Where the heck is my central heating pump?!

[tingworthy]

Hi guys'n'gals,

My boiler packed up in April and due to the summer (ha! ha! ) months and an immersion heater, we have managed to get by until now, but those night are drawing in, so.....

a friendly neighbour who is an experienced plumber came to have a look and said "it's not your boiler it's your pump".
Fair enough I said, what do we do now? He said, "find it and and tap it a couple of times, if it doesn't work come and get me".
Great I thought, except we can't find the blooming thing!

It is a semi-detached house built early 70's, used to have a back-boiler behind the gas fire in the front room. I've checked all the easy to get to places in the houses, now the only places left are either behind a wall (the chimney was bricked up after the back boiler was removed- ),
or under the floor somewhere.

Any tips on where it may be before I start ripping my 1 year old laminate flooring up anyone?

Oh also, someone said it could be "gravity fed", what's this, do you think it could be and how do I sort things if it is?

Any advice greatly received,
Cheers

tingworthy

 

[nickso]

in my experience the three most likely places for a pump in a BBU install are under the floor, next to the cylinder or any places behind the wall or in the floor cavity that are near the chimney. they do sometimes end up in weird places.

i would go for underfloor first if there are no obvious boxes to hide it in the chimney.

might have been moved when your new boiler was installed of course. what boiler do you have now?

 

[D_Hailsham]

used to have a back-boiler behind the gas fire in the front room.

Is it the back boiler which has packed up, or do you now have a different one which is u/s? If so what is it and where is it?

someone said it could be "gravity fed",

I think they mean it does not have a pump! Water is circulated because hot water rises and cold water falls.

Presumably you have a hot water cylinder. What other components do you have? Motorized valve(s)?, HW cylinder thermostat (not immersion stat)? Room thermostat?

Makes and models are always useful.

 

[AlanE]

It is a semi-detached house built early 70's, used to have a back-boiler behind the gas fire in the front room

If you used to have a back boiler what have you got now?

 

[doitall]

I would have thought the em !!!! a friendly neighbour would have told you, because his would almost certainly have been in the same place at one time

 

[lagunaglen]

Under floor ,front of fireplace or tap side of fireplace and listen for a hollow noise,it could be there as well,or under floor on landing upstairs,or in loft.

 

[Softus]

Any tips on where it may be before I start ripping my 1 year old laminate flooring up anyone?

You'll find the pump on the end of the flex/cable that supplies it with electrical power.

 

[muggles]

Any tips on where it may be before I start ripping my 1 year old laminate flooring up anyone?

You'll find the pump on the end of the flex/cable that supplies it with electrical power.

What he said. Genius!