Ive tried several of these mould cleaners without success. What I now do is scrub neat bleach onto the grouting using an old toothbrush. I leave it for 24 hours before rinsing off. I find that works very well.
We tried an ultrasonic deterrent but found it didnt deter bats from entering our attic. In the end we managed to get rid of them by providing alternative accommodation. We put bat boxes high up on the gable wall near where we think they enter and in trees in the garden. After a few months the...
Our 1960s oil fired 3 bed home uses about 350 Litres of oil in an average winter month. Thats about 3500 Kw and sometimes if the temp drops below zero we fire up the coal fire but no idea what that adds to the Kw total.
Assuming the boiler is connected to a FCU you could try replacing the FCU fuse, unplug or disconnect the power cable at the the boiler (safety the exposed wires if you do the latter), then switch on the FCU and see if the fuse blows.
Back in the day a lot of these old systems were originally connected to coal stoves and had a towel rail on the primary as a safety feature. If you have a towel rail in the bathroom might be worth checking to see what its connected to.
So what you are trying to do here is constrain the HW temperature down to a safe level and prevent convection heating the radiators in the summer. Is that right?
Well with a 4ft header I dont know how likely it is that air is somehow finding its way to the pump inlet. The way these pumps operate is that they have a far greater capacity than the burner can ever need and they spill back the surplus to the pump inlet. That means the pump heats up quite...
Personally the only time Ive seen a pump delivery pressure fluctuate like that is when it is purging air after the fuel supply has been re-connected after maintenance.
The winter position will run the flow temperature at maximum but the hot water will rise to the same temperature which can be hazardous to say the least. You might have some device fitted either electrical or mechanical to control that. If not its best to turn down the flow temp a bit if you can.
Sometimes what can happen is that the drum spider fails. That is a three legged frame structure that connects the drum to the drive. They are generally made out of rubbish material and it may be that one or more of the legs has failed allowing the drum to become unbalanced.
Hopefully it will be something straightforward and cheap to fix but I think the main pointer here for you is the lack of lockout. Any failure of the start sequence should lock out the burner and that lockout is a function of the controller. Anyway good luck with your troubleshooting.
I remember several years ago having a similar problem with a Riello burner where it kept repeating the ignition cycle many times before it eventually settled down and kept running. No red light or lockout. If I remember correctly it turned out to be a fault with the controller.
I have no idea about the bills but If the heating system was working OK for the previous owner then maybe he was operating the boiler in non-condensing mode.
If you have a modern highly insulated home then you can reduce the flow temperature to capture the latent heat that would otherwise vent to outside. On an older property you will probably need to maintain a higher flow temperature which will result in lower efficiency.
Single screw to loosen underneath and the controller then just lifts away and you can replace it with a Drayton LP722 or similar that uses the same back plate.