My heating only works sometimes

[mungothemule]

HI,

I have had numerous problems with my heating over the years. (water is always fine) New pump, valve/fuse and therm. This year my heating only works when it feels like it. I have had the plumber out twice and he has checked wires etc and got it working again. It has worked Sun PM but not the night, monday, not tuesday, worked Wednesday & isn't working today. Any ideas?

 

[petertheplumber12]

Am I going round the bend or have you not given any details as to what sort of heating you have. combi, conventional with cylinder and tanks, electric. what make and model of boiler? etc.

 

[mungothemule]

No your not. I got a bit carried away with the post button.

Its a conventional boiler with a cylinder. It's an Ideal Standard boiler. The water supply is always fine. No problems. As mentioned over the last 3/4 years i have had a new fuse (not sure what fuse, sorry) a new pump and thermostat ( a wireless one)

The pump is set at speed 2.

As mentioned it works inconsistently e.g this afternoon but stopped now.

 

[Armo74]

Could be a faulty microswitch in the actuator on the valve.

 

[footprints]

Might be worth checking your programmer you may have some days omitted some can be a right fiddly pain to set up, it's certainly worth a go.

That reminds me (oh dear the old chap is going to rant on about the old days) says I.

Many moons ago we used time switches that were great big mechanical things bigger than an alarm clock. They had 7 screws around the clock and you used them to omit a day, trouble was very few people knew they were there.

It's said that a disgruntled employee once sent out a whole batch with every other day omitted and chaos ensued.................

Be nice if it was something simple,
best wishes,
footprints

 

[petertheplumber12]

Ok first things first, you know when you are calling the boiler for heat because the wireless programmer has a flame button, so does the boiler stop working while the flame on stat says it wants heat?

 

[mungothemule]

The icon on the wireless programer indicates it is calling for heat and the receiver indicates the signal is good with the wireless programer.

The flame in the boiler does nothing at all when heat is called for. It only 'fires up' when the water timer comes on.

That said, the flame in the boiler 'fired up' this afternoon when i requested heat on the wireless programer. But now, nothing!

 

[petertheplumber12]

And you have a timer on the boiler or somewhere that is now overridden by the new stat? If so make sure whatever it is it is set at continuous.

 

[mungothemule]

Yes the timer is set to 'on' constantly. It began working at about 9pm last night. I did nothing different. When i called for heat it just worked.

 

[Laura2015]

Hello, I am desperate to find an answer to why my heating only works sometimes and have come across this thread. Like you, hot water is not a problem. It has had plumbers and electricians baffled. After days of monitoring this problem(!), it seems to me that the boiler will not fire up for the heating when the water is hot. The heating works if we use (nearly) all of the hot water. I was hoping to fins out what the solution to your problem was, as it does seem to be the same. Thank you.