Ah, you beat me to it with your edit... Thanks
Boiler overheats quickly - no hot water. Suggestions?
- Thread starter diberlee
- Start date
Ah, you beat me to it with your edit... Thanks
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I did that. Gave the screw a quarter turn and water started to come out after a second or so. I tried the boiler again and it overheated again - a bit quicker this time, but it had been off for a few hours in the first video and only about an hour this time.
I loosened the screw again and let water come out for about 20 seconds - it came out slow and I just dabbed it with a towel. Maybe I should loosen the screw more or let it dribble for longer?
The bottom of the pump felt hot, but the top was barely warm. I turned it back on at the mains and the boiler still shows the overheat light so didn't try to ignite. But, the pump got hotter and hotter. I put my ear to it and as soon as the mains is turned on the pump starts humming. Should it be doing that if the boiler is not lit?
ok i'll try & guide you through it because you need some hot water, turn off the power to the boiler/pump put some towels under the pump, now you can either turn off the two valves either side of the pump or leave them open, take out the big screw in the middle (you will get water coming out) under the screw you will see the end of a shaft (you might need a torch) put a screwdriver in the end & this shaft should turn, if it doesn't then the impellor is stuck, now you can either perceiver turning to turn it or you can turn the power back on & try to turn it, if neither works then someone is going to have to take the pump head back off to free it, which is best left to an installer & not the fool who fitted a WB pump head he happened to have floating around in the back of the van
Thanks for that, I'm heading out now (going to have a bath at the in-laws lol) but will give this a try in a few hours when I'm back home. If I close the valves either side I guess I won't have too much water to worry about?
Just so I understand what I'm trying to achieve... You think the pump is stiff and unable to turn hence the overheating and water not making it far down the pipe? So I'm just trying to loosen it up to see if it will start pumping properly? When you say turn the power back on to see if it spins - I put the screw back in first or just give it a go without?
Either way I'll get in touch with the landlord and see if they'll cover the cost of me getting Homeserve etc out to take a look at it. They're a small company so they only have 1 guy as far as I know. The same one who came to "fix" it a week or so back was the one who wrote about the new fan in 2009...
Cheers
Duane
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I found this, which is a little clearer than your instructions.
http://www.plumbteamltd.co.uk/heatingpump.html
Thanks for putting me on the right track. Here's hoping it works.
Will post back in a few hours
http://www.plumbteamltd.co.uk/heatingpump.html
Thanks for putting me on the right track. Here's hoping it works.
Will post back in a few hours
If you put a bath towel underneath the smaller unions then loosen them ever so slightly. Then as mentioned drop the pump. By the looks of it don't isolate the pump as no doubt tley will leak.
It appears you have a hot-water cylinder. Look at the top and/or side and see if there is the cap of an immersion heater (there usually is). It should have a heat-resistant flex leading to a switch on the wall.
If you have one, and it works, it will heat (some) of the water in the cylinder, but will take a couple of hours. It will keep you going until the pump is fixed.
If the tapwater gets scaldingly hot, there may be a fault in the immersion thermostat. It is easily fixed, but can be dangerous, especially if you have children or infirm people in the house.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/27in-incoloy-immersion-heater/57798
only the cap will be visible. On older immersion heaters the cap is usually black plastic.
If you have one, and it works, it will heat (some) of the water in the cylinder, but will take a couple of hours. It will keep you going until the pump is fixed.
If the tapwater gets scaldingly hot, there may be a fault in the immersion thermostat. It is easily fixed, but can be dangerous, especially if you have children or infirm people in the house.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/27in-incoloy-immersion-heater/57798
only the cap will be visible. On older immersion heaters the cap is usually black plastic.
Hit it with an hammer!
I was sorely tempted... lol
I've followed the steps that CBF recommended. The motor turned easily, so easily that I thought I wasn't finding the notch at first. From the photos you can imagine that shining a torch and looking into the hole was impossible...
When I turned the valve to the right off I noticed that it was barely open - maybe a quarter turn from fully closed. I've opened it by a couple of turns now and the boiler has been running for around 10 minutes without overheating. Could that valve hardly being open have been the problem all along?
I clarified what the workman said with my wife... he said the valve was leaking (not the pump as I said earlier) but it's a pain to replace and if it is still leaking in 2-3 days to let them know and they would arrange to replace. My guess is that he only opened it a little so that it wouldn't leak and he didn't have to come back to fix it.
Thanks everyone for your input on this, and especially CBF for taking the time to go into the detail that you did.
Cheers
Duane
If you are a tenant then you should not be fiddling with the boiler. Thats the landlords responsibility!
If you damage the boiler the repair costs could be taken from your deposit!
Tony
I know that, but it would have been off for another couple of days at least if I didn't look into it. They don't work weekends and have no out of hours engineers. From past experience they won't reimburse what we spend on a callout either. I wasn't about to start fiddling inside the boiler as it seemed fairly obvious that it wasn't an issue with the boiler itself. All seems to be running normally now, engineer just didn't open a valve properly as far as I can tell.
Cheers
Duane
Cheers
Duane
No probs, but my fault for not telling you to check the valves first 
looking at the way the pump is fitted it should have been one of the first things i should have got you to check,
tony come on it was obv it was a pump/valves prob & not a boiler issue
looking at the way the pump is fitted it should have been one of the first things i should have got you to check,
tony come on it was obv it was a pump/valves prob & not a boiler issue
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