Boilermate II problems

[gwltabb]

Hi all,

just moved into a new house and already got problems with Boilermate II, hope someone can help!

There are 2 problems; firstly, the hot water pump is not running, so when we turn on the boiler, the water is going straight up into the tank at the top (very noisy!). Secondly, there is an intermittent buzzing coming from behind the panel of the cylinder. The heating pump seems to be working OK.

We've checked the actual pump and that is fine, but there is no power getting to it. This is where we get a bit stuck - the primary pump pcb (the top one) seems to be sending the power to the connector blocks at the bottom, but then no power is getting from there to the pump. We have temporarily run a wire round from the blocks to the pump and it then kicked in (although the buzzing still remained). Could this have something to do with the delay timer, or something else on the primary pcb?

We are thinking it must be one (or both) of the pcb's, as I've searched on here for posts related to the buzzing which all point to that. I assume there is more to the pcb's than just sending power to the pump!

Hope that makes sense.

Cheers

 

[gas4you]

This is one of the commonest faults with the boilermate2, apart from the filling pipe blocking.

If the pump you call the HW pump is not working then I doubt you will get much heating either.

One pump circulates the water between the boiler and the store, the other kicks in just for the ch.

Replace the board that is buzzing.

 

[seco services]

third pumps water through the domestic water heat exchanger when a hot tap is turned on

their not both for heating.

 

[nickso]

bm2 doesnt have 3 pumps or a dhw heatex, thats the bm3

like dave says, change the top board, pump driver iirc.

 

[stardanny]

Boilermate 2000 has 3 pumps: boiler pump, heating pump and hot water plate pump.

Boilermate 3 has 2 pumps with a diverter valve: boiler and heating pump via diverter valve, hot water plate pump.

Boilermate 2 has 2 pumps: boiler pump, heating pump, and hot water just goes through heatstore with a coil.

I would say it the PCB.

Dan.

 

[doitall]

I would say one or both pumps are solid with sludge

Very common, in fact more common than a suprima pcb going

 

[gwltabb]

Just want to say thanks for all your replies/help, I replaced both PCB's and that sorted it (the pump drive was buzzing, but the Delay Timer was also shot!).

As I write this the boiler is still firing after about 1.5 hours even though the heating is turned off, does it go off once the heat store is at the right temperature? If I turn down the thermostat on the boilermate the green light goes off and shuts the boiler down just before it gets to the blue 'summer' zone.

 

[nickso]

it will heat until the store temp is reached. read the front of the bm2 it tells you how to set it up for maximum "efficiency".

 

[gwltabb]

Hi

Still pampering the boilermate at the mo! Have drained the system, replaced the valves on both pumps and all the radiators, flushed the system then filled back up. Looks like I'm one of the lucky ones whos cold feed pipe has not blocked, everything working fine.

Just need to add some corrosion inhibitor now, just a couple of questions on this, how much should I add, and is there any specific type I should get? I take it it should be added in the f/e tank at the top, if I half drain the system, add the inhibitor and fill back up?

 

[BigBurner]

Hi

Still pampering the boilermate at the mo! Have drained the system, replaced the valves on both pumps and all the radiators, flushed the system then filled back up. Looks like I'm one of the lucky ones whos cold feed pipe has not blocked, everything working fine.

Just need to add some corrosion inhibitor now, just a couple of questions on this, how much should I add, and is there any specific type I should get? I take it it should be added in the f/e tank at the top, if I half drain the system, add the inhibitor and fill back up?

Inhibitor should be 1% of the system volume. The average system holds around 100 litres. You then find out what the Boilermate holds and work it out.

Read the current thread on the Magnaclean. Consider fitting one of those on the radiators return pipe to the Boilermate before you put in inhibitor.

 

[LukeMc84]

Hi, I was wondering how you go about checking if the Central Heating pump on a Boilermate II is working?

I have recently lost my central heating, but the hot water is fine. The analogue timer on the Boilermate is still counting round, does this mean that this is not the problem?

Thanks for any help,
Luke.

 

[nickso]

if the water is ok then the store is up to temp.

when the heating is selected to come on does the heating pump run? you should feel it vibrate if its on.

 

[LukeMc84]

The heating pump does not come on when I switch the heating on. Does this definitely mean it's the pump at fault or could it be some other problem(i.e. "on" switch not sending power to the pump correctly)?
The pump does seem very hot to the touch if that means anything.

Is it a massive/expensive job to get the pump changed if that’s what is needed, or is there any chance of being able to do it myself and save some cash?

Cheers,
Luke.