Boiler Issues

[JennyLaslo]

and its connection to fusebox going through the roof

 

[CountryFan]

View attachment 411270
and its connection to fusebox going through the roof
View attachment 411271

So that's unfused and could be fused via another switch, or it's direct to the consumer unit, which wouldn't give the best protection. You haven't knocked a switch off anywhere have you? Seems more likely that the internal fuse has blown.

 

[JennyLaslo]

I went to put the heating back on via the white switch next to the honeywell. The heat didn't come on. At the same time the weather was hail stones and suddenly awful outside. Went to check the boiler, it was off.
Those were the only two things different than usual. I've been using that white switch inside the kitchen for the past week (as it's been getting warmer so I mostly kept it off to stop the running charge for gas).
All the switches on the fuse box are on. Do you suggest I try a full reset there or anything else?
The only other thing I can think of, is that rodents have been spotted in the area and I saw one coming out of my garage the day before. Possible gnawing chewy situation up in that roof?
The hot water was still working minutes before all this happened.

 

[denso13]

Unless you can do some basic testing of the electrics/wiring you'll need to get someone in, I suspect.

 

[JennyLaslo]

Thanks for all the advice

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Thanks for all the advice

Buy yourself a 'voltstick', and learn how to make use of it. They are a very safe way for the unskilled to see what is live and not live, without needing to open things up, or disconnect things.

 

[JennyLaslo]

Had someone come out to diagnose. The fuse was blown, and further fuses would blow when all of the below were true::
1/the white switch next to it the boiler is on (presumed power from mains)
2/ the randall 103 old timer in the kitchen is set to "constant" instead of timed or off
3/ the white switch next to the randall timer is on which still powers the timer itself (I know because when the white switch is on, the randall timer makes a mechanical noise.)
The person diagnosing in a quick visit said it was a very strange set up and advised me to find out whether it's the wiring or the boiler itself.

When I had a new fuse in and only the mains switch in the garage on, the boiler would not start up when I pressed power.

Am I looking at an electrician or boiler repair at this stage?

 

[JennyLaslo]

Buy yourself a 'voltstick', and learn how to make use of it. They are a very safe way for the unskilled to see what is live and not live, without needing to open things up, or disconnect things.

Thanks for that. They recommend this too, to save money and to figure out whether it's a power or boiler issue.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The person diagnosing in a quick visit said it was a very strange set up and advised me to find out whether it's the wiring or the boiler itself.

Did you employ someone to come out and do this, if so it's a rather strange response to suggest that they advised 'you to find out where the fault was'?

 

[Madrab]

The person diagnosing in a quick visit said it was a very strange set up and advised me to find out whether it's the wiring or the boiler itself

Not sure why he said that. All boiler's should be fed by a common mains supply. I would suspect that the fused switched unit beside the timer feeds power to the timer and that should also feed power the boiler, through that switch on the wall beside the boiler.
Then there should be a separate switching wire/cable running from the boiler, into the timer and then back to the boiler, that tells the boiler to fire up or shut down depending on the set times.
I would look to take the old mechanical timer out of the loop as they can sometimes cause shorting issues due to the old mechanical contacts starting to burn out, that could blow the internal FB fuse.
It will need someone familiar with CH system wiring to run through the wiring and check, pretty straightforward and fault finding should be relatively quick.

 

[denso13]

looking at an electrician or boiler repair at this stage?

Who did you get to look at it? Strange either way.

 

[JennyLaslo]

Boiler repair guy. He said he also had an electrician. Said Fit me in quickly on a Saturday having other jobs to get to and charged me £40. Everywhere else had higher call-outs just to look and not till Monday.
Told me to get a volt stick as it would save me money to understand better what was powering the boiler.

 

[gas112]

Had someone come out to diagnose. The fuse was blown, and further fuses would blow when all of the below were true::

what fuse had blown and what further fuses blew ?

 

[denso13]

Boiler repair guy.

And he told you to find out if the boiler or the electrics was the problem? Very strange.

 

[JennyLaslo]

what fuse had blown and what further fuses blew ?

All fuses blown have been the ones inside the boiler. The original. Then the one he tested with after powering up. He gave me a third and I tested it by shutting down everything and it blew with the sequence described above when I hit the main power switch shown above next to the boiler. It would not blow unless the timer was set to "constant", even when the timer was powered by the kitchen switch.

And he told you to find out if the boiler or the electrics was the problem? Very strange.

How do you advise I proceed in fixing the issue? He claimed he did not understand where the wiring is going back to the kitchen. I said "could it be going back through the power switch back to the mains and into the kitchen. He said yes, but it would be an overcomplicated way of dealing with it, when it just needed powering up and then to supply gas.