They don't make 'em like they used to :(

[AdeV]

For the 5th year running, the central heating's packed up. Looks like the boiler's really on its way out this time, multiple faults all snowballing on each other.


The boiler is 10 years old. In my opinion this is an outrageously short lifespan for a £700 item. A few years back, I lived in a house with a 30 year old boiler which, as far as I know, is still there. It wasn't terribly efficient, but it just went on & on & on.

Same with computers. on Saturday the 5-year old main home computer died. Yet my 19 year old 486 still works, as does the 25 year old Sinclair QL & the 30 year old Sharp MZ-80K.



Not happy.

[Baldrocker]

Thats not it in your avatar is it? 
BR

[AdeV]

Thats not it in your avatar is it? 

  I wish it was, it'd work in that case! The engine in my avatar is pushing on for being 60 years old, and still starts on the first crank of the handle.

Actually, if my plan to move to Europe comes to fruition, the Lister will be providing hot water & electricity...

[Trion]

Same with computers. on Saturday the 5-year old main home computer died. Yet my 19 year old 486 still works, as does the 25 year old Sinclair QL & the 30 year old Sharp MZ-80K.

That's precisely why I'm still using my 1Ghz Pentium 3 computer which I bought 7 years ago. It's still running windows 2000. Never ever had a problem with it, except for when microsoft forces me to update something. How many of you can say that?

I've got a Dell 700mhz that is still going strong as the kids machine, XP and no issues at all.

Me, well three "modern" ones have passed by while the old clunker keeps on clunking ..... 

[andyf]

I agree about boilers. I bought this place in '74, from the people who bought it from my grandad in '64. He had no CH, but the intervening owners installed it. The gas boiler was an ancient Vulcan with a cast iron heat exchanger like an old school radiator, made up of individual elements bolted together with gaskets between, and looked like it could have powered a small steamship . It had obviously been bought second hand, but worked perfectly (including conversion from town gas to natural gas) until it had to go when the house was remodelled 12 years ago.

The all-singing, all dancing replacement has been nothing but trouble. If it hasn't burned out its thermocouple (which is a pain to replace, but at least I can do it myself), the £100 gas valve has gone west (and I'm not competent to instal a new one), and vice versa There's very little hysteresis on the boiler stat, so it cycled on/off every minute or so until I made and fitted a timer so it couldn't fire up again until the pump has circulated the water enough for it to cool down.

Like you, I'm fed up with the bloody thing  . 

Andy

[Darren]

Thats not it in your avatar is it? 
BR

Excellent, truly excellent ...


PS I've got one of those, I'll get it going one day .... 

[AdeV]

Well, managed to coax the boiler back into life, maybe we'll get one more winter out of it yet....

1st problem was the pump, which had failed short-circuit. Changed the pump head for a "new" one (actually, one pulled from another boiler), after some swearing & cursing brought on by a stripped thread, the silicone glue was administered to seal the bugger up.

2nd & 3rd problems: The pressure relief valve (PRV) was widdling water all over the garage, and when the boiler lit up the pressure in the system simply rose until the safety system cut it off.  Turned out it was suffering from the automotive equivalent of a flat tyre. Cure is the same: Pump the "tyre" back up - in this case, an air bladder inside an expansion tank. Add a few PSI, drain off the now excess water, add a bit more air, drain a bit more water, and presto, the water pressure no longer skyrockets as soon as the boiler kicks in. Result! Brucie bonus, the PRV valve stopped dripping too.

4th problem, the gas valve micro-switch seized again (3rd time this year, I should probably use some proper oil or grease rather than WD40  ), resulting in the boiler thinking there is no gas pressure; cue a safety shutdown. Disassembled, WD40'd, reassemble, and finally all is well again!

In fairness, I'm glad the boiler shuts down, rather than exploding, bursting the CH system, or bursting into flames; but it's still a PITA when it happens.

[jim]

i think its just modern things

we got that British Gas homecare a few years ago when the boiler packed up (in quite a dramatic fashion), every year something goes wrong (fixed for "free")