Hi All,
I am looking for some advise on the problems I am having with my boiler. It is a Worcester 400 electronic series. It was new in 2003. Generally it has been great, but this last six months have been a pig. Problems started when we put the heating on back in October.
DHW was cold and so was CH in certain radiator. Upstairs radiator worked fine, but downstairs got no heat at all. Engineer diagnosed a circulation issue and probable sludged heat exchange plate.
I spent a couple of months working on circulate by draining and using cleaning chemicals. Each time the drained water got cleaner and cleaner, it started off pitch black like ink, but now looks like a light brown colour. I think I have drained and used fresh chemicalls 6 times now (two weeks of running each time before emptying). DHW improved straight away.
Finally got some break through with downstairs rads. They get some warmth, but not great. I have rebalanced the system which has helped. I have noticed that if I drain via the fitted drain valve (Flow loop)then the system can drain in 10 min. It I connect to the return flow then it takes 40 mins. I think the return still has circulation issues, but it is better than it used to be.
Hot water has improved massively, but still get a slight flux in temp, but no where near what it used to do. Biggest variance is noticed when on full flow running a bath.
Biggest concern I have is the CH. The boiler seems to cut out and stop producing CH hot water. I can feel the pipe get really hot coming out of the boiler, but it only last for 30 seconds, then the boiler cuts out and the pipe cools down. The cut out lasts about 3-4 mins then the boiler fires up again, the flow pipe heats up, then it cuts out again and the pipe goes cold.
I am getting no sustained flow of hot water into the rads. There are no flashing lights that I have seen before when the system reaches low pressure. Does anyone know what is causing this cutting out issue?
Engineer has been back out and is suggesting replacing the heat exchanger to fix the DHW temp variances, but will that also fix the CH issue. I am nervous about paying for a new exchanger plate if the circulation is still not right and I end up sending contaminated/sludged water into the new exchanger plate.
Any advise much appreciated.
Cheers
Steve
I am looking for some advise on the problems I am having with my boiler. It is a Worcester 400 electronic series. It was new in 2003. Generally it has been great, but this last six months have been a pig. Problems started when we put the heating on back in October.
DHW was cold and so was CH in certain radiator. Upstairs radiator worked fine, but downstairs got no heat at all. Engineer diagnosed a circulation issue and probable sludged heat exchange plate.
I spent a couple of months working on circulate by draining and using cleaning chemicals. Each time the drained water got cleaner and cleaner, it started off pitch black like ink, but now looks like a light brown colour. I think I have drained and used fresh chemicalls 6 times now (two weeks of running each time before emptying). DHW improved straight away.
Finally got some break through with downstairs rads. They get some warmth, but not great. I have rebalanced the system which has helped. I have noticed that if I drain via the fitted drain valve (Flow loop)then the system can drain in 10 min. It I connect to the return flow then it takes 40 mins. I think the return still has circulation issues, but it is better than it used to be.
Hot water has improved massively, but still get a slight flux in temp, but no where near what it used to do. Biggest variance is noticed when on full flow running a bath.
Biggest concern I have is the CH. The boiler seems to cut out and stop producing CH hot water. I can feel the pipe get really hot coming out of the boiler, but it only last for 30 seconds, then the boiler cuts out and the pipe cools down. The cut out lasts about 3-4 mins then the boiler fires up again, the flow pipe heats up, then it cuts out again and the pipe goes cold.
I am getting no sustained flow of hot water into the rads. There are no flashing lights that I have seen before when the system reaches low pressure. Does anyone know what is causing this cutting out issue?
Engineer has been back out and is suggesting replacing the heat exchanger to fix the DHW temp variances, but will that also fix the CH issue. I am nervous about paying for a new exchanger plate if the circulation is still not right and I end up sending contaminated/sludged water into the new exchanger plate.
Any advise much appreciated.
Cheers
Steve
