Mynute 20E Gas Boiler not firing up

Folks,

Tenant called me this evening to report that the Gas boiler is not firing up. I went around and noticed two things:

1. No pilot light on (tenant states this has always been the case, I can't be sure)

2. Pressure barely above 0.

My immediate thought is to top up the water pressure, however I can't locate the correct valve to do this. What I can see is a single lever (yellow) like the one you would have underneath the sink. This is located on pipes feeding into underside of boiler. No other valve in the vicinity. I've looked in the hot press and while there are the usual confusing array of pipes, the three valves present are all at least partially open.
I don't want to call out someone until I can at least check the basics - any suggestions?

The top up valve will be in your hotpress most likely, usually a 1/2inch pipe with a silver-braided flexible hose (or sometimes a red wheel valve before a non-return valve)

Most modern boiler do not have pilot lights, they have electronic ignition, vokeras being electronic

maybe post a link here with a pic of the hotpress and we can try pick it out for you, although as a landlord you know that you have a legal obligation to have the boiler (and any other gas appliances) serviced yearly, so why not just get it serviced and the technician will top it up and check all is working correctly for you.

Thanks DGOBS,

Well I arranged a service over the weekend, and the guy took the thing mostly apart. He said the pressure isn't a problem and that it should work okay just above 0 given its a 2 storey house. Here's what he diagnosed.

1. The Fan is not turning, and he says this is down to the PCB, which needs to be replaced.

The tenant then mentioned that the boiler had been making a banging noise for a couple of days, service guy then said

2. Heat Exchanger was probably also gone, and if this needs to be replaced, I'm probably better off getting a new boiler.

He's coming back on Monday to install a temporary PCB for test purposes, and we'll take it from there. This all sound plausible?


Edit: Just found this price list online - www.hevac.ie/assets/files/parts_depot/VOKERA SPARE PARTS.pdf shows a price of €177.71 for the Heat Exchanger - would this be trade only?

If the boiler was banging, it would either be the heat exchanger or the pump
and the list price in Hevac would be what you would pay walking off the street, the plumber should get it a few quid cheaper, some pass it on, some dont!

If the fan isn't turning it will most likely be the air pressure switch, fan or pcb, if you have a multiple failure and the boiler is getting on a bit rather than spending 300 plus on parts a new boiler would be wise, but then the expense of lets say 500 euros to repair and 1500-2000 to replace with a decent boiler may not be in your budget.

Question would be, if repaired how long would you be likely to get from the existing boiler, only a good look see would give that answer, but don't be pushed into a new boiler if its not what you want/need

A good boiler would be a viessmann or an intergas boiler IMHO