Powermax 155x combi boiler no central heating

[mikebh50]

Hi
I have just had two rads replaced with towel rads the job was done by a retired plumber who seemed to know what he was doing.But since he has fitted them we have had no central heating.I have tried bleeding the rads and there appears to be no air in the system and the hot water side of the boiler still works fine.When you turn the stat up the burner or the pump do not start up.The only other thing i can think of is the fact that the central heating has not been on for several months and the pump maybe seized as i live in Norfolk which has hard water any help or advice would be great as trying to find a plumber who will go near a powermax boiler seems to be quite hard!

 

[ollski]

yes heating pump will be main suspect, take the screw out and check that its turning, it may need a bit of help with a screwdriver to start.

 

[gazthepottertonengineer]

this boiler has a seperate pump for central heating so it is likely its just stuck its the one on the left hand side of the boiler

if you get stuck call potterton on 08706096096 as we bought this boiler range of Range for some reason

 

[mikebh50]

Do you mean take the screw in the middle right out as when i start to loosen it water starts to run out is it ok to carry on undoing it or will i empty the central heating system!!.

 

[ollski]

Do you mean take the screw in the middle right out as when i start to loosen it water starts to run out is it ok to carry on undoing it or will i empty the central heating system!!.

yes but put a margarine tub or something underneath it, it won't come out very much.

 

[mikebh50]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH WE NOW HAVE HEATING

 

[damdesign]

yes heating pump will be main suspect, take the screw out and check that its turning, it may need a bit of help with a screwdriver to start.

I tried this method but I can't get the pump to turn.

How hard should I be trying to turn it with the screwdriver and is there a particular technique - not having ny luck here.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[damdesign]

Do you mean take the screw in the middle right out as when i start to loosen it water starts to run out is it ok to carry on undoing it or will i empty the central heating system!!.

I tried this method but I can't get the pump to turn.

How hard should I be trying to turn it with the screwdriver and is there a particular technique - not having ny luck here.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[kevplumb]

narrow bladed screwdriver if it won't turn its seized

new pump

 

[damdesign]

After a few attempts at trying to turn the pump, somehow it got working this morning on one last attempt before calling the plumber in.

Whoever else visits this thread with the same problem - if the pump has seized, try to release it a few times, it's worth the perseverance.
The other thing I found useful was to use the narrow balded screwdriver to locate at the centre of the pump axle to turn it.

Thanks all for your useful posts to this thread.

 

[Agile]

On a Grunfoss pump the slot for the rotor is not well defined because they think it would be dangerous if it were! Other pump makes dont agree and give a well defined slot.

On a seized Grunfoss it often helps to give the smaller screwdriver ( 4 mm ) when located in the slot a tap with a metal object.

Tony

 

[kingwu]

This is an old post but people must turn up here when looking for powermax help. I have been through about 3 people who say they know about them and countless others who refuse to look at it.

I had the issue where the HW was working on constant but not the CH. Burner light just not going on. I replaced the external thermostat from one at screwfix (about £20) and that didn't work.

Then I found some really useful websites
http://miketheboilerman.com/powermax.htm

This one led me to look at the pumps which were fine and isolate it to either the internal thermostat or the programmer. Im OK with electrics but thats as far as I go so took out the programmer which was very easy - posted it this guy:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221310147585?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

a day later I had it back - plugged it in and it worked! So fixed it all for under 50 quid and in 3 days. The engineer I found who would look at it could not come out for 2 weeks.

I understand the boiler a lot more now so its taken some of the scare factor out of looking at it. If I ever get chance I will make some videos - its been a constant nightmare, mainly because of engineers lack of knowledge and stupidity. Moving house in 3 weeks so it will be a touching fairwel.