DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad Combi Repair

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This story starts with an 80 year old woman, a working combi boiler and a very small drip coming from below the combi boiler. After calling someone she knew for advice a bloke showed up to look at the boiler.

After dismantling the boiler and scratching his head, he got out the installation manual, unhooked some switches and solenoids and generally fiddled about.  After a bit the bloke said he didn’t really understand these types of boilers, puts everything back together and left.  Unfortunately he left the boiler in a non-working state and still with the original leak!

By the time I got there the home owner was without heat for the one night. After hearing the story I opened up the boiler and indeed found the original leak. It was a leaking diverter valve. There should  have been no need to unhook any electrics at this point if the boiler worked.

After ordering a new valve I tried to get the boiler running and was unsuccessful figuring the micro-switch on the diverter valve may have been damaged. All other parts of the boiler checked out. After arriving back the next day with parts in hand I replaced the diverter and reconnected the switches. The system fired up but was still not right.

After a while it seemed that the timer circuit was intermittent. As I started to remove the timer from the wall I discovered that the repair bloke must have removed it for some reason and did not tighten the screws when he put it back on. Once that was sorted the boiler worked just like it should with no leaks and no electrical faults.

The moral of the story is that even if someone is CORGI Registered and even if they install boilers for a living, they may not have the troubleshooting skills to repair a faulty boiler. Had we been called everything would have been accomplished with only one hour labour plus the price of the parts.

Always find a qualified repair person. If you’re not sure call the manufacturer on the number that can usually be found on the boiler installation manual. Or, call CORGI. They will be able to put you onto someone qualified to do the work.

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