A plain guide to the boiler fault codes Birmingham homeowners see most: Ideal, Vaillant, Worcester Bosch, Baxi, Viessmann and Alpha. What each one means and what you can safely check first.
The flame has gone out or will not stay lit.
The boiler tried to light and could not.
No flame detected when the boiler tried to fire.
Water pressure in the heating system too low.
The boiler has got too hot and shut itself off.
No flame signal or failed ignition.
Once, after writing the code down. If it comes straight back, the cause is still there and resetting again will not fix it.
Low pressure you can usually top up yourself, and a frozen condensate pipe you can usually thaw with warm water. Most other codes need an engineer.
A frozen condensate pipe. It makes the flame codes (F2, F28, EA, E133) appear across the city on the same day.
Yes. Send the make, the model and the code and we will tell you what it means.
Once is fine. If the code comes straight back, stop resetting and get it looked at, because the boiler is telling you the cause is still there.
Ask to see the Gas Safe ID card when they arrive. The back lists exactly which appliances that engineer is qualified to work on, and the number can be checked on the Gas Safe Register.
When a boiler stops, it nearly always leaves a clue on the display: a letter and a number, or a short code with a flashing light. That code is the boiler telling you which of its safety checks failed. Read it right and you often know within a minute whether it is something you can sort yourself, like low pressure or a frozen pipe, or a part that needs an engineer.
Across Birmingham the same handful of boilers turn up again and again. The 1930s semis of Kingstanding, Great Barr, Northfield and Kings Norton are full of Worcester Bosch, Ideal and Baxi combis, often the second or third boiler the house has had. The Victorian terraces of Moseley, Kings Heath, Sparkhill and Handsworth lean towards Vaillant and Baxi combis squeezed into a back kitchen, and the bigger Edgbaston and Harborne houses more often have system boilers with a cylinder. Student houses in Selly Oak tend to have whatever the landlord fitted last.
Most codes fall into a few families. Low water pressure (Baxi E118 and E119, Worcester CE207, Ideal F1). The flame not lighting or going out (Ideal F2, Vaillant F28, Worcester EA, Baxi E133, Viessmann F4, Alpha E01), which in a Birmingham winter is very often a frozen condensate pipe or a prepayment gas meter that has run out. Water not moving or getting too hot (Vaillant F20, Worcester D1). And sensor or fan faults, which need an engineer.
Write the code down before you reset anything, because a reset clears it from the display. Send a photo of the display and the boiler badge on WhatsApp and we can usually tell you the likely cause before anyone sets off. If you smell gas, leave the house, do not touch switches and ring the National Gas Emergency line on 0800 111 999 from outside.
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Send a photo of the problem on WhatsApp for the quickest reply, or give us a call. You get a free, no-obligation quote, usually the same day.
