Glow Worm 30CXI PCB faults and cures

That is a great tip, but when your on site in the middle of winter and your customer wants his heating and hot water back on ASAP it's straight to the heating spares for a PCB for a same day repair rather than having to order a capacitor that may take a day or two to arrive. Then you have to re arrange access and have all the sparkys soldering kit to repair it.

 

I think intended as a 'competent DIYer' repair.

 

Pottertons of a certain age were notorious for poorly soldered PCB's. I cured two Pumas from random/varied failures by re-flowing the solder over the pins (not the IC's!) Might be worth a check on any boiler PCB showing such faults.

diymostthings

 

J. Hay, I notice that one of your post's 'tags' is Fan Flue Fluctuating'.

That happened to my own 30CXi a few years back - the fan speed was cycling manically up and down - and the guy did diagnose it (and it was diagnosed on here too) as a faulty PCB. I think I went for a GW fixed price repair, but still pricey.

I'll know what to do next time

 

I Had the same problem, mine was dead but fuse in tact and primary voltages in place. I guessed the switch mode power supply was not starting up and having been a TV engineer all my life changed the capacitors concerned. This was just the same in many TV power supplys as the electrolytic capacitors would dry out over a period of time mainly because of their proximity to the regulator chip which runs hot.

Glad to say normal service resumed and only took about 20 mins to change the cap's. Nice to think about all the money I saved!

Philip.

 

Just wanted to say thanks for this my Glow worm 30hxi failed after a power cut yesterday after replacing the capacitors for the power as per your info (got them from rapidonline, luckily i live in Colchester and work near them!) its working a treat. About £3.10 in total as i had to buy 5 of each capacitor! You've saved me a good few quid!! So thanks for taking the time to post.....

 

Cooooooooool

 

Many thanks JH and others. Replaced C805 + C813 an got my 'dead' Glow Worm PCB working again.

Best wishes

 

Its -6C outside, boiler failed. Thanks to OP JH post, have now replaced all caps and both faults gone.
MANY THANKS !

 

Hi can anyone help, I have a Glow Worm 30 cxi has no power at all, have no heating or hot water and have a 6month old baby called the engineer but due to weather conditions they haven't come.

 

OP(and others)
With any PC board large or small using a jewellers eye glass and a strong light from the side you sometimes can find "dry joints".
They may have a crack in solder ...but can just look.....Dull..as opposed to bright and shiny.
I have saved lots of PCB's as a last resort by going over every single joint with correct iron and fresh solder.
Remember.......Heat on....... touch solder....heat off.
Don't blow on it !!!!!
Rs

 

It's a tough one, Mel.

Apart from the usual first check of anything that doesn't have power - is the fuse blown? - there is not much you can do without remove the boiler cover, folding down the front control panel and unscrewing the back cover of the PCB and checking for other fuses and blown components on there. That's getting in to 'serious' territory.

If the boiler is completely 'dead' and the supplying fuse is ok (is the programmer/timer whateves still on?), then it seems pretty common for the PCB to have failed. These can be costly, tho' I understand you can get reconditioned ones for a lot less - but you'd need a plumber happy to fit one.

 

So theres more fuses? Ok if i have take off the boiler cover and fold the front panel down how many fuses will there be?will have a look many thanks

 

Can't remember if they are visible on the outside (say via openings) or if you need to remove the PCB's cover.

There is no issue at all with removing the front outer cover for a looksee - there are no seals or nuffink on this panel, just a couple of screws underneath and then it pulls forwards and lifts off - and then the front panel folds down (obviously make sure the power is off). What you decide to do then it us to you, but the PCB cover isn't an awkward job to remove either - but that's your call. There are some fuses on the board as I recall.

Tbh, I fear it won't be as simple as a blown fuse...

 

Hi DA, i'd just like to say, as an ex tv engineer I think it's ridiculous that they're using switch-mode power supplies in boilers, sounds like they suffer from all the same problems as TV's, video's, Sky boxes etc. did. I don't get involved with TV's etc. these days, just do the elec. installation and repair work now but I do still come across the Sky boxes that won't re-start after I've had the power off for electrical work! I only came across this thread by chance as I noticed the Glow Worm name mentioned, I have to change my very old low Worm boiler (circa 1970's) due to a leaking heat exchanger and I have a modern one now, at least i'll know where to look when it packs up!

 

There's an excellent thread on here - updated recently recall - where a guy goes through which actual capacitors tend to cause the problem. From the replies, he's saved a few folk some serious dosh .

Yeah, bludy supplies. Had one go on a 'Pure' radio-alarm (sizzling a high-pitched frequency that drove you nuts at night) and the 2-year old PSU for our Sony TV went 'pop' just last week.

They don't make PSUs the way they used to - hot, heavy and power-hungry

 

I don't think so too that it's a simple blown fuse many thanks really appreciated

 

Ballpark of approaching £200 for a new PCB, or circa £50 for a recon item.

I'd personally go for the recon as virtually all of the board should be fine - it's always down to a few pesky components, and once these are replaced the board should last out the remaining life of the boiler.

But you need a GasSafe who's willing to fit a recon item. They might insist that if even it goes faulty within a 'normal' 1-year warranty period, they'll still charge you labour to remove and replace it. The board itself will have a year's warranty from the recon folk. I think you'd be extremely unlucky for it to fail again, so I reckon it's worth the risk (unless money's no object, of course...)

 

I got smart meters installed yesterday and when the power and gas was turned back on the boiler refused to start. It stayed off for a long time and then started "pulsing" but refused to fire and the display went haywire flashing zeros.
As it was a bank holiday weekend the only place I could get capacitors delivered the next day was Amazon Prime so I bought a selection box of caps for £13 and changed the caps. It was the c805 capacitor that was faulty on mine although it looked fine.

You saved me loads of money and grief.

Thanks a lot!