Please Help

[diywhy1]

I managed to put a nail through a radiator pipe so shut off water with stop cock and drained central heating system (after tying float to stop tank in loft from re-filling) Put water back on but ( central heating still drained ) but now boiler wont fire up to heat hot water etc. Can someone point me in the right direction


Cheers M

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

DO NOT TRY TO RUN THE BOILER WITHOUT WATER IN THE SYSTEM!!!!

You need to repair the damaged pipe, and refill the entire system before doing anything else.....

 

[diywhy1]

I thought the hot water was on a different system, i have only shut off the central heating system. The hot/cold water taps still work

 

[doitall]

sometimes you have to wonder if it's wind up, as this surely is

 

[seco services]

the water that heats the dhw is the same that heats your rads and you've drained it.

 

[diywhy1]

I wish this was a wind up, i was told it was ok to put the hot water back on. Clearly not...... Whats the worst case scenario ? new pump ?

 

[doitall]

No, The boiler can blow up and take the wall out.

 

[seco services]

if you only tried it once and the pump didn't run to long will be ok.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

The water that comes from the taps is seperate from that in the heating system. You have drained the heating side but the hot water cylinder will remain full, so water will still be available at the hot taps.

As I said, you will need to repair the hole in the radiator pipe, refill the system and vent all the air before even attempting to light the boiler. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL DESTROY YOUR BOILER!

If you are not sure I seriously recommend you find a plumber, its going to be cheaper than replacing the boiler by a long margin.

 

[seco services]

he's got in again first.

 

[doitall]

he's got in again first.

Only by seconds

 

[diywhy1]

Thanks for all your help (some more helpful than others) I am a diy novice as you can tell........... cheers

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Dont really mind who gets there first, main thing is the OP had been wrongly advised, and now been given correct (urgent) advice through here, and thus prevented anything too drastic occuring I hope.

 

[doitall]

Thanks for all your help (some more helpful than others) I am a diy novice as you can tell........... cheers

Clearly you are not aware of the real danger.

Whether that's helpful or not is by and by, you may even have read in last weeks papers about the boiler that blew up and killed a couple of the occupants, because it had no water innit.

 

[diywhy1]

ok, so the plot thickens. I have fixed the leak and re-filed the system. The boiler kicked in for about 30 secs then went out, i cant even see the pilot light. Does anyone have any suggestions ?