I have a 13 year old potterton profile 60e boiler in a vented indirect system with 15 radiators and a OSO 20 210l unvented hot water tank (The previous owners extended the property and added the larger water tank - is the boiler 60k btu's up to this). All radiators get hot and the hot water is but....
When the boiler has fired for 30s or so, every maybe 10 seconds, there will be a large bubbling noise in the boiler, sort of like a the 'too many baked beans before taking a bath', it does not sound violent or shake or rattle the boiler, rather one large bubble. There is usually one last bubbling/belching noise after the burners shut off. This suggests to me there is a lot of debris in the boiler or maybe even blockages in the heat exchanger. The boiler is currently set to 3 as any higher and it will run for longer and belch more. I don't know if this is classed as kettling as my parents system which is definitely suffering from that sounds very different. The boiler is located downstairs but this puts it around two meters away from my pillow!
Alternatively, could the pump which dates back to the same time as the boiler be bunged up and not supplying enough water? If I run it on setting 2 the boiler turns off after a minute or so after making the noise maybe once or twice. If I run it on three, the boiler may run for 4-5 minutes at a time but might make the noise 10 times. Obviously the pump is pumping more in this case but does this mean it is not pumping enough (maybe because of blockages in the boiler?).
Possibly related is the problem that I fixed a few weeks ago that was masking this. A blockage had formed in the cold feed from the f/e tank which was immediately above the air separator, 1m vertically above the pump which is upstairs which was causing a lot of gurgling in the pipes. To measure exactly where the blockage was before cutting the pipe, I inserted a piece of wire down the feed pipe. As I took it out, the blockage cleared which probably meant all sorts of muck dropping straight down onto the pump and then through the rest of the system before ending up at the boiler. I then drained the system and refilled for a weeks heavy operation with Fernox Heavy Duty System Restorer before draining and refilling a couple of times ending with Protector. The drained water did not appear discoloured. After refilling the system and setting the pump to 3 to circulate cold to remove air, the pump did get hot to the touch - is this normal or does it suggest pump problems?
What should be my course of action?
1) Add boiler silencer in the hope of descaling
2) Can the heat exchanger be removed and aggressively descaled?
2) Remove and replace the pump
3) Powerflush the system
4) Get a new efficient boiler fitted complete with powerflush etc.
When the boiler has fired for 30s or so, every maybe 10 seconds, there will be a large bubbling noise in the boiler, sort of like a the 'too many baked beans before taking a bath', it does not sound violent or shake or rattle the boiler, rather one large bubble. There is usually one last bubbling/belching noise after the burners shut off. This suggests to me there is a lot of debris in the boiler or maybe even blockages in the heat exchanger. The boiler is currently set to 3 as any higher and it will run for longer and belch more. I don't know if this is classed as kettling as my parents system which is definitely suffering from that sounds very different. The boiler is located downstairs but this puts it around two meters away from my pillow!
Alternatively, could the pump which dates back to the same time as the boiler be bunged up and not supplying enough water? If I run it on setting 2 the boiler turns off after a minute or so after making the noise maybe once or twice. If I run it on three, the boiler may run for 4-5 minutes at a time but might make the noise 10 times. Obviously the pump is pumping more in this case but does this mean it is not pumping enough (maybe because of blockages in the boiler?).
Possibly related is the problem that I fixed a few weeks ago that was masking this. A blockage had formed in the cold feed from the f/e tank which was immediately above the air separator, 1m vertically above the pump which is upstairs which was causing a lot of gurgling in the pipes. To measure exactly where the blockage was before cutting the pipe, I inserted a piece of wire down the feed pipe. As I took it out, the blockage cleared which probably meant all sorts of muck dropping straight down onto the pump and then through the rest of the system before ending up at the boiler. I then drained the system and refilled for a weeks heavy operation with Fernox Heavy Duty System Restorer before draining and refilling a couple of times ending with Protector. The drained water did not appear discoloured. After refilling the system and setting the pump to 3 to circulate cold to remove air, the pump did get hot to the touch - is this normal or does it suggest pump problems?
What should be my course of action?
1) Add boiler silencer in the hope of descaling
2) Can the heat exchanger be removed and aggressively descaled?
2) Remove and replace the pump
3) Powerflush the system
4) Get a new efficient boiler fitted complete with powerflush etc.
