After thinking about the history of steps which I undertook and the results, I am still hopeful that there's an obvious problem which is easy to resolve, rather than that the boiler has packed up. I say this because whenever I touch the front panel of the boiler, it is warm even though there is neither HW nor CH. I would like to try out one last thing before throwing in the towel and getting a plumber to fix it. This is because I find it a fascinating problem, a puzzle to which I do not want to admit defeat, just yet. Its so much like tracking down a serial killer, or a secret agent. Where the hell could he be hiding? But I would be grateful for your expert guidance.
I think that the boiler is fine (hence the warm front panel) but that there's an air lock in the surrounding pipework. I've attached photos of the horribly bodged rats nest of pipework around the boiler, installed in the first few years of 2000 by a now retired and untraceble plumber. I have identified a bleed outlet in this pipework and I've recorded the sounds made when some of the pipes were struck with a steel rod, so that the experts amoung you can judge if the pipe is filled with air or water. These photos and mp3 files are attached to this post. I also attempted to bleed the circulation pump and recorded the sounds that the bleeding produced. This mp3 file is also attached - I bled the pump with it on as recommended by a plumber in a Youtube video on pump bleeding.
The boiler's surrounding pipework photo has the drain outlet circled in yellow. The pipes marked A, B & C were tapped and the sounds recorded as mp3 files AA, BB & CC respectively. An mp3 file of the sounds made by bleeding of the circulation pump is also included. All this is in the zip file attached to this post.
Do please have a view and a listen. If you need me to photograph/record sounds of other parts of the setup, then please let me know and I'll upload them.
I really find plumbing fascinating. I am too old to work as one, being retired, but when I complete my Welding courses I would like to get on the Domestic ACS training course, just for the sake of interest.
