Ideal Elan 2 Boiler Problems

[dazzauk]

I am having a problem with my boiler, we have recently moved into a house with an ideal elan 2 boiler and a water cylinder upstairs.

The boiler has been working fine but until yesterday - it still works fine for the central heating but on the hot water side has started firing up for 10 seconds (starts making a sound like boiling water) and then clicks off, only to start up again 20-30 seconds later. This continues for a while (i presume until it heats the water up as we're still getting plenty of hot water) and then the boiler goes off.

Any ideas why it has suddenly started doing this and what the cause could be?

Like i said its still working ok but i'm worried it'll either stop working altogether or i'll have a monster of a gas bill!!

Cheers

Darren

 

[gas4you]

Sounds as though there is some restriction on the HW circuit maybe. Have you any zone valves? If so the HW one could be stuck slightly shut.

Could be the stat faulty.

Unfortunately this boiler will have had its best days now and parts are starting to get scarce.

I am, strangely, at present removing a few of these

 

[dazzauk]

hi dave,

yes i have 2 x 3 port valves in the cylinder cupboard upstairs, when i moved in i had an airlock and had to bleed air out of one of them to get the thing going (as there was a banging noise coming from the boiler and it would click straight off).

they both make a noise when the boiler clicks on - what would you suggest i do bleed them again?

If it was a faulty stat would the heating not work as well? The raditors are heating up fine its just on the HW side, and i'm still getting HW

 

[gas4you]

I would respectfully suggest that you mean/have 2 x 2 port valves

I would therefore be checking the HW zone valve and also any air bleed point above this valve and possibly beside the HW cylinder.

Open the HW zone valve manually before attempting to bleed this HW circuit.

 

[Soggy_weetabix]

if you have a gate vlv (or similar) on the return pipe from the cylinder, check its not been fully shut.

Dave

 

[dazzauk]

yes sorry 2 x 2 port valves - you can tell i'm not a heating engineer!!

i'll have a look tonight and see if there is a bleed point above this valve, failing that i'll take a pic and post it later as i really dont have a clue!

Something i havent noticed is if there is a thermostat attached to the hot water cylinder - i must admit the hot water we get a really really hot even with the boiler only turned onto 3 (up to a max of 6), if this was set at over 60 would this have any effect on the problem i'm having?

Thanks again for your help

 

[shambolic]

Check yer header tank has water in it!!

 

[Soggy_weetabix]

Check yer header tank has water in it!!

It will have! The hot water is the problem here, not a dry header tank.

Its not a gravity system

 

[dazzauk]

hello gents, the problem seems to have gone now after i got the air out the system by opening the screw on the hot water pump adjacent to the water cylinder - looks like it was just a little air in the system that was causing it to cycle on the hot water side. Thanks for all your posts and help. Cheers Darren