Boiler Fan Breakdown? 5 Most Common Causes and their Fixes

When your boiler fan begins to malfunction or simply stops working, your boiler comes to a grinding halt as well. Boilers are designed to first check if your boiler fan is in working order. If the fan doesn’t work, the boiler’s circuit board prevents the boiler from working.

Why does this happen?

Your boiler burns LPG or gas to create combustion that is then used to heat water. When there is combustion, there is release of toxic exhaust gases. These gases need to be safely blown away from your property, through a flue. Only your boiler’s boiler fan can safely blow off these gases away from your home. This is why your boiler is designed to not function when your boiler fan isn’t working or even not working well.

Now that you have understood what a boiler fan does and why your boiler needs a functioning boiler fan, let’s look at the 5 most common causes for boiler fan malfunction.

1. Low fan speed

When your boiler fan’s speed is too slow, the difference in pressure between the draught entering and exiting the flue can cause the pilot light to blow out or cause your boiler to lock out just a few moments after being activated. If the issue is just a low speed fan, a Gas Safe Engineer might be able to simply adjust the speed of your boiler’s fan, to troubleshoot and fix this issue.

2. Loose Connections

A boiler puts out a lot of vibrations. With time, vibrations can loosen a lot of things and the wiring or connection to your boiler fan might get loose or come undone. In such cases, a Gas Safe Engineer can quickly check for loose connections and secure or fasten connections back in place. If the problem is indeed a loose connection, it is highly advisable that the engineer check for other loose connections in the boiler as vibrations that loosened a boiler fan’s connection have the potential to loosen other critical connections as well.

3. Damage caused by leaks

Boilers are notorious for developing leaks. Leaks can then slowly damage other components, causing the boiler to malfunction or fail. In such cases, a Gas Safe Engineer will check for leaks, stop the leaks and then address the damage caused by the leaks, either replacing or repairing components like a pump seal, heat exchanger or even the whole boiler fan assembly, if required.

4. Malfunctioning Fan

If your boiler fan is over 5 years old, there’s a good chance that the entire boiler fan is faulty or has become completely useless. In such cases, a boiler fan replacement is the most practical solution. Though there are repair kits available for boiler fans, a broken boiler fan is best replaced. If your boiler uses a Grundfos or Baxi fan that is expensive to replace, there’s no need to worry. You can choose a Boiler M8 replacement fan that gives you a high-quality product with a solid 2-year warranty, at a fraction of the price that you will pay to get original parts that were installed into the boiler, when you first bought it.

Boiler-M8 is a leader in replacement fans and has been in the market for 8 years now, with thousands of perfect reviews. With excellent products backed by industry leading customer service standards and very competitive pricing, Boiler-M8 is an excellent choice as a replacement fan provider. Boiler-M8 has replacement fans for Blaxi, Grundfos, Glowworm, Halstead, Ideal, Keston, Ravenheat, Vaillant and Vokera brands.

5. Faulty Circuit Board

The PCB or printed circuit board is your boiler’s brain. It regulates everything to do with your boiler, including how your boiler fan functions. Unfortunately, a faulty PCB almost always calls for a replacement and not repair. In some rare cases, a simple loose connection fix might bring your PCB back to life. But, in most cases, the problem cannot be identified and the PCB has to be changed. Such a replacement will typically cost upwards of £500. For such an expensive repair, you can actually think about replacing your boiler itself, preferably buying one with an extended amount of warranty.