Central heating help

ricky81 · 29 Aug 2020

Hello again,

We moved into new house in June and tried the central heating and all worked ok.

My wife said she was cold last night so we went to turn on the heating. Unfortunately, the central heating wouldn’t fire up. I haven’t had a cylinder hot water system since I was a nipper so I am not sure if it is something we are doing wrong. The hot water side of the system seems to be working fine.

The boiler is a Baxi Solo 15 HE. When I turn the heating on the green light on the right comes on but it doesn’t seem to start or fire up. There are no flashing lights or errors. Just had another look this morning and it is flashing away. It says there is no water flow or flow/return reversed. (See pic) The first light (flame with line crossed through it) is solid red, the second light is flashing and the ON light is flashing.

Before I contact a heating engineer is there anything I can try/test?

dilalio · 29 Aug 2020

Suspect the pump or zone valve.

CBW · 29 Aug 2020

I’d be looking at the 3 port motorised valve.

ricky81 · 29 Aug 2020

The installation manual says it is Dry Fire

ricky81 · 29 Aug 2020

Is the pump the black round object here?

dilalio · 29 Aug 2020

ricky81 said:
Is the pump the black round object here?

Yes and the zone valve is to the right of it. They are very common to fail. You can test it and get a replacement head. (to the zone valve).

dilalio · 29 Aug 2020

https://www.screwfix.com/p/honeywel...acement-powerhead-22mm-22mm-compression/273fv

ricky81 · 29 Aug 2020

Thank you for all the replies...you are all so quick to respond. The pump is burning hot to touch!

ricky81 · 29 Aug 2020

dilalio said:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/honeywel...acement-powerhead-22mm-22mm-compression/273fv

Is it something I can do easily?

dilalio · 29 Aug 2020

ricky81 said:
Is it something I can do easily?

Well, it's something "I" can do easily

dilalio · 29 Aug 2020

You first need to determine which component is faulty. There are plenty of videos online you can watch. And method statements to read.

ricky81 · 29 Aug 2020

Thank you for taking the time to post and help me. I have a look at the videos but I’ll probably get an engineer round to sort it

JohnD · 29 Aug 2020

ricky81 said:
Thank you for all the replies...you are all so quick to respond. The pump is burning hot to touch!

if the pump is hotter than the pipes, that means water is not flowing through it (the water takes away the heat coming from the electric motor). So either it is jammed, for example with sediment, or the flow is blocked, or there is no water in it. Turn it off because the excess heat may make it worse.

ricky81 · 29 Aug 2020

JohnD said:
if the pump is hotter than the pipes, that means water is not flowing through it (the water takes away the heat coming from the electric motor). So either it is jammed, for example with sediment, or the flow is blocked, or there is no water in it. Turn it off because the excess heat may make it worse.

Thanks John yes all the pipes around it feel pretty cool to touch. The black circulating pump felt burning hot. I’ve switched it off now.

On the bottom of the zone valve there seems to be a metal switch of some sort. Does that control the valve? Just wondering because my wife has been putting her running trainers in here to dry and wonder if she’s knocked it!?

oldbuffer · 29 Aug 2020

1. If the pump is hotter than the pipes going into or out of it, it means the pump is not spinning, as JohnD states above.
2. This is usually down to:
2a. The pump is jammed with sediment. OR
2b. The capacitor which gets the motor to start has failed.
3. For a jammed pump, you need to try spinning the rotor by hand. I can't remember if its the same on the pump you have, but on most:
3a. Put a tray under the pump to catch the water which will come out.
3b. Remove the black hexagon (plastic?) nut from the centre of the pump. Undo it partially, to make sure you can deal with the volume of water coming out. If there is too much, re-tighten nut and abandon attempt.
3c. With a screwdriver poked in the centre, try turning the rotor. You can't see it, you should be able to feel it.
3d. If it starts to turn, spin it a couple of times, black nut back on and hope it works properly.
3e. If it won't turn, replace the pump.
4. For a failed capacitor:
4a. If you have a multimeter with a capacitance range, test it - after isolating mains power to the extent of switching off the main consumer unit switch and cutting all power to the property.
4b. Generally in the 4 to 8 micro farad range. If outside range, replace with a 5 or 7 micro farad MOTOR rated capacitor.
5. If you have to abandon checks, you will need to call in a heating engineer, unless you feel competent to drain down the system and replace the pump yourself.

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