiler thermostat and supplying power to the gas valve solenoid.

Sometimes the pilot lights can click out on the gas valve, but the pilot stay lit. I turned out the pilot light and relit it but this did not solve the problem. It left two options which was the gas valve or its solenoid. I had a replacement solenoid and so I replaced the solenoid. This solved the problem and the boiler was working well again.

Disclaimer:

The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem.

Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Ideal Icos Not Lighting Flashing LF

I received a call from a gentleman because his boiler was not lighting at all and was flashing the letters L and F on the display. From this information I knew he had an Ideal Icos as it is a common fault on these boilers. The fault is due to flame failure either at the ignition stage or rarely whilst the boiler is running.

I fired up the boiler and it went through the lighting process but did not light, the fan ran for a while before attempting to light again. It attempted to light three ties before going back to alternating 'L' 'F' on the display.
Each time it attempted to ignite I could hear it sparking.

I took the case off the boiler and removed the fan and burner so I could look at the electrodes as it common for them to become dirty or distorted. They looked ok, but I removed them for a closer look and a quick rub down with some abrasive. I re-assembled the boiler before trying to light it again but it was still the same.

I checked the gas pressure which was fine and the pressure was dropping as the gas valve opened and so I knew that the gas valve was working ok. I switched off the gas at the isolation valve and removed the spark electrode from the combustion chamber. I then lit the boiler with the spark electrode in a position where I would be able to see the strength of the spark. When the boiler went to the ignition stage I could hear the spark being generated but there was no spark at the electrode. Either the ignition lead was faulty or there was a problem with the spark generator. There did not look to be any issues with the ignition lead and so I replaced the spark generator.

Both of my local Parts Centers had more than one in stock which makes me think that it is not uncommon for the spark generator to fail. Their part number is 498866 or the Ideal part number of 173538. The boiler was working well again after I remembered to turn the gas back on to the appliance :-).

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Ideal Classic FF No Heating Or Hot Water

Was asked to look at an Ideal Classic which was not working for either heating or hot water. Looking at the boiler I could see an orange glow coming from inside the control box and so I knew it was receiving demand. Feeling the case I could feel some warmth even thought the boiler had not been working. I removed the case and could smell that the fan was overheating from trying to turn.

I replaced the fan with the correct version and the boiler was working fine again.

There are two different fans for different versions of the boiler which look similar. The obvious difference between the fans being the terminal positions. On one version the terminals are both on the left hand side of the fan motor and the wiring loom is shorter for these terminals. On the other version, the terminals are on opposing sides of the fan motor as you look at the fan motor from the front and the grey wires are longer in this case. There are other fans for other versions of the Ideal Classic as well such as the NF30-80.

It is also important to remember to slide the flue back together correctly. If the inner flue is not connected back up the boiler will baffle out when it lights and the boiler will cycle on and off.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Ideal Classic Sealed System Not Working

I got called to look at an Ideal Classic Sealed System boiler which was not working for the central heating. The hot water was heated by an immersion element only, and the boiler is only used for the central heating.

I ensured the programer was on and the room thermostat turned up to call for heat. I also ensured the boiler was switched on. I could hear that the pump was running but there was no noise from the boiler. I removed the case and could smell that the fan had been overheating. I checked to make sure there was 240 volts at the fan which there was.

I replaced the fan and the boiler was working fine again.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Thermostatic Radiator Valve (TRV) Buying Guide

It is commonly said that you get what you pay for and in the case of thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs). I have found that the cheapest radiator valves often need replacement first and should be avoided in most cases. Another sign of a TRV that is not going to cause too much trouble is the size of the pin. The valves with the smallest pin often get stuck and need replacing or un-sticking. Although the Myson TRV 2-Way have a reasonable size pin and constantly get stuck.

There are many different TRVs on sale from B&Q, Wickes, etc., but they tend to be of the cheap variety to avoid or overpriced in comparison to the online retailers.

Danfoss RAS-C2	I don't mind these TRVs
Danfoss RAS-D2	A more expensive version of the above
Drayton RT212	Can be quite difficult to turn, and not that reliable
Drayton RT414	Hopefully an improvement on the RT212
Drayton TRV4	One of the original TRVs which look good, but better valves can be had for less
Honeywell VT117E	One of my preferred valves
Honeywell VT15EG	Slight improvements on the above but could be styled better
Myson TRV 2-Way	Troublesome valves which often leak from the pin casing them to seize or a mess
Pegler Terrier II	A reliable, low-cost valve
Siemens MTN51GB	Nice looking valve, would be happy to fit these

I do not know every TRV and if you would like to fill in the gaps I would be more than grateful.

One thing I have found with the Honeywell TRV's lateley is that you are given some strange shaped brass olives to use with the valves and the are difficult to tighten correctly on the tails. I had fitted a pair of straight Honeywell vlaves to a towel rail I fitted and it was leaking on the copper pipe as it entered the valve and so had to tighten the nut further after installation. Then two days later the nut is leaking where it connects to the radiator tail so I tighten this up, which loosened the tail itself. I had to take the towel rail off and replace the olives on the tails with copper ones and re-taped the tails whilst I was at it. In the future I shall be replacing these brass olives with some softer copper ones.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Ideal Classic Sealed System not working

Ideal Classic boiler with the sealed system factory fitted above the boiler not working for heating. The boiler only heats the radiators as the hot water is an Economy 7 immersion heater system.

After switching on the heating at the timeclock,  there is some noise from the boiler, but it is not firing up. Through the gaps in the control box I can see there is an LED alight on the PCB, so the boiler is receiving the demand. I remove the sealed system cover, and can feel the pump vibrating. I remove the boiler case, and the fan is not spinning. Spinning the blades using my screwdriver gives it the jump-start to get it going again and the boiler fires up.

I remove the old fan and fit a new one, and everything is working as it should.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Ideal Classic Combi 80

Ideal Classic Combi 80 not working for central heating or hot water. No display on timer, noticed the switch had been turned off on the wall. Turned back on, all working.

However, the system pressure was rising quite quickly with the central heating running. The expansion had been replaced within the last eighteen months, so I drained the system and checked the pressure in the expansion vessel which was at 0.55 bar +/- 0.2bar. I cracked the nut on the expansion vessel flexible tube and there was plenty of pressure there even though the system had stopped draining and the pressure gauge was at zero. I de-pressurised the expansion vessel through the Schrader valve, and removed the flexible connection tube to find that it was blocked at the connection to the boiler pipework. Cleared blockaged, re-assembled, re-pressurised expansion vessel and system. Bled the radiators and heat tested the system, all working fine.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.