Central heating not heating water....

As already stated in my previous post, I live in a house of disaster without a lot of money for DIY. Currently I am using an electric immersion heater for hot water because the hot water associated with our central heating no longer seems to work.

What I am wondering is whether it may be a very simple problem to fix, which we have been ignoring because we don't have the money to fix it. We live in a hard water area and so limescale may be part of the problem. I wondered if anyone could give me advice about what I could try to fix it.

The central heating boiler is in an outside cupboard and is more than 20 years old. It seems to heat the house fine, as long as both the central heating and hot water are switched to on. If only the central heating is switched on, it doesn't heat up at all.

The water worked fine until it didn't. We have tried putting up the temperature on the boiler... all that does is to look fit to melt the radiators without getting the hot water temperature to anything above slightly less than icy.

I read some pretty alarming stuff about old thermostats in hot water tanks breaking down in a default ON situation and boiling the contents of the tank... that's why I thought I ought to get some advice. It hasn't metled *yet*. Should I be checking in the loft to see if the hot water tank is getting hot... I wonder? I don't know why that didn't occur to me until now.

My husband is actually pretty good at DIY and at not touching things it would be dangerous to touch... and I am saving up to get in a professional.
~Fee~

FeeB said:

It seems to heat the house fine, as long as both the central heating and hot water are switched to on. If only the central heating is switched on, it doesn't heat up at all.

Click to expand...

what boiler make/model is it ?

do you have one of these ?



or two of these ?
on the system.



so now you have no heating or hot water ?
hot water only by the immersion ?

Hi there

Originally the central heating and water system worked as you would expect. If you turned both on, you got both. If you turned the central heating on alone it would work... if you turned the hot water on alone it would work.

A few months ago that changed.

The water doesn't heat in any situation (except using the separate hot watr immersion heater).

The central heating will no longer heat up if I just put the central heating on at the controller - but bizarrely if I put both hot water AND central heating on, the central heating works normally.

The hot water doesn't get hot whether it is switched on alone or with the central heating.

I'm going outside to check the boiler... don't fall off your chair when I tell you it's a....

TI Glow worm 45-60?

I can't see *any* of the things you showed...there are four big pipes up the wall from the boiler, one of them with a pump and a black box thingy on it....

Thank you for helping
Fee

I can't help sitting here and imagining all the engineers and plumbers out there laughing their socks off at the idea I have a 25 year old Glow worm boiler....

I saw on another thread a rude man with a combi boiler 10 years old being told that it is probably a blessing it was beyond saving....

FeeB said:

The central heating will no longer heat up if I just put the central heating on at the controller - but bizarrely if I put both hot water AND central heating on, the central heating works normally.[

Click to expand...

sounds like a motorised valve fault.
when you turn the heating on does the pump run ?

I can't help sitting here and imagining all the engineers and plumbers out there laughing their socks off at the idea I have a 25 year old Glow worm boiler....

Click to expand...

it's ok my potterton profile was installed in 1982 when the house was built.
and i've only ever fitted a pcb on it.
and that'll out live any of the crap on the market today.