Boiler Help

[davidjones24]

Can anyone help please have been looking at my daughters boiler today (just moved in to new house ) potterton prima 80f the first problem is the central heating will only come on when the water is turned on ?? . Secondly the boiler keeps turning off as if the boiler itself is getting to hot also the radiators furthest from the boiler never get hot . The pump is running but could it be a faulty pump ?? any help greatly appreciated .

[dustybin]

Go on screwfixs forum page, then the plumbers will help you better..

[ikorodu]

Originally Posted by davidjones24

Can anyone help please have been looking at my daughters boiler today (just moved in to new house ) potterton prima 80f the first problem is the central heating will only come on when the water is turned on ?? . Secondly the boiler keeps turning off as if the boiler itself is getting to hot also the radiators furthest from the boiler never get hot . The pump is running but could it be a faulty pump ?? any help greatly appreciated .

Could be a number of things.

Depending on the type of system the boiler feeds the fact that the CH will only work with the HW on is a feature rather than a fault. My system is like this. Basically the boiler heats the water that travels trough the coil in the hot water tank, there is then a 3 way valve that directs the hot water back to the boiler or through the radiators, thats how it is on mine anyway.

The rads at the end of the system may just need bleeding.

When the boiler shuts down does it make any noises? If there are loud banging noises then its possible the system is low on water or the pump has failed. If theres no noise then its possible it thinks its reached temperature (faulty thermostat?).

There are so many possibilities of failure that second guessing is all I'm doing here.

As already suggested the screwfix forums may be a better bet. I'm not a plumber, just picked up bits and pieces from problems with my own system.

Rob

[stocktake]

Sounds more like system fault than a boiler fault.

Three way valve is favorite, honywell or sunvic. Then would be pump to check, again depends on system type. Without going too much into detail some three way valves have the ability to supply hot water only, or heating only or both together.

Make sure system is full of water via fill and expantion tank in loft or pressure vessel if fitted?

[ColinW]

Originally Posted by davidjones24

Can anyone help please have been looking at my daughters boiler today (just moved in to new house ) potterton prima 80f the first problem is the central heating will only come on when the water is turned on ?? . Secondly the boiler keeps turning off as if the boiler itself is getting to hot also the radiators furthest from the boiler never get hot . The pump is running but could it be a faulty pump ?? any help greatly appreciated .

The boiler has it's own stat, which is usually accessible on the front panel. So depending on where that is set (typically between 65 & 75 C), it will switch on & off. However systems can have room stats, thermostatic rad valves, a combination of the two or, in very old systems none at all other that the boiler stat.

Some systems have thermo cycled hot water to the hot tank, ie does not require the pump, which is only used for the central heating. On fully pumped sytems, the hot water and Heating circuits are separate, and usually controlled by the programmer via motorised valves, either 2 port (straight on-off) or 3 port ( a diverter valve)

Usually and I suspect in your daughter's set-up, is that the programmer has only HW or HW + CH. Thus it cannot have CH without HW.

As regards your cool rad. The trick is turn turn all other rads off, so that the heating water is forced to go to that rad. Try bleeding it, but another problem is sludge, due to internal corrosion.


I would look for any room stats, or thermostatic rad valves (TRV's) and turn them to max.

If the boiler thermostat has say a 1 to 7 marking, turn it to 6

Also the pump (if you can find it) may have a variable speed adjuster. Try setting it higher.

Hope this helps

Colin

[shielsy]

as stated it could be a number of things but i will need alot more info from you if you still need help pm me and i will give you my number if it wasnt so far away i would have popped round. by the way i am a corgi reg gas engineer for my sins and would only be to glad to help. shielsy

[Sancho]

Is it actually overheating? If it overheats, it will trip the overheat stat and cut out. There is a button on the bottom of it that you have to press to reset it. If it's not popped out, it's unlikely to be a problem with the boiler.