BAXI BERMUDA BACK BOILER ISSUE

[Belboz]

To clarify....

Boiler appeared okay Tuesday - heated a full cylinder of hot water. Seemed to fire normally.

Wednesday - no hot water. Boiler still fired but then cut out after 5/6 seconds.

Boiler now doesn't fire at all - not even for 5/6 seconds. No 'whoosh' at all.

However, pilot is on.

Sorry to be confusing.....

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Some plumber he is then....

So it seems it has worked then.... (There was no need to drain the cylinder BTW, the water in the cylinder and the heating system are seperate unless there is a fault inside the cylinder.) Does the arrow on the pump (indicating direction of flow) point towards the motorised valves? It is starting to sound rather odd though, gradual failure rather then a sudden stop....

Pilot will remain lit unless gas is switched off or thermocouple fails. Boiler will fire on receipt of a 240volt supply from the controls when timeclock and stats demand. (Except when something else is wrong...)

 

[Belboz]

Arrow on the pump points towards the motorised valves. Pump was a straight replacement like-for-like (WILO)

Having drained the whole lot (you said I didn't need to drain the cylinder) would that cause an issue with any feed to the back boiler?

Sorry to be thick!!

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Wont cause a problem if the heating system has refilled correctly. If there is water at the hot taps then cylinder has refilled ok.

All rads bleed ok, with a strong jet of water once air had been removed? Did you put the motorised valves into manual position whilst refilling? Pump seems to be on the right way round.

 

[Belboz]

Water at hot taps.

Water comes out of rads when bled.

Can't say if valves were in manual position when system was refilled because I didn't personally do that. I am assuming you mean they needed to be locked back using the groove in the housing?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Valves, yes. Try and indo the big silver screw in the centre of the pump head, (dont drop it!), keep an old towel underneath as you should get a dribble of water out of it. This should vent the pump. Any other bleed points, e.g. on flow from motorised valve into cylinder coil, check for air.

If this doesnt solve anything are you confident in using a multimeter on mains voltages?

 

[Agile]

Called the plumber back and he came on Thursday morning. Boiler issue noticed and he advised it may be an airlock and to try and cure it with mains pressure. If not, he said, I need to call a heating engineer.

That what I like to hear!

At least he knows his limitations!

But did the OP reaaly want to have his system repaired by a plumber?

Could have called a heating engineer in teh beginning!

Did he charge more than £84 labour?

Tony

 

[Belboz]

Agile,

He charged me nowt for labour as he is a personal friend. I bought the new pump and valves.

He is well aware he is a plumber and not a central heating engineer. He wouldn't ever profess to be the latter.

However, remember that the original problem was only the leaking pump and not anything else. He was more than capable of fitting that.

Hugh - I have bled the pump and, as expected, water trickled out. As for using a multimeter then yes I am confident enough to use it for mains voltages.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Can you check the power supply to the boiler, it should be receiving 240v when there is a demand for heat. If you cant get to the boiler then try at the boiler connections in the junction box where pump, valves etc are all connected.

 

[Belboz]

Voltage checks out okay.....

 

[ianmcd]

did you remove the fire to carry out these checks ?

 

[Belboz]

did you remove the fire to carry out these checks ?

If you mean the firefront then no I didn't.

Why do you ask?

 

[ianmcd]

How did you manage to test for 240V AC at the gas valve on the BBU if you didnt remove the fire front ?

 

[Belboz]

I checked the junction box as suggested.

I take it that was wrong?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

240v at junction box indicates power is going in the right direction. Without removing the firefront you cant test further, and that job needs to be done by an RGI. If the boiler isnt firing at all, (even for a few seconds) then I think it may be time to admit defeat and call someone in. Even with nil circulation from the pump, boiler should still fire briefly now and again.

System seems to be full, pump is running, power is heading in the right direction, I think you've done all you can. If boiler hasn't been serviced recently then it would be a good idea to book that at the same time.