No central heating or hot water (with pics)

holty69 · 5 Sep 2006

Hi

I have just moved into a new house (not new build) and dont seem to have any hot water or central heating.

I've checked a few things and i'm looking for advice on what else to look at.

When switching the water and heating to 'continuous' on the programmer, the boiler fires ok and feels hot.

The pump is vibrating and feels warm to touch also.

When i slide the lever on the motorised value to open, it slides back down to 'Auto'.

My first thoughts was that the pump may be at fault. With it vibrating away, will it be ok?

My boiler is an 'Ideal W GT-101B' if that helps.

Last night I bled all the radiators in the house and noticed that the 5 downstairs appeared fine but the 2 upstairs - hardly any water came out of them. Could this mean that there is an airlock in the system?

Any ideas on what else i can looks for?

Diyisfun · 5 Sep 2006

Could you not ask previous occupier if it was all ok, is there water in the heating system, may have all been drained if property was MT for a while

holty69 · 5 Sep 2006

Hi

Asked the previous owner and he said it was working well.

Had a plumber around earlier (i'm at work, left him with the missus). The report from the missus is that the plumber believes that there may be an airlock and it could take up to 6 hours to find it. He has advised to change the full system.

The heating system was dry but has now been filled up with water. I really don't want to have a new system put in yet (as i cant afford it at the mo!). Could there be an airlock in the system?

Since filling up the heating system its still the same result

ChrisR · 5 Sep 2006

(i'm at work, left him with the missus). He has advised to change the full system.

Depressing, isn't it

Hope you didn't pay him anything much.

Bleed all rads so water comes out. If you can't header tank in loft may be dry , or the feed pipe may be blocked. There may be a sludge problem.

Then look near hot water cylinder for a bleed point - something to undo with fingers, screwdriver or small spanner.

Sounds like your pump is going - they can stick when not used or a while. Usually pretty obvious when you change speed , that they're stopping, in between as normal. Or remove screw and insert screwdriver.

holty69 · 5 Sep 2006

Depressing, isn't it Hope you didn't pay him anything much.

hehehe

Bled all the rads last night, the 5 downstairs where ok, the 2 upstairs dribbled out.

I checked the header tank last night and it had water in it.

How can i check if the feed pipe is blocked?

I'll take a look at the hot water cylinder tonight and bleed that too if you think that may help.

I'll turn off the water and heating later and wait for the pump to cool and then do the screw driver job (although i believe the plumber may have done this earlier today).

any more suggestions?

cheers for the help so far!

holty69 · 5 Sep 2006

just thinking...

i have the room thermostat wacked up to 30 degrees.

Could the programmer be faulty (although it does switch the boiler on and off ok)

ChrisR · 5 Sep 2006

When you're there, tell us is it a 3 port valve ? Like :
this ?

holty69 · 5 Sep 2006

hi Chris - yeah its a 3 port value

i've took some snaps so you can see the system.

The ballcock is being lifted up here!

holty69 · 6 Sep 2006

Ok an update.

Last night I turned both the water and heating off via the programmer.

I bled the 2 valves? in the first picture above. I only took out 1 ice-cream tub of water from each as it flowed really quick. I poured the water into the header tank.

This morning (baring in mind that the water and heating are still switched off), we have hot water and no heating.

Any ideas why this is happening? how come we have hot water now? is it using the hot water in the tank? I'm confused!

holty69 · 6 Sep 2006

hi - does anyone have any suggestions? thanks

Gasguru · 6 Sep 2006

The system looks like a real dogs dinner. It could well be full of air locks since none of it is installed particularly well.

I assume you have opened up all the gate valves around the pump and mid-position valve.

The two "bleed" points appear to be drain off valves - I wonder if these were added in attempt to fill the system with water and force air out.

ChrisR · 6 Sep 2006

When you put the CH on, the lever on the end of the 3 port should go floppy - does it? If not, wiring or valve/motor is faulty.

holty69 · 6 Sep 2006

Hi - many thanks for your reply

I assume you have opened up all the gate valves around the pump and mid-position valve.

I assumed that the gate valves would already be open - I'll check and open them if they are closed.

The two "bleed" points appear to be drain off valves - I wonder if these were added in attempt to fill the system with water and force air out.

Was i save to open these valves last night? I did and since then I appear to have hot water. The plumber who cam around said it was a botched job!

holty69 · 6 Sep 2006

Chris - cheers again for your suggestions!

When you put the CH on, the lever on the end of the 3 port should go floppy - does it? If not, wiring or valve/motor is faulty.

I've had the water on continuous all day and the heating off.

I've just checked in the loft and the sliding lever was set at 'auto' and i was able to push up to 'man open' without much force. However the lever moves straight back down from 'man open' to 'auto' itself automatically.

15 mins ago I felt the boiler and it appear to be warm even though the water was still set on. I switched the heating on and there was no noise from the boiler.

I've just been into the loft again to check the sliding lever as you asked to check when th CH was on and it was exactly the same as before - slides up to 'man open' and moves back down to 'auto' itself. One thing i did notice was the pump didnt appear to be running (vibrating) and was cold to touch. I've just felt the boiler again and its still cold to touch even though the CH was switched on 15 mins ago and the water has been on all day.

any ideas?

Do you think the hot water is fixed or could it just be whats in the tank?

thanks for all your advice so far!

holty69 · 6 Sep 2006

I assumed that the gate valves would already be open - I'll check and open them if they are closed.

Just checked and all gate valves are fully open

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No central heating or hot water (with pics)

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