Seems like plumbing issues follow me around ?. Have arrived to see my mother who says her hot water stopped working yesterday and the ‘light was flashing’ apparently so she pressed reset but still no hot water. Called out her normal handyman and he repressurised it but still no hot water and says she needs a plumber. Normal plumber is on holiday. Is it definitely a job for a plumber or can I fiddle with it? Boiling kettles to wash sounds like a joy! ?

Not necessarily a plumber only job - could just need reset for example.

 

Why did it stop working is the question - it may just have gone into lock-out.

 

The light on these will usually flash a sequence or colour to indicate the fault and display a letter or number in the temp gauge like F1 or something.

 

I have seen this boilers bigger brother go into lockout for a low pressure issue - cycling the main power with a 30 second pause sorted it, other issues can be high pressure, over temp, flue issues etc.

 

If the manual is in the front panel then the faults should be listed. 

Edited August 13, 20188 yr by Carrerahill

Does central heating work ?

If so that eliminates;

 

fan

gas valve

air switch 

and part eliminates the PCB. 

 

If no central heating and no hot water then first check is;

 

does the fan spin and blow air out of the flue?

Remeber you'll have to reset the boiler every time to check operation and as it is a stinking WB you'll have to wait a long time for it to do self-diagnostic each time. 

Give me a Baxi or a Vaillant any day.  

Edited August 13, 20188 yr by Nickfromwales
Edited to make sense. Eating my ham and cheese roll whilst typing and the roll has priority.

Does the jnr have a self diagnostic every time you reset or switch off/on power?

Thanks all. Doesn’t look like the CH works either. I’ve switched the clock thing to on then I powered it off, switched it back on, all the lights come on, then go off apart from the blue one. After a while the blue light starts flashing fast and that’s where it stays. All other lights are off. Gas hob works fine. 

38 minutes ago, Alexphd1 said:

Does the jnr have a self diagnostic every time you reset or switch off/on power?

 

Sounds like it does something. Not sure what. 

Assume you’ve tried the reset button ..??

3 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Assume you’ve tried the reset button ..??

 

Lol yes, several times. Same result. All lights come on, everything goes out except the blue one and eventually blue light fast flashes after 20 - 30 seconds. 

 

 

Does the light beside the flame symbol ever come on? That indicates the gas burner is on (I have a larger WB Greenstar boiler - beefier version of this). When you turn the timer so it should switch on, does it do anything to suggest its coming to life? Any noises?

 

The spanner button is the service button but my user manual does not give any instructions for that - it must be in the secret manual only gas accredited folks get. 

This is what the manual for the boiler says:

 

In the event of a fault, the reset button will flash once per second and the blue mains indicator light will flash.

1. To reset the boiler press the reset button for approximately five seconds. When the boiler resets the reset button will no longer be illuminated.

2. The mains indicator will no longer be flashing.

If the fault remains and cannot be cleared by pressing the reset button, contact Worcester, Bosch Group for assistance.

 

Unless one of the experts here can think of something, I fear a service call might be required. 

 

There's a few YouTube videos with the same problem too. Here's one:

 

 

Google "greenstar 24i flashing blue" to see more.

 

 

Edited August 13, 20188 yr by AliMcLeod

The light by the flame only comes on when the boiler resets and all lights come on. Other than that it’s off as are all the lights apart from the blue one. The reset button doesn’t flash indicating that a reset is required. 

 

I checked under the stairs that she hadn’t knocked the gas off but that looks ok. I think I’m out of ideas tbh. Plumber supposed to be ringing back .... 

 

Driven 400 miles, sitting in a cupboard, no hot water. I’m a bloody jinx! ?

 

 

 

 

There is a magnafilter thingy but I haven’t touched that. Water hardness circa 230 here I found out yesterday. 

So the plumber let my mother down on Tuesday after we waited in all day but came this morning. Unfortunately I’m not there now. Apparently he looked at it, charged her £80 for the callout and said she needed a new boiler. He can fit one tomorrow if she pays £1800 which she has agreed to. He didn’t tell her what was wrong with it and it’s only about 5 years old. That sounds a bit suspect to me. Is that really the going rate to take a boiler off the wall and replace it, and how come he can suddenly arrive with a new boiler by tomorrow? 

 

She says he is on the Checkatrade leaflet so must be ok ?

 

 

I am in the wrong trade. I wish I had the brass neck to charge someone £80 just to tell them the old boiler is knackered.

Don't know what to say that is any great help or comfort! 

There is only so much you can do, when you live at the other end of the country and have a full time  career..  It seems that this plumber has taken advantage of her, even if the boiler does  actually require replacement, - though you never know if there has been no report or discussion!  The one thing that does need checking is  confirmation of what boiler he is fitting as a replacement - that is, brand new with a full manufacturers warranty etc, and, importantly, that it is a direct replacement to meet the system load requirements.

 

I know what you are going through. We had similar issues with my mother in law, before she passed away..  She would pay all bills as soon as they arrived, without checking and thought all tradesman could be trusted  implicitly. We didn't live so far away as you and  normally managed to get control before she got too deep into anything, sometime reversing agreements she had made.

Edited August 16, 20188 yr by HerbJ

I’m at my brother’s at present only half an hour away. He’s thrown a fit and we’re now on our way down there so he can have a look. God knows why she didn’t call this morning after she agreed to have it done. 

1 hour ago, newhome said:

it’s only about 5 years old

 

If it is less than 5 years old it may still be under guarantee. Phone the "engineer" and ask what he thinks is broken beyond economic repair.

1 hour ago, newhome said:

So the plumber let my mother down on Tuesday after we waited in all day but came this morning. Unfortunately I’m not there now. Apparently he looked at it, charged her £80 for the callout and said she needed a new boiler. He can fit one tomorrow if she pays £1800 which she has agreed to. He didn’t tell her what was wrong with it and it’s only about 5 years old. That sounds a bit suspect to me. Is that really the going rate to take a boiler off the wall and replace it, and how come he can suddenly arrive with a new boiler by tomorrow? 

 

She says he is on the Checkatrade leaflet so must be ok ?

 

 

 

£1800 is not outrageous nor the cheapest for a Bosch replacement. Probably OK for Timbuctoo at short notice if the job is done well.

 

Phone up Bosch with the Serial No, as sometimes they did long-term warranties which may have been 5 years or more.

 

F

Edited August 16, 20188 yr by Ferdinand

18 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

£1800 is not outrageous nor the cheapest for a Bosch replacement. 

 

Yes it is ..!! Can pick up a Greenstar 25i for £900 inc VAT and it’s the same size, pipework layout and connections as the one it’s replacing. 

 

Its a days job to fit it, even if you powerflush (which is easy with the old one off the wall) so £900 for a days work is a little excessive ...

 

@newhome these are prone to circuit board faults - £60 to £100 for the board depending on where it’s from and 15 mins to fit 

 

 

I've spoken to the WB technical support quite a few times and they've always been helpful: 0330 123 3366

Thanks all. Plumber said that it was full of  water probably from water getting into the flue as ‘we’ve had a lot of rain recently’. Have we? There was a tiny tiny bit of water in it but we struggled to see it TBH. 

 

Anyway it was my brother’s friend who fitted it but he’s on holiday so another one of his friend’s is going to look tomorrow. If it needs a new boiler then sobeit but it definitely feels worth getting a second opinion. 

 

 

Oh and his advert said no callout charge! PMSL! 

If the flue fills with water it drains out of the condensate pipe ... it’s designed to do that ...

I suspect this is one guy who will regret trying to rip off this particular elder

3 minutes ago, Hecateh said:

I suspect this is one guy who will regret trying to rip off this particular elder

 

He’s probably onto the next job already and we haven’t ascertained whether it needs a boiler replacement yet. If it does then I guess it’s not too bad but it seems a bit suspect just now.