Ideal [LC] fault codewhat it means and how to fix it

LC is unusual among fault codes in that nothing has broken. Ideal appliances count resets, and five within a fifteen-minute window triggers a lockout that can only be cleared by switching the appliance off and on at the fused spur. On the Vogue Max this presents as a "Too Many Restarts" message rather than a code. It exists for a good reason. Repeatedly resetting a boiler that keeps locking out does not fix anything, and depending on the underlying fault it can make things actively worse — cycling unburnt gas into a combustion chamber on an ignition fault, or firing a heat exchanger without circulation on an overheat. The counter is the appliance interrupting that loop. So the useful question is not how to clear LC, which is straightforward, but what code you were resetting before it appeared. That earlier code is the actual fault and it is what needs attention.

1. 1

   Switch the appliance off at the fused spur or its isolating switch, wait a full minute, then switch it back on. That clears LC.

2. 2

   Before you touch anything else, write down the code that was showing before you started resetting. That is the fault that matters and it is easy to forget once the display has been cleared.

3. 3

   Look that code up and deal with it properly. If it is an L2 or F2, check the gas supply and the condensate pipe. If it is an L1, treat it as a circulation fault.

4. 4

   Do not simply resume resetting. If the original fault returns after one further attempt, book an engineer, or Ideal directly if the appliance is under warranty.

   Repeatedly resetting an ignition lockout puts unburnt gas into the combustion chamber, and repeatedly resetting an overheat fires the heat exchanger without cooling. Neither is harmless.