My boiler is an Ideal Elan approx 20 years old. During 2008 I had a new PCB and a new fan assembly fitted to it. I also had a new pump fitted to the heating system and had the system power-flushed.
Now I have a few "issues".
When the boiler starts up in the morning (hot water only) it's very noisy for the first 20 minutes or so before quieting down. The only way to describe it is as a bit "roary". Don't know if it's a "cold" thing. Is this "normal"?
I do have a sticky 3 way Honeywell valve so have occasional problems with a slow heating start up when the water is on but I can live with that until I can afford a new valve. By the way does anyone know what changing that valve entails? Does it involve a full system drain down? i.e. is it a DIY job, a professional job, and I guess most importantly, an expensive job?
One of the two rads in my lounge only gets tepid (same temperature all over). It's the furthest from the pump and I've seen plenty on this forum to suggest I need to balance the system so I'm in the process of letting the WD40 do it's trick before trying to turn lockshield valves.... I don't have any rad thermometers but wondered if it's possible to get away with simply closing the valve down a half turn one rad at a time to see what happens (i.e half a turn on nearest rad, see what happens ; then half a turn on next rad, see what happens etc). If that seems to do the trick do I need to balance (fine tune) them via temperature settings or would a trial and error resolution be OK? All other rads fine by the way.
Now the one that intrigues me the most. Maybe it's because of all the problems I've had and work I've had done that maybe I've become a bit paranoid about boiler noises and boiler behaviour but if I put the heating on it fires up and runs for about 15/20 minutes before starting a fast on/off cycle. If I put the water on it has a shorter initial run before going into the fast on/off cycle. What I mean by a fast on/off cycle is that it fires up for approx 30 seconds, then off for approx 30 seconds, then on for 30 seconds, then off for 30 seconds etc. If I have the hot water on and drain some hot off it will go back to a slightly longer cycle briefly (minute on minute off) before going into "30 second mode" again. It seems to do it's job OK (bearing in mind above mentioned issues) but the constant on/off seems a bit odd to me. It may be that it always did it and I just didn't notice. As I said, maybe I'm just paranoid now and noticing it's behaviour for the first time. So the question is - does this fast on/off cycle sound normal?
Phew! Thanks
Now I have a few "issues".
When the boiler starts up in the morning (hot water only) it's very noisy for the first 20 minutes or so before quieting down. The only way to describe it is as a bit "roary". Don't know if it's a "cold" thing. Is this "normal"?
I do have a sticky 3 way Honeywell valve so have occasional problems with a slow heating start up when the water is on but I can live with that until I can afford a new valve. By the way does anyone know what changing that valve entails? Does it involve a full system drain down? i.e. is it a DIY job, a professional job, and I guess most importantly, an expensive job?
One of the two rads in my lounge only gets tepid (same temperature all over). It's the furthest from the pump and I've seen plenty on this forum to suggest I need to balance the system so I'm in the process of letting the WD40 do it's trick before trying to turn lockshield valves.... I don't have any rad thermometers but wondered if it's possible to get away with simply closing the valve down a half turn one rad at a time to see what happens (i.e half a turn on nearest rad, see what happens ; then half a turn on next rad, see what happens etc). If that seems to do the trick do I need to balance (fine tune) them via temperature settings or would a trial and error resolution be OK? All other rads fine by the way.
Now the one that intrigues me the most. Maybe it's because of all the problems I've had and work I've had done that maybe I've become a bit paranoid about boiler noises and boiler behaviour but if I put the heating on it fires up and runs for about 15/20 minutes before starting a fast on/off cycle. If I put the water on it has a shorter initial run before going into the fast on/off cycle. What I mean by a fast on/off cycle is that it fires up for approx 30 seconds, then off for approx 30 seconds, then on for 30 seconds, then off for 30 seconds etc. If I have the hot water on and drain some hot off it will go back to a slightly longer cycle briefly (minute on minute off) before going into "30 second mode" again. It seems to do it's job OK (bearing in mind above mentioned issues) but the constant on/off seems a bit odd to me. It may be that it always did it and I just didn't notice. As I said, maybe I'm just paranoid now and noticing it's behaviour for the first time. So the question is - does this fast on/off cycle sound normal?
Phew! Thanks
