"Ed Sirett" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 19:47:47 +0000, Michael Pacey wrote:

Hi,

I have a problem with my ancient Ideal Concord W gas boiler (says WCF
on the front). I'm pretty sure it is of the combi-boiler type.

It was working fine until recently I noticed the boiler itself is
giving off excessive heat - it is scalding to the touch. Then I noticed
that the wall above the boiler is quite sooty - not sure if this is new
or not, but I didn't notice it before. The flame seems to be burning
yellow, where I would expect clean blue, and it is lapping up in front
of the internal guard between the heat exchange and the boiler cover.
I think this is what is causing the heat coming off the boiler.

Is this something I can adjust myself or will I need to call in an
engineer? The bad news is I don't have the service manual for the
boiler, it came with my flat.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

As others have already said this boiler is Dangerous. Any
professional coming across it in its current state WILL condemn it.
The fact that the casing is also getting hot almost certainly means that
the flue and/or heat exchanger is blocked. Maybe the flue liner has
collapsed ?

Just one point - this boiler was designed and installed long before combi
boilers were around (in the UK at least). It comes from the Concorde era!

Frankly the cost of putting this right - and being really sure it's right
- should probably go straight towards the new boiler.


I'd hazard a guess based on other posts in this thread that when the OP
covered the air vent the flue started to spill fumes and the combustion fell
apart. Soot was produced which clogged the heat exchanger and possibly
reduced the effectiveness of the flue still further.
A really thorough clean of the heat exchanger and sweeping of the flue,
together with a full service to the boiler may be all that is actually
neccessary as the Concord series were very simple units and had little to
actually go wrong with them (apart from not being efficient at converting
money to heat).
Renewal of the boiler may be "a good thing" but may not be actually
essential