blocked or frozen cold feed pipe??

[Dan123]

Hi,

I hope somebody will be able to help, the central heating at my grandmothers house has just stopped working, typical that it happens when its so cold! I believe it i an open vented system with a back boiler.

From reading a few threads my guess is that the feed pipe is blocked (or possibly frozen given that the fault coincided with the cold weather??)
as when I tried to bleed the radiators there was very little pressure in the system. I also have removed the pump bleed screw and no air or water came out. The pump appears to be running too, this gets hot but the pipes either side do not. I have also tried switching the 3 way valve to manual open but this had no effect. Of course I could be totally wrong as I'm a complete novice when it comes to central heating so any advice would be gratefully recieved!

THanks,

Dan




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[seco services]

have you had a look at the tank to see if it has any water ?

 

[Wangerman]

Pipes are cold and the pump is hot

Unscrew the cap on the pump and gently stick a screwdriver in it, if it makes a rattling contact you know the pump is spinning

 

[Dan123]

Hi, No I have not yet had the chance to go up in the loft yet so I have no idea if there is any water in the tank.

The pump is definately running, as suggeted I took the bleed screw out and the impeller shaft is spinning fine.

 

[seco services]

don't run the pump dry.

 

[Dan123]

Pretty sure it must've been running dry earlier but I've turned it off now so hopefully no damage done!

Any ideas on how to tackle the problem? Sounds like a bit of a stupid question but if its frozen is it worth just waiting for it to thaw?

 

[seco services]

if its frozen lag the pipes.

 

[Dan123]

Thanks, sounds like a good idea for preventing the problem in the future but will it speed up the pipe thawing??

Sorry if I'm asking daft questions!

Dan

 

[seco services]

hair dryer

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Be well worth checking that you havent any frozen pipes. Its when the thaw occurs the problems start. I've seen water coming through ceilings already this week....

 

[ivixor]

You want to look for the feed tank (smaller of two tanks in loft). Should have a bit of water in the bottom.

If not, find out why the feed to that tank isn't working. Could be frozen but that on its own wouldnt cause immediate problems - it would take a long time for the water level to drop low enough through evaporation/seepage to let the pump get dry. More likely someone has turned off the feed.

If tank has water in it, the problem is between there and the rest of the system.

 

[Dan123]

Hi thanks for your responses, very helpfull!

I will check the tank today. Unfortunately the system has not been maintained in recent years for one reason or another so it may have been coming for a while! There is very little water in some of the rads so I assume alot of air in the system would make it fail quickly when the feed was cut.

Thanks again for you help, i will let you know how i get on.