h/w & central heating stopped working - Wallstar boiler

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Hi,

THe h/w and central heating in our rented house runs on fuel oil, controlled by a Wallstar boiler. As of last night, the h/w and central heating have stopped working. We have plenty of fuel oil. There are no lights on the boiler, but it makes a noise, as if it's working, if we turn the heating on. It didn't make as much noise before when it WAS working properly. Any ideas/advice would be hugely appreciated?
 
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If you can access the burner itself, within the boiler casing, I think you'll find the lockout lamp on. Can you check this, and press it to reset?
John :)
 
I remember taking the outside casing off to press a red reset button before after there'd been no fuel oil in the tank, but couldn't see a red light when I looked earlier - would this mean that there's no red light showing because it doesn't need resetting?

Many thanks
 
If the burner lock out lamp isn't illuminated, then the burner is ready to go.
Its therefore being held back by thermostat issues, either internally or externally fitted to the boiler. There may be a overheat thermostat within the boiler casing - I'll try to remember!
If your boiler is a combi, make sure there's about 1 bar showing on the pressure gauge.
John :)
 
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Thanks John,

There is an external control / thermostat that was lying lose, but a workman fixed to the wall yesterday. He didn't tamper with any of the wires, but could this maybe be the issue?
 
It certainly could be - if its the traditional type of thermostat you should hear a click when the 'on' temperature is reached. Somewhat less so if its digital or wireless, with their own internal batteries!
Do your problems coincide with the workmans visit?
So far as I remember, the Wallstar series have warning lamps checking boiler overheat stats, so your problem sounds like its external.
John :)
 
Hmm, yes, the problem happened yesterday evening after the work man had fixed the thermostat/control to the wall in the afternoon. It started with it taking longer than usual to get hot water out of the hot tap in the kitchen. Then, later, we realised there was no hot water at all and the heating wasn't working (but lots of clanging noises and gurgling from the radiators)

Looking at the thermostat/control, it's a digital one. The battery sign is flashing. Tried putting the thermostat up to max, 30 degrees C, and the radiator nearest the boiler warmed slightly, but the boiler got really hot and I smelled burning (!) so have turned it off.

Could all this be caused just by the batteries needing replacing?

Thanks again for your attention on this :)
 
If the battery light is flashing, maybe the display has vanished so yes, replace the batteries.
Other issues though! I suspect the system may be empty or low on water - I don't like the gurgling noises, nor the fact that the boiler seemed to get rather hot!
Is your boiler system a combi, or does it have water tanks in the loft? If the latter, the smaller one needs to have about 4" of water in it.
Looking back to your first post, it could appear that the water circulating pump is having a bad day, which could indeed be the source of all of your problems!
John :)
 
It's a combi - so does it sound like it's got more than one problem and a coincidence that it went wrong just after the work man fixed it to the wall?

Sounds like this might be quite a pain?!
 
If your boiler can't disperse the heat that it is producing, due to circulation pump failure for example, the symptoms are identical to yours.....
Just check that its pressure gauge is reading about 1 bar, will you?
John :)
 
I don't know which actual Wallstar you have, but with the front casing off you should see the red circulating pump and the pressure gauge (with one black and one red pointer) just behind.
John :)
 
No, we need pics of the boiler guts, really......
Have you found a switch marked Normal - Test somewhere?
John :)
 
I think there's one in the back bit of it that's attached to the outside of the building - that sound about right? can check it later when my other half's home/baby's asleep: bit complicated at the moment (!) - if there is a test switch there, should it be set to anything?
 

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