Temperamental switch on

Hi

I've got a Boilermate A Class OV, and I've got an (increasingly expensive) problem.

Some weeks ago, we could not the heating to come on via the timer. The heating engineer visited, and found that the PCB was displaying gibberish on the LED display. The inputs were being made, but it wasn't outputting a signal to switch on the heating.

The PCB was changed (at ~£300), but now intermittenly fails to switch on the heating. This is on a very basic 24hr mechanical timer, and will work for a week or so, and then fail to switch the heating on on (seemingly) random days. Switching to constant illicits a (slow) switch on. I switched to timed when it was started, and the boiler switched off (yes the timer should have been on).

This is getting frustrating. Any ideas? If it is a new manual timer, approximately how much? And... Do Gledhill do a upgrade timer to allow me to change times for specific days if this does need replacing?

Thanks for your time

Hi

First of all, you are definately sure that the timer is not coming on and that it's not another problem?

Are you sure that the store temperature is what it should be and that this has not dropped. Reason i mention this is that i had similar problems to this - timer set but no heating. This was diagnosed as a boiler fault in that the boiler circuit board (in the boiler) didnt fire the boiler and therefore heat the store. The solder joints had expanded and contracted repeatedly causing the pins to become loose. Switching the heating back to constant (on the boilermate) meant that the heating came on but was very slow to heat up (as you describe) as the store is being heated from a cold start - lukewarm radiators after about 30mins.

Things to check:

Most obvious - is the room thermostat calling for heat when the timer has been set?
Is the boiler firing to heat the store when the heating is off?

You can check, via the digital display (take the front cover off), and referring to the manual, whether the boilermate is getting a signal from it's PCB to indicate whether the CH system is calling for heat. If it is then it's not the timer.

Hope this helps.

I'll take a look, but I hope it isn't the PCB. It's only been replaced three weeks ago!

The circuit board i'm talking about is not the Boilermate PCB but circuit board within the boiler (has this been replaced?). This cost me (or rather my service contract company!) £97. My boiler is an Ideal Classic.

When you describe your heating as coming on slow, do the radiators go from lukewarm then to hot or do they come on instantly with hot water in them? If lukewarm then hot, then you definately have some sort of issue heating the store temperature; a breakdown in the following events:

Store calling for heat > sends a message to boiler pump > boiler pump comes on sends a message to boiler pcb > boiler ignites > boiler pump sends hot water to store > ch pump takes store water to raditors

Cheers.

When it actually starts, the heating kicks out the correct heat. It's only the starting operation that's giving me grief...

*DP*

My boiler is a Ideal Classic also (bloody George Wimpey). Is there a test that can made to isolate that this is at fault?

From what you say then, it appears the boiler is doing as it should - therefore not a boiler fault.

Are there any flashing red lights on the display or the 'switch'? The Boilermate has a built in fault indicator which you can access via the s1 and s2 buttons just below the digital display (front panel off again) The faults are listed and stored, therefore if there has been a fault with something controlled by the Boilermate PCB it should be logged here.

To find the fault log you need to press s1 and s2 in the correct sequence to reveal the F indicators. Cant remember of hand how many there are but they start F1, F2..... they then flash FF to indicator that whatever F1 is related to is (F)ault (F)ree. Consult the manual for this!

Takes a bit of getting used to you but useful none the less and might reveal what is wrong. Might not right enough as i'm not convinced with the Boilermate at all. I guess this is how i ended up on the forum in the first place!

I'll take a look at this later.

It's strange. It doesn't come on when it should (and after the timer kicks in), and when I switch it to 'constant' it trys to start, runs for a couple of minutes then switches off again. It seems to finally wake up twenty minutes or so later, then stay on.

Can't associate any logic with any specific input element failing!

...mmmmm strange one this.

Could'nt be a pump sticking could it?

Or that the PCB although having been replaced isnt wired properly (this happened to me also)?

Failing any off these, I'm stumped!

We have the exact same problem with our system but I am far from technical so I'm afraid a lot of what you are talking about is double dutch. Just wanted to let you know that you're not alone. We moved in to our GW house 2.5 years ago and tonight our central heating system has packed in for the 7th time.
We have a Boilermate A class OV and Ideal Classic boiler. Every so often the 2 units just stop talking to each other - like you, no real pattern altho it tends to be when it's cold! - and then invariably they start working again over the next few days. We only notice when we get up in the morning and the timer doesn't seem to have kicked in, the hot water is lukewarm and not as hot as usual. No matter what we try to kickstart the system we just can't get any output until it decides it wants to give us heat. Longest we've been without heating is 12 days, Gledhill engineer came out and found some faults on the reader; he replaced the PCB but blamed Ideal, Ideal came out and got it to work but didn't really know what the problem had been.
We persuaded GW to extend our warranty - fat lot of good that does - but we're worried about what happens when it runs out. I'd love to hear if you ever get to the bottom of this one as I'm certain our system is faulty but can't find anyone to confirm. Good luck, I'm off to wait on the emergency plumber.....