Problem with Heatline boiler S24/S30 compact

Dub4747

Hi,

We have a Heatline boiler that has worked well for 9 years now but tonight there was a red light flashing that related to the warning "check burner ionisation probe or gas flow." Basically it seemed to be having problems igniting but after turning it on and off again we got it working again. Although now as I wrote this I think it has stopped again! Can anyone advise what might be causing this and is it costly to fix?

We were planning on getting a service anyway as our last one was 3 years ago but wondering if anyone here can recommend someone who has experience with these boilers? We're in Dublin 8 on the southside near the city centre/Guinness Storehouse.

What's the average lifespan of a boiler like this as well?

Thanks :-)

roy rodgers

I done a lot of service calls on them boilers back in the day. Not a great boiler being honest.
That fault normally was a PCB problem.
You might find it hard to get one nowadays as these boilers are gone off the market a few years now.
You were lucky to get 9 years I seen them being replaced after 2 years!!!

Dub4747

Thanks. I have been reading a lot online about people having a similar issue and some were told PCB, some gas valve and other things and ended up spending loads and it did not fix the problem. Often it seems it was loose wiring in the end! Would the boiler service repairman check for that automatically anyway?

Worried as I know the Heatline is meant to be crap and it has already been 9 years. Do you know how much ballpark a decent new boiler costs? Ours is just a wall mounted one so not huge as we're in a 2 bed city centre terraced house. I was looking at the SEI great options for the high efficiency gas boilers with heating controls and they were ballpark €2,500-3,000 after the grant was applied! Wondering how much they would really improve or help with cutting bills? Any thoughts from your experience?

Thanks

roy rodgers

Dub4747 wrote: »

Thanks. I have been reading a lot online about people having a similar issue and some were told PCB, some gas valve and other things and ended up spending loads and it did not fix the problem. Often it seems it was loose wiring in the end! Would the boiler service repairman check for that automatically anyway?

Worried as I know the Heatline is meant to be crap and it has already been 9 years. Do you know how much ballpark a decent new boiler costs? Ours is just a wall mounted one so not huge as we're in a 2 bed city centre terraced house. I was looking at the SEI great options for the high efficiency gas boilers with heating controls and they were ballpark €2,500-3,000 after the grant was applied! Wondering how much they would really improve or help with cutting bills? Any thoughts from your experience?

Thanks

A good service engineer would check for these things or should anyways. A lot of lads run a mile when they hear Heatline as like what you'd say parts being bought and problems still occurring. I think parts on them are getting scarce at this moment too.
New boiler will cost around 1850- 2100 now that be for a Worcester Bosch with a 7 year warranty you could put an magnetic filter on to it for an extra 150 and get an 8 year warranty.
Heating controls would some where in the region of 900 to 1100 for 2 zones one for hot water and one for the radiators. The grants available are 700 from seai and electric ireland will give 421 credited to your account if your a customer of them.
Did you ever think about a combi boiler? Sometimes they suit a mid terrace house like yours and remove the need for a hot water cylinder freeing up extra space. The cost of a combi really depends on your hot water demand and water pressure in the house if booster pumps are needed or not. But for a 25kw combi would be around 2800 and 3200 for the 30kw combi

Dub4747

Thanks Roy.

Interested to hear about the Combi Boiler as I don't know much about them? I googled them there and they sound good. We currently have underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs and a one circuit gas boiler plus the hot water tank in the hot press. So right now if we want to heat water for a shower or bath we have to run the whole system which heats the radiators and the underfloor system unless we turn them off specifically. Very annoying!

Do you know would there be much retrofitting involved if we moved to a combo boiler?

roy rodgers

Dub4747 wrote: »

Thanks Roy.

Interested to hear about the Combi Boiler as I don't know much about them? I googled them there and they sound good. We currently have underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs and a one circuit gas boiler plus the hot water tank in the hot press. So right now if we want to heat water for a shower or bath we have to run the whole system which heats the radiators and the underfloor system unless we turn them off specifically. Very annoying!

Do you know would there be much retrofitting involved if we moved to a combo boiler?

Whichever boiler you go for it be better to divide that sort of heating system into 3 zones, one first the downstairs underfloor heating, one for the upstairs radiators and one for the hot Water circuit. All controlled by a central controller so no need to bring going around turning things off.
Normally with a house of that size a 2 zone system be more than enough but with underfloor heating the system tend to be left on longer and at different times so that's why I would recommend the 3 zone heating controls.

There's not usually that much work in retrofitting, nothing a couple days wouldn't sort out for 2 men.

Dub4747

Thanks again for all the information. We had the boiler serviced and it seems ok and seems to be working fine for now. There was a lot of dust he cleaned out and he said the ionisation was very low (or something like that) so he took that back up? So we're all good for now but will keep the combi boiler as an idea when we need to replace the boiler eventually.

One thing he did mention was that our flue outside is only 190mm from our back door when it should be 300mm at least? I wasn't here so he just mentioned it to my childminder. Any idea if that is easily fixable like can we buy some extension to add on to it?

griff37

hi, i have a heatline boiler thats dripping water from a valve type hole underneath and from a copper pipe on the outside wall so have to top up pressure every week or so, any ideas thanks

DGOBS

you have an issue with expansion, and it has operated the safety valve.

You will need your expansion vessel checked (author recharged or replaced), and likely the safety valve replaced

griff37

DGOBS wrote: »

you have an issue with expansion, and it has operated the safety valve.

You will need your expansion vessel checked (author recharged or replaced), and likely the safety valve replaced

that sounds costly and time consuming, in your opinion should i bite the bullet and replace the burner as its over 10 years old, its not dripping that bad now as i hav reduced the pressure and would hope to leave it for another year as i have two girls in college. thanks

rightjob!

griff37 wrote: »

that sounds costly and time consuming, in your opinion should i bite the bullet and replace the burner as its over 10 years old, its not dripping that bad now as i hav reduced the pressure and would hope to leave it for another year as i have two girls in college. thanks

Far cheaper to get a vessel and safety valve installed than replace,it will be back working fine when these are changed.