Glow worm 24 cxi - filling loop not working?

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if you want to fit a convetional filling loop to the system then go for it. it will be infinately more reliable than the blue handled thingy
 
camdbug said:
nickso said:
are you handy with tools/water?

if so a fairly simple temporary solution is at hand. the filling loop valve is probably broken inside. if you shut off the mains water to the house and leave a hot water tap open and remove the loop tap you can push the valve open and refill the boiler until you get a replacement. once you have finished filling you turn it closed as normal.

you will defo need a new loop tap though.

That ties in with my suspicions (does the poorly documented item at the following link look appropriate? http://www.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/Filling_Loop.html#aHP_2dLOOP1 - linked from previous page on 24cxi; http://www.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/Glow_Worm_24_CXI_Heat_Pack.html)

Yes, am handy with water and have 3 1970's VWs, so pretty handy with tools :D My understanding of the loop (and looking through docs at glowworm site) is that the valve feeds directly from mains, so if I switch off mains and remove valve (just done this, and seems straightforward), how do I get water into the system - or am I required to hijack the garden hose and jam that on in place of the tap once I've jammed it open?

no, look in the blue handled valve you have removed. you will see a small white bit in the centre, unscrew the valve a bit and push the white bit down. replace the valve and turn on mains. it should fill. the turn off the blue handled valve as normal.
I love the Internet. I've got this same problem on the Glow Worm 30ci in my rented flat. Pressure dropped enough that boiler wouldn't run, and then filling tap didn't work. One of coldest days of year, so how do I feel about waiting until plumber arrives (maybe) tomorrow? No thanks. Took a look at tap - input and output sealed with spring clips, so very quick and easy to remove. Whipped it out (oo er), gently pushed stuck white plastic bit with a pencil, refitted and hey presto, was able to repressurise the system.

Thanks guys, excellent!
 
Thank you all for some well considered and precise advice.

I had exactly the same problem with my 8 year old boiler fitted in my new build. Despite paying to have boiler inspections annually, which invariably attempted to address the loss of pressure issue, this usually resulted in (a) the fault returning necessitating repressurising, and (b) a lot of leaking from beneath the boiler of green fluid once the pressure had risen until it had restabilised. The engineers described this as nothing important!! So I've cancelled future annual services as a waste of money, and plan to get it serviced every 2 or 3 years.

However the pressure drop recently could not be corrected by opening the blue inlet valve. The valve appeared to have stuck closed. Therefore once the pressure dropped to 0.5 bar the boiler shut down. I found your forum and good advice, clearly a common fault.

I followed your instructions about replacing the original valve with a new one and sure enough there was a broken bit of plastic in the old valve and the seal had moved. The new valve, albeit still plastic, has a brass insert and is clearly an improved version over the old, and at £27.00 it should be! Clearly the original valve is sub standard and Glowworm should be ashamed of themselves and had those all replaced at their own expense. No car manufacturer would hope to get away with this, and would issue a recall or fix at the next service.

There is a problem however. The new valve works well; too well. Be careful to open only a little as the pressure increase is slow to register, I shut it off once it reached 1.0 Bar, but it continued to rise to 2.2 Bar, at which stage green fluid was escaping from every joint! Eventually the pressure has fallen back to 1.2 Bar and the leaks diminished to a drip, but again appears to be a Glowworm weakness in the boiler design. Clearly this has been happening after every service, with the leaking fluid disappearing behind the kitchen units. Where it has dripped onto the metal boiler frame and components, extensive corrosion has been caused, resulting in one bracket simply falling off.

The wiring loom and plugs to the PCB are also of extremely poor quality in manufacture and construction, with insufficient room and strain on cables and connectors.

My conclusion is Glowworm shouldn't be allowed to manufacture CH boilers until they get their act sorted and compensate all current users of their products, otherwise it will be just deserts if they become the Lancia motor company of the CH boiler businesses.
 
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Hi I have just fitted a new filling loop and it won't go past 0.7 bar

do you think it is just dirt in the boiler ?
 
Maybe your mains pressure is just low or the pressure sensor is reading wrongly...they are hopeless quality.
Try pressurising later tonight..the mains might be higher.
 

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