Glow Worm Combi Lock-Out All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[Tott]

Following a recent house move we've inherited a Glow Worm Compact 80e Combi Boiler which ofrequently locks-out (sometimes not for weeks, others times 3 or 4 times a week), which is easily remedied by a simple push of a button.

As we're now using the central heating it's becoming a bit more of an issue as the rads are sometimes cold until I get up and reset it.

It's been regularly serviced by British Gas and the previous owner did mention this "occasionally happened" so I'm guessing the BG engineer could never sort it.

Any suggestions appreciated, ta.

[Tott]

Bump.

Thought I'd just give this another try...

Just a thought, as I believe it does this to stop overheating, whether it could be a faulty sensor/PCB problem as it can be working fine all evening heating the rads, switch off OK on the timer, but lockout sometimes before coming on in the morning when presumably it's cool?

TIA

[htg engineer]

There could be a number of things wrong - you'd need an engineer for a quick fix, as you could be postsing on here for a while going through different processes to find the fault.

Does the water or CH get too hot, does the boiler sound like it's boiling ?

There's many reasons why boiler go to lockout.

* Low system pressure.

* Ignition problem
Faulty parts : PCB, HT lead, Flame sensing electrode, spark electrode, spark generator.

* Overheating, or faulty overheat stat
Faulty parts: PCB, overheat stat, boiler stat, DHW or CH sensor.

* fan/flue fault
Faulty parts: fan, flue, PCB, air pressure switch, silicone tubes, venturi.

Could go on. If you have the instruction manual to hand, follow the fault finding chart in the back. If you can find what stage the boiler sequence gets when it goes to lockout it will help diagnose the problem.


htg

[Tott]

Cheers htg...

The previous owner was aware of this "occasional" mishap and as they had a service plan with British Gas (it was serviced not that long ago by them) I'm surprised they'd never rectified the problem.

But you've given me something to go on.

Thanks again,
Tott

[glowwormer]

morning tott,
do you notice any red lights when the boiler locks out? namely either one next to a radiator symbol or one next to a hand symbol?

red light next to the radiator symbol is low pressure.

red light next to hand symbol unfortunately you would need an engineer.

manauls are available from a Google search for glow-wormheating.co.uk and then searching their site.

[glowwormer]

If you Google "glow-wornheating.co.uk and browse to their downloads section you are able to download manuals from there. You can also contact them via their site!

[Tott]

Cheers Glowwormer, red light under the hand symbol unfortunately, looks like a call-out! (...not happened for about a week now tho'!)

[glowwormer]

if it hasnt happened for a week it could of been a one off, i.e. pump stuck, small air lock.

[Tott]

Bump...or rather boom!...

This problem had settled down until yesterday. Wife went to run hot water tap, nothing, realised it had cut-out. Reset it, cut-out again when tap turned on then...boom! Blew front cover off, buckled cover behind.

I wasn't there at the time but she said there wasn't any smell of gas, maybe a slight burning smell which quickly dissapated. She immediately turned off the boiler and gas supply.

I've since removed the buckled cover, nothing seems obviously damaged and there doesn't appear to be gas leaking, although we have left the gas off until it's looked at. We're only really missing the gas cooker at present.

Just waiting for someone to come out (was due a service shortly) would be handy if I had an idea as to any likely cause.

Cheers, Tott