Ariston boiler - identification and fault finding

Hi,

My son at university has moved into a rented flat. The heating and hot water has been working sporadically and they are waiting for the landlord to come and sort it. I had a look yesterday and would appreciate help in clarifying what kind of system this is and how to use it efficiently.

Details are:

It is an Ariston boiler, can't find any model number anywhere although serial no is 099321121111 if that means anything.

Looking underneath there appear to be two water pipes and a central gas pipe. Both water pipes were hot when I looked yesterday.

On the front of the boiler there are three buttons - On/off, heating (the middle one with a logo of a row of vertical lines which I think looks like a radiator), and reset. When I got there it was completely off so I switched it on with the top button and the burner started up.

There is a pressure gauge which was at zero while the boiler was off, when I switched it on it gradually climbed to just below half, i.e. not quite out of the red zone. I presume it needs more water in the system.

Radiators were not getting warm though and the hot water was barely tepid.

Moving to the timer it is a Lifestyle LP722 and seems to be a fairly standard set up. I went through the clock settings and set the times for twice per day for heating. The water had been left at "On".

There are two water tanks in the cupboard. The pipes at the top were hot.

Radiators are a mixture, most with TRVs.

While a freezing flat is something of a student's rite of passage, and we will chase up the landlord, they need to get it working and know how to use it best without wasting gas.

Any help appreicated.

Update to this. The landlord has sent three different engineers. The first two said "yeah, your pressure's too low mate", then left. The latest guy changed a part but I don't know what. It still seems to be a bit hit or miss.

Specific questions though:

Should the pressure drop to zero when the system goes off?

I've suggested to the flatmates they leave the water and heating on "timed", then use the "advance" button on the timer control to override it off or on. I think they've been switching the whole boiler itself off on the front of the boiler in an (admirable) attempt to save money for (not so admirable, but I did the same) the pub. Am I right in this or should they use the boiler button for anything?
How do you top up the water to get the pesssure up and is this a user task? I do mine at home on my Worcester Bosch using the installed filling loop but I think the system in my son's flat is a different set up, especially as it has a hot water tank where I have none.

Thanks

The boiler is an Ariston MicroSystem dating from around 2003/4. It is indeed a sealed system boiler however the safety valve connection under the boiler has been plugged with a brass compression cap...see on the RHS. It is clearly unsafe. The boiler incorporates a water pressure switch to prevent operation with low pressure and since the pressure is dropping to zero the boiler should not be working...the pressure switch may be faulty or even disabled.

These are serious safety issues. I suggest you first demand to see the current Landlords Gas Safety Record.
I wouldn't rely on the landlord appointing engineers..they are clearly incompetent. Your son should demand to see the GasSafe card of any gas engineer showing up.

That cylinder setup is so obsolete I don't recall ever having come across such a system. The cylinder heater (sidewinder?) is from prehistoric times.
The boiler should be left permanently turned on and only the timeclock/room thermostat used to control it.
As boilers go the MicroSystem (when installed correctly) was an ok boiler...nothing particularly wrong with them and all my installs are still working fine.

Thanks Gasguru,that's really useful, will let you know how we get on with the landlord.

I’d imagine there might be a seperate red expansion vessel and pressure gauge somewhere and the vessel will need recharging. I can’t imagine the water in that custom being very clean and with the isolation valves restricting flow aswell I should think it would be very slow and inefficient.

Although it should be a sealed system, it is possible that this has ben left as tank fed. This would explain why safety valve is capped although having shut off valves on boiler then it really should still have a safety outlet. The "fill point" below boiler may in fact be a drain off point. Need to see a bit more info, does it have an expansion vessel, usually bright red cylinder. You mentioned 2 water tanks in the airing cupboard. You have shown the cylinder but not the other tank.

It's a system boiler...only approved for sealed systems. The fact that many Aristons are installed by illegal workers is more than likely the reason the PRV is plugged.

Thanks everyone, apologies for not replying earlier, but threatening to withhold the rent finally got a Gas Safe Register man round and all working now. Have told all the flat mates to leave the boiler alone and just use the timer/controller to manage the system.