Central Heating & Hot Water Problems

Hi,

I'd be grateful if sbdy could have a look at this and offer some advice. Please avoid technical jargon as I have very litttle experience of plumbing or central heating systems. I'd like to know the sort of "elimination checks" I need to undertake to determine what the problem is.

My Central Heating is not working - the boiler is not generating either hot water (HW) or Central Heating (CH). I can get hot water by having the immersion switched on - an electric switch situated on the wall to the right of the water tank on the landing. But if I switch the immersion off, the Water Boiler does not take over to heat the water up.

The Boiler is a Glow Worm Micron. The only other identifying reference on it is the number 50FF (on a sticky inside the inspection panel). It was fitted by a professional in 1999 or 2000 - not a DIY job. It is situated in the garage.

The Central Heating System's mains are switched on (a socket in the kitchen next to the programmer). And I have tonight fitted a new fuse (nb: i don't think the old one had gone but I wanted to be certain).

I assume gas needs to be supplied to the boiler? How could I check that this supply has not been switched off? We have a gas hob and that is fine. Is that enough to say the gas supply is still reaching the Glow Worm Boiler? I know this sounds thick but please be patient.

The programmer is in the "On" postion: and thats both switches - one for Heating and one for Hot water. There is an option to have either the CH or HW on "Timer" or just "ON" continuously. I have tried both options but neither has succeeded in getting the CH and HW to come on. (If this does not make sense then please say and I will re-explain).

Whether or not the pilot light in the Glowworm boiler is on I am not sure: I open the inspection panel on the face of the boiler and there is a little panel with a Temp dial on the left and 2 holes labelled "Reset" and "Burner On". The Temp Dial is set almost to Max and thru the "Reset" Hole you can faintly see an orange light. There is a very faint light visible thru the "Burner On" hole - but I don't know if this is the light behind the "Burner On" hole or a dim trace of the light behind the "Reset Hole". I have followed the instructions to reset the pilot light several times and this is the result each time.

There are three thermostats in all:

Frost Thermostat - in the garage next to the Boiler. This is set to about 4 degrees Celsius.

Room Thermostat - at the bottom of the stairs in the house itself. I have this set to about 21 degrees celsius.

Cylinder Thermostat - on the Water Tank, set to about 60 degrees celsius.

The Glowworm boiler gives off a faint humming noise (VERY faint). If I pour water from a hot water tap the sound does not change: shouldn't it spring to life at this point and make a much louder noise while the hot tap is running?

Could the programmer be knackered - such that the message to "switch on" is not getting to the boiler? Is there a way of testing it (i.e. the programmer)? What would I need to do?

The pump - next to the Water Tank/Cylinder - emits a faint hum and if you put your hand on it you feel it vibrating but only very, very gently. How would I check if this is not working? I have turned the screw in the face of the pump to vary its speed (at least that is what I think the screw does) and I can't detect any change in the tone of the hum or the degree of vibration.

Because we have neither CH or HW I am assuming it would not be a faulty diversion valve (if that is the correct term) as on my understanding that being broken would only affect the CH. But my understanding is limited so please correct me if I am wrong.

None of the pipes around the Water Cylinder/Tank are warm.

We recently had an extension built as part of which the builders added 2 new radiators. At the time, the CH stopped working. The builders said they fixed this by draining the system. Should I be doing that?

Could the problem be faulty thermostats? Such that the thermostats are not telling the Boiler to switch on when the house temperature falls below the temperature setting? How would I test them to ensure they are working properly? That said because I am getting neither HW nor CH I would have thought faulty Thermostats weren't necessarily the problem - but I am not sure. Can anyone advise?

Sbdy pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaase help cos its b****y cold here!!!!!!!!

Thanks.

This second post was made in error.

Pardon me.

Sounds like the fan is not coming on and activating the pressure switch.

With all this heavy rain, has any water/damp got to the fan via the flue and blown it.

Just to add, garages are not the warmest of places and the condensation problems within the casing of the boiler can be a pain in the neck, especially around the fan/flue area. Hot one minute then freezing cold when shut down in the night.

Good luck.

Mark! Firstly you can forget the immersion heater as it has nothing to do with your problem. Secondly for the moment you can forget the central heating part of your system. If you could get the boiler to flash up and provide Hot Water you could tackle any other problem later if there is one.
Your right that gas is needed at the boiler (unless your on oil).
Generally speaking the gas would go into a gas valve and this valve would be opened by electric solinoid for the main supply to the boiler
I think you need to concentrate on the pilot light and establish if it is lit or not, because your boiler won't light without the pilot light. Sometimes a pilot light will light ok and you can see it,but will not stay lit when you release the button that you have to hold in until it is well established. Of course if you can't light the pilot, then there's either no gas availabe or the gas jet is blocked. Regarding the programmer, again, until you sort out the pilot I don't see any point in considering it to be the problem.
I'm sure you will get replies from others with far more experience than me, but that is my thoughts on your problem.