Recommend me emergency boiler cover

Have you not got at least one portable electric heater>If not get two, one fan one convector. Never rely on one source of heat for heat/life.

This is a very common problem, they should have told you to do that first. If they run down an outside wall, especially if North facing, they should be heavily insulated, but they never are, it's plain stupid.


It sounds like Baxi boilers use cheap parts that fail far to easily, as do most modern boilers, to many rubber membranes, seals & PCBs in a hot/cold box. It's a modern con, our boiler is 30 years old & never fails.
It’s about fifteen years old, was in the house when we moved in, first problem with it as far as I can tell. Boilers certainly aren’t as robust as they used to be but decent ones are massively more efficient, we replaced the thirty year old boiler in our old house with a Worcester condenser boiler and pretty much halved the gas bill.
 


Have you not got at least one portable electric heater>If not get two, one fan one convector. Never rely on one source of heat for heat/life.

This is a very common problem, they should have told you to do that first. If they run down an outside wall, especially if North facing, they should be heavily insulated, but they never are, it's plain stupid.


It sounds like Baxi boilers use cheap parts that fail far to easily, as do most modern boilers, to many rubber membranes, seals & PCBs in a hot/cold box. It's a modern con, our boiler is 30 years old & never fails.
I’ll be getting a couple, aye.
What did he say the part was he needed?
A three port valve. It was sticky and causing the hot water to not come on, and the boiler wasn’t firing. But the heating was working fine.

So he took the valve off, left it off and now my heating isn’t working. When questioned he reckoned the motor (is the motor in the valve?) was knacked when he arrived so the heating wouldn’t have worked anyway, but it definitely was.
 
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I’ll be getting a couple, aye.

A three port valve. It was sticky and causing the hot water to not come on, and the boiler wasn’t firing. But the heating was working fine.

So he took the valve off, left it off and now my heating isn’t working. When questioned he reckoned the motor (is the motor in the valve?) was knacked when he arrived so the heating wouldn’t have worked anyway, but it definitely was.
you mean he`s taken the head off?. The little white or silver box on top of the valve?, otherwise he`d have drained the system of which would account for the heating not working, as it is it sounds like he`s taken the head off and left the valve set in the hot water position. If he doesnt make it back today you could manually move the valve back over into the heating position to get you away overnight
 
you mean he`s taken the head off?. The little white or silver box on top of the valve?, otherwise he`d have drained the system of which would account for the heating not working, as it is it sounds like he`s taken the head off and left the valve set in the hot water position. If he doesnt make it back today you could manually move the valve back over into the heating position to get you away overnight
He’s taken a small silver box off, and left it dangling. The hot water is only on because we have the immersion on (and was the case before he came). How would we move the valve back, do you think? We asked him this and he said we couldn’t because the motor is gone?
 
British Gas have been brilliant for us. Always there within 24 hours and always fixed the fault.

Not cheap but you pay for what you get

Main reason I switched to BG was the ease of appointments. I once spent all day on the phone trying to find a local gas engineer who was available, not booked up for weeks in advance and didn't want an extortionate emergency call out charge. With BG you can book a callout online in seconds.
 
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He’s taken a small silver box off, and left it dangling. The hot water is only on because we have the immersion on (and was the case before he came). How would we move the valve back, do you think? We asked him this and he said we couldn’t because the motor is gone?
Should be a nub coming out of the top of the valve, gently move it into position with pliers
 
Main reason I switched to BG was the ease of appointments. I once spent all day on the phone trying to find a local gas engineer who was available, not booked up for weeks in advance and didn't want an extortionate emergency call out charge. With BG you can book a callout online in seconds.

Every time we've called them out they've been there within 24 hours - most of the time a lot sooner
 
He’s taken a small silver box off, and left it dangling. The hot water is only on because we have the immersion on (and was the case before he came). How would we move the valve back, do you think? We asked him this and he said we couldn’t because the motor is gone?

Well you could have moved it manually but if the power to it etc is disconnected the boiler won't fire up. Is there an isolator switch next to the valve?
Well you could have moved it manually but if the power to it etc is disconnected the boiler won't fire up. Is there an isolator switch next to the valve/ dangling box?
 
Well you could have moved it manually but if the power to it etc is disconnected the boiler won't fire up. Is there an isolator switch next to the valve?
no, we couldn’t find one. He’s been and fixed the heating now at least (new valve) and now I have to wait foe the hot water tank to cool down to see if my hot water has been fixed. 🤦‍♀️
 
Aye, after I’ve bathed the kids, I will. 😊
He shouldn't have left you with nothing, he could have left it with hot water or even put it into the mid position for both if it wasn't completely ceased in the hot water position (unlikely but possible).

My valve actuator motor(s) (that's what they are called) kept "burning out", in the end after replacing a few (just checked in shed, 4 bloody times) I took the top of the casing of the actuator off to allow heat to escape & it hasn't failed since (see below for 2nd measure). But it leaves (semi) exposed wiring so I can't actually recommend it. Whatever you do make sure the area it is in is well ventilated, don't put towels on it!

Another thing is, always put the Hot Water on last once you have finished using heating for the day/night, just for 10 seconds will do. The motor will turn off & it will spring back to HW (you can hear the ratcheting). It's a stupid design error, I thought mine was wrong but checked & it is how they all work in a 3 port valve. They are only 5 watts, so negligible energy wise so that's why they didn't care about them being on 24/7 (except when only HW is on & after HW is on but before CH). Two 2-port valves are better they only power the motors upon demand.

It's also good in summer when CH is not on for maybe 4 months or more, to put it on for a minute every month to help prevent it sticking in the HW position (remember to put HW on afterwards as above).

Finally, if going away for a while in e.g. summer (when you will not have it on at all), manually switch it into Mid Position to stop it sticking. Do all this & it should last your lifetime.
 

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