boiler not fireing?

[Money4nowt]

my boiler appears to have packed in. room stat turned up no ignition from boiler, opening hot taps no ignition from boiler.
i turn the boiler off via its thermostat and back on, i think the fan starts spinning but it doesnt sound as loud as i think it normally is.
both zone valves on the cylinder open fine and the pump seems to be running free.
any ideas anyone?

 

[petertheplumber12]

Give me the make of boiler I assume it is a combi,it sounds as if it might be old enough to not be a new condensing boiler, so I need to know, 1st thought is that the fan has failed. if old style combi, you have to take front combustion chamber cover off to access fan so you may need a gas safe reg person, but let me know more about boiler first.
PS new fan £100 ish labour £60 for someone local.

 

[Money4nowt]

its a Gloworm Ultimate, not a combi i have a storage cyinder gravity fed system with two tanks in the loft. when i turn boiler on and off the electrics 'sound' ok and i can see a red light behind the thermastat come on but nothing else?

 

[petertheplumber12]

has it got a 9" square flue coming out of the back of it with 4 pipes coming out of the top?

 

[Money4nowt]

nope a round flu out of the back of the boiler, two pipes at the top and one below which im pretty sure is the gas.

i dont know if this would be of signifcance but at the weekend i opened up a radiator n the spare room which has definately been shut off since we moved in, just over a year, my thoughts were that i hope there isnt loads of sludge built up in there which will now be pumped around.

 

[ianmcd]

nope a round flu out of the back of the boiler, two pipes at the top and one below which im pretty sure is the gas.

i dont know if this would be of signifcance but at the weekend i opened up a radiator n the spare room which has definately been shut off since we moved in, just over a year, my thoughts were that i hope there isnt loads of sludge built up in there which will now be pumped around.

Yes you may have answered your own question , your system can be either open vent or a sealed system, if a sealed system you may have inadvertently allowed the pressure to drop below the cut off point , do you have a guage anywhere on the system and possibly a small red tank ? next to your temperature control knob on your boiler there is an overheat reset button to the right hand side of the knob have you tried pressing that ? does it CLICK when you press it ?

 

[Money4nowt]

its not a sealed pressurised system, ive tried the overheat trip swith next to the dial on the boiler and it doesnt click or appear to have tripped.

 

[ianmcd]

in that case sorry not to be able to help you out more, further tests involve the removal of the combustion chamber which the sites rules wont let me advise you to do, you need an RGI to have a look, good luck

 

[Money4nowt]

i wouldnt open it but what do you think it could be, just so i know so i can ask the plumber so i dont seem like a mug and get stung.

 

[Money4nowt]

just to let you know i hade british gas come and look at the boiler, turned out the fan had ceased up so full marks to whoever said that!!

 

[petertheplumber12]

I did suggest the fan since it is a common fault with those symptoms.