Our boiler stopped working last night

Last time it stopped, my mate who is a plumber came round. He said it was the fan that had seized. He took the cover off. Sprayed the fan with WD40 and gave it a whack with a screwdriver to free it off. Said it might be OK for a day / month / year.

It's worked fine for a couple of months, until it got really cold last night. So having watched him do it, I thought I'd have a go Took the cover off, couldn't find my WD40 ( ), but found some graphite lubricating spray instead. Gave it a generous helping and span the fan manually.

Great I thought. I wonder if it'll fire. So despite the warning "this Boiler must not be used with the cover removed" I fired it up. Well it worked, BUT the fan sprayed a lovely 360 degree pattern of graphite all over the kitchen and me! DOH!

Gave it a bit more spray, chucked the cover back on and it's run OK all night!

Anyway, is the fan replacement on a boiler a DIY proposition, or should I get my mate round? (He might bring my WD40 back )

If it is DIY where can I get a replacement Fan from. It's an Ideal Classic Boiler.

Anyway, I'm off to repaint the kitchen now!

Cheers

Mike

I am no expert but maybe once a year my fan 'pinces' up and spray of Prolong or WD40 does the trick.

The fan on my boiler (glowworm - I know!) gave up in the middle of winter. I stripped it out to find about 5mm play on the shaft due to bearing wear. I was amazed it had been running like that. I found an online suppliers for the part (something like keep the heat on?) and they had it out to me the next day. Of course I was an instant hero in the eyes of the Mrs.

Just found the link:

Keep the Heat On

Here are the ideal fan units;


http://www.keeptheheaton.com/acatalog/Ideal_Fan.html

[Edited on 9/12/07 by SeaBass]

Hi
I am sure there is no reason not to fit a new fan yourself.

If you can build a car, fitting a new fan in the boiler should not prove to be difficult.

Just remember to follow the basic Eletrical/Gas safety guidelines and all should be well.

You will be able to find plenty of spare parts online

Ronnie

It all depends on the boiler and the fan.

If its just a simple fan with 3 wires to it then its usually a pretty simple DIY job, just be careful with any gaskets etc that keep the flue sealed.

If there are any pipes that go between the fan and the gas valve then it will be a gas/air ratio valve and will most likely need setting up again, but these are only likely to be found on the newest condensing boilers.

replaced the fan on mine myself, no problem, took the boiler details to a local spares place.. 45 mins inc. testing, all ok.

WD40 works for mine. The Locost way of doing it is to raplace the bearings. Cant remember the size but they are available for a couple of quid. The only difficult bit is removing the fan, the allen screw can be seized and the fan will be tight on the shaft, a bit of heat usually helps. Just make sure you dont damage the fan, it will still run but the noise will drive you mad

Same for me , though I've only had to spray it a couple of times in 5 years.
The fan on mine looks the same as the old "Record player" motor, so I was reluctant to replace it for the best part of £100 !!!

Generally a straightforward thing to do, and there's no law that says you're not allowed. Only law is if you blow yourself up then a court will rule against you because the rule is "you must be competent" do DIY a gas appliance. And the theory goes if you've blown yourself up you weren't competent

So for things like changing a fan, thermocouple etc then fine you're generally fine so long as you take basic precautions, but I'd steer well clear of anything that involves disturbing the gas side of things.