hot water no ch

[dphipps]

with christmas 3 days away this is my worst nightmare.My CH was working fine but all of a sudden it wouldnt come on my water is heating fine but the radiators are freezing i have bled them all to find air in two but it still never worked.At the moment i have it on constant hoping and praying but every so often the 3 lights come on to say the ch is on it stays on sometimes but rads still stay cold.Please help....

 

[breezer]

I am not a plumber or heating engineer, our "resident boys" will be about later, but they will want to know the following.

Make / model of boiler

what do the 3 lights indicate?

type of system (do you have a large cylinder in your "airing cupboard")

has any work been caried out recently on the system if so what

anything else you think is relevant (no matter how small)

apart from bleeding the radiators have you done anything else?

if you have a tank (or two) in the loft are both tanks full?

 

[dphipps]

Its FERROLI tempra 18,light a-burner on indicator light-c central heating light-d electric power supply.No work has been done it was working fine i had it on the timer but it never came on yes there is a big cylinder in the airing copboard.Another thing one of the safety features it says is that when the hot water is on the radiator in the bathroom will come on and that is coming on.

 

[Eagle]

I have the same problem with my Potterton Combi 80.
Loads of hot water to the taps, but all radiators are cold.
When the heating is switched on, the boiler does not fire up, and the usual FLAME light does not come on.
Same problem occured about 5 weeks ago. Engineer says a relay was latched in, and he released it by switching it off & on at the mains. (I had al;ready tried this to no avail, so am not too convinced).
Any idea what the problem could be? Dodgy valve?
Cheers.

 

[breezer]

funny you should say that, thats what mine is doing now, lots of hot water, but no heating, i am waiting for bg to come round i forgot to mention mine is a potty puma

 

[KevinLynn]

when i experience the problem of hot water and the central heating not warming up or switching on - i found the problem to be - the motorised 3port valve - either the mechanical valve is stuck - in the hot water only position or the electrical actuator valve head burned out (this is what i had) and not turning the valve to allow heated water to the central heating - its normal position being hot water only - so thats why you've got plenty of that.

Of course i'm no plumber - so i'll leave that to the experts - just letting you know what i experienced.......good luck

 

[oilman]

Wether you have 2-port or 3-port valves, take its head off, and see if you can rotate the spindle. Be gentle some have only a few degrees of movement. If that's ok, switch the heating on and see if the head operates. When it is off the lever should have a spring pressure holding it in place, when it is on the spring pressure should vanish.

It may be switches, or the head motor, or the gears stripped.

 

[julieanns]

HI I HAVE HOT WATER , BUT NONE OF THE RADIATORS ARE WARM, WE OFF THE OTHER DAY, WE HAVE A BOILER IN THE AIRING CUPBOARD, SILVER BOX WITH HONEYWELL ON IT, MY PARTNER TOOK THE COVER OFF IT HAS A SWITCH WITH ( AUTO) ON THE LEFT AND (MAN OPEN) ON THE RIGHT, ANYWAY MY PARTNER HAS JAMMED A SCREWDRIVER FORCING THE SWITCH TO STAY IN THE MAN OPEN POSITION, MAGIC, HEATING NOW WORKING, BEEN LIKE THIS FOR 4 DAYS, slow worker my man, most probably the boiler will stop like this for life. as he say its working, for me though i like things to work properly without having a screwdriver stuck in it, PLEASE ANY HELP TO WHAT THE PROBLEM IS, WHAT WILL I NEED TO REPAIR, , THE SILVER BOX HAS THE NUMBER
4000 2737-001, thanks julie

 

[masona]

If you look at the picture the handle should push forward and lean over to the top left which will spring back and lock into that position & will hold it there (unless your partner has now damaged it).Sounds like the motorhead inside the motorised valve is not operating when switch to auto.

WHAT WILL I NEED TO REPAIR

Just your unintelligent partner.

 

[julieanns]

hi, it will not lock into the correct position, this is why the heating went off, and he had to jam it to work again, are you saying i will need a new motorhead, if so are these available at at plumbing shop. thanks julie

 

[DP]

dphipps- look for valve similar to one in one of the later posts. Does the valve have two or three pipes going to it? The valve may be located near/ under the hot water cylinder or near the boiler.

Radiator in bathroom coming on is NOT a feature; it is lazyness on part of the installer. An auto bypass would have been more in line. Three port (three pipes to motorised valve) does not require bypass unless makers stress one should be in place

Eagle, your problem would appear to be electrical- suggest you look for a GOOD heating engineer. Thing to look out for is a bashed about multimeter that the engineer uses like it were part of his hand.

 

[DP]

dphipps- look for valve similar to one in one of the later posts. Does the valve have two or three pipes going to it? The valve may be located near/ under the hot water cylinder or near the boiler.

Radiator in bathroom coming on is NOT a feature; it is lazyness on part of the installer. An auto bypass would have been more in line. Three port (three pipes to motorised valve) does not require bypass unless makers stress one should be in place

Eagle, your problem would appear to be electrical- suggest you look for a GOOD heating engineer. Thing to look out for is a bashed about multimeter that the engineer uses like it were part of his hand.

 

[oilman]

Thing to look out for is a bashed about multimeter that the engineer uses like it were part of his hand.

No it's not! If his meter's bashed about it could be just as likely an indicator he doesn't care about his tools, your boiler or anything else (it might not of course). My meter cost me £240 in 1995. I'm not going to beat the living daylights out of it. Then again, I might not be a heating engineer.

......are you saying i will need a new motorhead,........

Probably. Try plumbcentre etc.

PS your second post was much easier to comprehend than your first. It can get quite hard going, trying to make sense of posts esp. where the first sentence is 91 words.

 

[ChrisR]

Eagle & Breezer, more usual problem is the diverter valve not working. Or a dripping hot tap will disable the heating.
Diverter is just to the left odf the pump, runs front to back, a couple of chrome pipes go into the front end of it from top and side. You might find that if you get it hot with a heat gun or (careful) a torch , then the heating will work.

 

[Eagle]

Thank you for your suggestions & help.
Turned out to be due to a dodgy connector on one of the circuit boards, and a problem with the existing wiring harness.
Sorted it by replacing the wiring harness for £24, and resoldering one of the connector pins on the circuit board.
House is as warm as toast now.