Help required please! Boiler driving me crazy!

[Steph101]

I have a Potterton prima F boiler which keeps igniting, lasting for about 60 secs then turning it's self off. I've still got hot water but a bloody freezing house. I have pressed the reset switch under the boiler which reignites it again but then it switches off again. All radiators are stone cold, can anybody help me at all?

Many thanks

Steph[/b]

 

[Agile]

Check and repair the pump!

Normally I would say look at the FAQs on this site but they seem to have disapeared!

Tony

 

[Steph101]

Thank you Tony, where would I find the pump?

(30 year old female with no idea at all........)

 

[Agile]

I have not been invited to stay the weekend with you yet. Consequently I dont know the layout of your home.

You may find that you can find a plumber quicker.

Tony

 

[Steph101]

Lol ok thank you anyway

 

[compheat]

Have a look in the cylinder cupboard, and report back

 

[D_Hailsham]

Just so you know, a pump looks something like this:

View media item 802

 

[Steph101]

Have found it!!!

However it is very hot so have turned everything off. No idea how to clean it though ....

 

[D_Hailsham]

However it is very hot so have turned everything off.

Pumps can get very hot, so I wouldn't bother about that.

Turn the system back on.

Get a largish screwdriver. Hold the blade against the pump and the handle aganst your ear. You should hear the whine of the pump.

There is a switch on the pump (marked 1, 3, 4 or something). Try all three speeds and you should hear different whines.

Replace the large screw.

If you can't hear the pump, then either the pump is faulty or the electrical supply to the pump is faulty. Call a heating engineer.

You said in your first post that you have hot water but no heating. Does the problem happen all the time or only when you have the heating on by itself; i.e it does not happen if you have hot water by itself or both heating and hot water on?

 

[Agile]

However it is very hot so have turned everything off.

Pumps can get very hot, so I wouldn't bother about that.

An armchair expert does not have the advantage of a working expert.

Pumps get particularly hot if they are not turning! Thats because the water is not passing through to cool them!

The pump will be jamed and will buzz but not whine ( they dont do that anyway ) as they make a low pitched rumbling kind of noise when working.

They can often be freed up. Thats described in the disapearing FAQ.

I will report this post to the Mods so they can search for the FAQ.

It used to be in the heading of Forum Index, Forum Rules.....

Tony

 

[DIYnot]

Do you mean this post?

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1219486#1219486

 

[bengasman]

However it is very hot so have turned everything off.

Pumps can get very hot, so I wouldn't bother about that.

Turn the system back on.

Great advice from our google expert. A sure way to kill a pump that is running dry is turning it back on.

 

[D_Hailsham]

The OP said:

I have a Potterton prima F boiler

As "experts", both Tony and Bengasman will know that the Prima requires a fully pumped instalation and has pump over-run.

I've still got hot water but a bloody freezing house.

How would this happen if the pump is not working?

 

[bengasman]

Immersion heater on.

 

[mysteryman]

It is not running dry, probably just stalled. A twiddle should make it go, but don't try it yourself unless you are very confident.