Hi, I just joined this forum and have searched for other posts that may help but I'm still not sure what exactly is the problem.
Firstly I noticed the boiler wasn't on (no hot water). I got an engineer to come out and take a look at it. He serviced it (I service it once a year) and found that the pilot starter was shorting out on the chassis. He wrapped the wire it in some insulating tape and the boiler started OK.
I called him back a few days later because the radiators weren't getting hot. He diagnosed a dodgy pump, which I had him replace. It took ages to get heat at the radiators as there was an air lock in the system after fitting the new pump. Job done and sorted. Anyway, now I am having a problem with the overheat tripping out. I had them back to test and the guy said it was probably air in the system and that boilers that don't have cast iron tanks can do this a lot. That's fine but when I checked my boiler has a cast iron tank. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I bled all the radiators but I still have the problem that it overheats intermittently. I also notice there is some gurgling coming from the boiler occasionally.
Anyway, should I replace the pilot starter because it was shorting through the insulation? If so, can somebody tell me what part to order?
Would air still trapped in the system be causing the intermittent overheating/shutdown problem? Should I just keep bleeding the system regularly to get out all the air? If so, what is the best way to isolate and remove any air, other than just bleeding all the radiators?
One other item I wanted advice on. The little plastic fan broke off and the engineer told me it's not really needed. Is this the case or should I replace it?
Sorry to be long-winded but the system has been trouble free to this point and I have my doubts about the competence of the engineers involved. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Firstly I noticed the boiler wasn't on (no hot water). I got an engineer to come out and take a look at it. He serviced it (I service it once a year) and found that the pilot starter was shorting out on the chassis. He wrapped the wire it in some insulating tape and the boiler started OK.
I called him back a few days later because the radiators weren't getting hot. He diagnosed a dodgy pump, which I had him replace. It took ages to get heat at the radiators as there was an air lock in the system after fitting the new pump. Job done and sorted. Anyway, now I am having a problem with the overheat tripping out. I had them back to test and the guy said it was probably air in the system and that boilers that don't have cast iron tanks can do this a lot. That's fine but when I checked my boiler has a cast iron tank. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I bled all the radiators but I still have the problem that it overheats intermittently. I also notice there is some gurgling coming from the boiler occasionally.
Anyway, should I replace the pilot starter because it was shorting through the insulation? If so, can somebody tell me what part to order?
Would air still trapped in the system be causing the intermittent overheating/shutdown problem? Should I just keep bleeding the system regularly to get out all the air? If so, what is the best way to isolate and remove any air, other than just bleeding all the radiators?
One other item I wanted advice on. The little plastic fan broke off and the engineer told me it's not really needed. Is this the case or should I replace it?
Sorry to be long-winded but the system has been trouble free to this point and I have my doubts about the competence of the engineers involved. Any help would be greatly appreciated.