My plumber says that I need a new circuit board for my boiler. The heating and water will come on but only for about 20 mins at a time. He says there is a fault with the circuit board - Is there anywhere that I can buy one of these and have it fitted at a reasonable price - he is quoting me £349(inc of VAT) for the full job and I think that's quite high.

Nic, March 2010

Can anyone recommend a good cheap place to buy a pcb ? I have a friend who is a plumber who lives about 70 miles away. He said that he would do it if I was able to find a pcb, even on line. He would take £20 plus the cost of his fuel. Thanks for the advice folks

Nic, March 2010

search the net plenty of places do them and make sure
you state what boiler yours is as their is a few models of the halstead ace.
whos fitting it ?
as many engineers won't fit or warranty parts supplied by the customer.
if it works and breaks down in 3 months thats your problem you supplied the parts.

gastec uk, March 2010

Any good recommendations where I can buy a pcb from ? Online would be better. Based in Scotland.
Thanks for the advice folks

Nic, March 2010

as said 149+vat for the pcb.
hour getting parts + hour fitting and checking system.

£75 is about average for diagnosing a fault give or take.
3 hours spent on your job -diagnose - getting part -replace.
take off pcb gives you approx £54 hour x 3 hours.
getting parts is still chargable.

gastec uk, March 2010

He appears to be charging £148 for the pcb + £148 for his time + VAT = £349.

It might take him an hour to obtain the pcb and, if he works slowly - an hour to fit it - so his hourly rate is £74 + VAT which is a little high - the pcb can be had for £149 + VAT from what I've seen on a web site.

Boiler pcbs probably cost less than £10 to make and usually sell for £100 plus - a spare-part scandal in my view but not uncommon with consumer electronics - think about it - you can buy a cheap PC for £300 and it's a lot more complex than a boiler pcb!

As for your particular fault - I'm nothing more than an unqualified muppet when it comes to boilers - it may well be caused by the pcb but I suspect that your man is just guessing as I am now - they get very well trained in gas safety and pipework etc but some are a bit weak with electronics.

It is possible and quite legal for you to replace the pcb yourself - but probably safer to have a specialist do it - try yellow pages.

The weak area of boiler PCBs is the odd dry joint but more particularly the Electrolytic Capacitors - they age in time and degrade with heat - and boilers are warm environments.

Good luck...

Peccavi, March 2010

No, but I think that he will. All he did was have a look at it and fired it up. It went ok. I told him that the plumber last time soldered the wires. He immediately said that that would be the problem and did no more. I am a bit dubious. He didnt say that it could be soldered again either !

Nic, March 2010

has he charged you for diagnosing the fault ?

gastec uk, March 2010