boiler playing up

[sandie1234]

Hello
I have a glow worm flexicom 15hx boiler and a month ago, it showed a fault of 22, I reset it and it worked again, but then went a couple of times again, and showed fault 22, so reset, and showed fault 25, it worked on and off for a month but had to reset it a few times and then it went completely today showing fault 25 flashing. kept trying to reset but back to f25.
called a boiler engineer out and he reckons its the circulation, he went upstairs and said my actuator is playing up but did something and got it working. He said if it happens again I will need a new actuator. what I cant understand is if its not a combi boiler and I need the hot water tank, he said the hot water tank is not connected to anything? yet it was put in 9 years ago and never had any problems before, has it got to be connected for the boiler to be able to work? or is that if I wanted to heat the water tank with the electric switch for hot water if I wasn't using the boiler. is the tank only there because it needs to hold the water to go through for the boiler to heat? very confused as it says you need a hot water tank for the this boiler but yet he reckons its not connected to anything. cant remember now who changed the tank over but only just got problems, so surely it must be connected. Hope someone knows what I'm saying and can help me with this. Thank you

 

[Madrab]

OK - usually a F22 fault is low pressure (but I don't think your boiler has a system pressure switch) and the F25 fault usually means there is a circulation issue but with an open vent the F22 can be a slow temp rise, also pointing towards a circulation issue. Do you have a small black cistern in the loft alongside a large one?

Your boiler is what's called a Heat Only boiler. It only produces hot water that can be used to heat radiators and a hot water cylinder. If you have hot water then the hot water cylinder must be connected to the boiler and may or may not be controlled by a 2 port valve (actuator) and a programmer. Either that or it's being heated by its immersion heater and your electricity cost would be pretty big.

Is the tank only there because it needs to hold the water to go through for the boiler to heat

No, the type of boiler that heats the water when the HW tap is opened is a combi boiler, you don't have one of them and they use the mains water, not stored water. Not sure what your 'engineer' is describing but he's not doing a very good job explaining it if you are quoting him.

To clear things up a few pictures of the boiler and any electrical controls there may be and a few from around the area where the hot water cylinder lives would help.

 

[sandie1234]

Thank you so much Rob for taking the time to help and explain this to me. The heating is still working but not sure how long for as the boiler engineer said it was the actuator, not sure what he did to it to get it working, but he didn't charge me anything, and said it might go again and I may need a new actuator put in, so call him out if needed. I'm not sure how to upload pictures on here. but I have two tanks in loft and one is for cold water and the other is a small one for the radiators. i do have a a 2 port valve actuator and a blue box above that which is very hot. not sure if that is the programmer. would he have meant that the boiler is not connected to electric if I wanted to put the switch down and heat it by using the emersion heater? as the actuator is fed into the boiler, my bills are not high so I'm sure I'm not heating the water that way.
Thank you I do really appreciate you helping me, that's so kind of you.

 

[Madrab]

2 port valve actuator and a blue box above that which is very hot.

Does it look something like this but instead of a silver box on top it has a blue one?

if so then the 2 port valve is the brass bit and the actuator is the box - it has a motor and switches inside it.

You will probably have a box on a wall somewhere, in the kitchen, near the boiler etc. it has the time on it - that's the programmer. It tells the central heating system that either hot water (HW) or central heating (CH) is to go on - that 'on' signal then goes to a thermostat - one on the side of the HW cylinder or another one for the CH (in a room/hall somewhere) - if that thermostat says 'yes my area isn't warm enough' it then passes that 'on' signal through to its 2 port valve (there's one for CH and one for HW) - that valves opens up and then the switch inside that box on top of the valve then passes the 'on' signal through to the boiler and it turns on. if the actuator isn't working right, sometimes it doesn't switch that 'on' signal through and the boiler won't start.

It's a relatively easy repair and (spell edit) either box is renewed or the box and valve below it.

 

[sandie1234]

Hi Rob
Yes, that looks the one. Thank you so much for your help. Your a very kind decent person and much appreciate you giving me your time.
So are you a qualified gas engineer then? as you should be as know more than they do lol.

 

[Madrab]

are you a qualified gas engineer then?

For my sins ... guilty as charged