Combi Boiler Help
Discussion
Hoping someone can help. Have had a few problems the last couple of mornings with the hot water in the house.
If I turn a tap on downstairs no problem the pump and pilot light fire up and there is hot water. However yesterday morning and again this morning when running the hot bath tap, the pump fires but not the pilot light so no hot water upstairs. It's also intermitent, just to complicate things further, it only seams to occur after the bath has filled and then when I go to draw more water either from the bath or the sink.
Now if I turn the bath tap on and then go downstairs and turn the kitchen tap on then off, the pilot light stays alight.
I have checked the water pressure after this happened yesterday morning and it was a little low so I topped it up by a small amount, so I know it's not that.
I have the engineer coming out, but can anyone think what it is, just in case it is something i can do.
If I turn a tap on downstairs no problem the pump and pilot light fire up and there is hot water. However yesterday morning and again this morning when running the hot bath tap, the pump fires but not the pilot light so no hot water upstairs. It's also intermitent, just to complicate things further, it only seams to occur after the bath has filled and then when I go to draw more water either from the bath or the sink.
Now if I turn the bath tap on and then go downstairs and turn the kitchen tap on then off, the pilot light stays alight.
I have checked the water pressure after this happened yesterday morning and it was a little low so I topped it up by a small amount, so I know it's not that.
I have the engineer coming out, but can anyone think what it is, just in case it is something i can do.
Edited by CatherineJ on Wednesday 6th October 11:48
What about the central heating, is this working ok?
Sounds like the boiler could be over heating and cutting the gas. When the HW tap is turned off, the heating pump runs for a while to circulate water around the heating system to cool down the boiler, sounds like this is not happening maybe??
When this happened on my boiler it turned out to be the Diverter Valve that switches the water flow from heating to HW. Cost of the part was £80, I fitted it myself.
Sounds like the boiler could be over heating and cutting the gas. When the HW tap is turned off, the heating pump runs for a while to circulate water around the heating system to cool down the boiler, sounds like this is not happening maybe??
When this happened on my boiler it turned out to be the Diverter Valve that switches the water flow from heating to HW. Cost of the part was £80, I fitted it myself.
cjs said:
What about the central heating, is this working ok?
Sounds like the boiler could be over heating and cutting the gas. When the HW tap is turned off, the heating pump runs for a while to circulate water around the heating system to cool down the boiler, sounds like this is not happening maybe??
When this happened on my boiler it turned out to be the Diverter Valve that switches the water flow from heating to HW. Cost of the part was £80, I fitted it myself.
I havent tried the central heating yet this autumn. I've given it a whirl and yes that fires up without a problem. So it's just the hot taps upstairs that is the problem.Sounds like the boiler could be over heating and cutting the gas. When the HW tap is turned off, the heating pump runs for a while to circulate water around the heating system to cool down the boiler, sounds like this is not happening maybe??
When this happened on my boiler it turned out to be the Diverter Valve that switches the water flow from heating to HW. Cost of the part was £80, I fitted it myself.
Edited by CatherineJ on Wednesday 6th October 14:57
Well the heating engineer has gone and now i'm really cross, because I now have no hot water and I can't even here the pump kicking in after he meddled with it. So que me leaving a snotty message on the companies answerphone for tomorrow morning.
He "thinks" it's the diverter valve. He mentioned the diaphragm but recommended the whole valve be replaced as we live in a hard water area. So he's gone off to enquire about parts and someone will ring tomorrow.
Thanks for all your help guys.
He "thinks" it's the diverter valve. He mentioned the diaphragm but recommended the whole valve be replaced as we live in a hard water area. So he's gone off to enquire about parts and someone will ring tomorrow.
Thanks for all your help guys.
Ferg said:
Hmmm.....diaphragm too cheap, obviously.
Hard water my arse.
Something about the venturis blocking with limescale. In fact when he first arrived, he said he thought it was limescale again (he came out 2 years ago to put in a new heat exchanger and remembered). Anyway he soon decided it wasn't that. So we will see what they come up with tomorrow.Hard water my arse.
CatherineJ said:
Ferg said:
Hmmm.....diaphragm too cheap, obviously.
Hard water my arse.
Something about the venturis blocking with limescale. In fact when he first arrived, he said he thought it was limescale again (he came out 2 years ago to put in a new heat exchanger and remembered). Anyway he soon decided it wasn't that. So we will see what they come up with tomorrow.Hard water my arse.
dirkgently said:
CatherineJ said:
Ferg said:
Hmmm.....diaphragm too cheap, obviously.
Hard water my arse.
Something about the venturis blocking with limescale. In fact when he first arrived, he said he thought it was limescale again (he came out 2 years ago to put in a new heat exchanger and remembered). Anyway he soon decided it wasn't that. So we will see what they come up with tomorrow.Hard water my arse.
but it sounds like a load of old flannel to me.Well I nearly fell off my chair with the quote.
£349 plus the cost of yesterday's call out to replace a valve, making a total of £399.00
Anyway I spoke to the boiler manufacturer and they feel the diaphragm can be replaced and not the whole bloomin unit. They called a gas engineer near to me to discuss and again he was of the same opinion as the manufacturer that it's just going to need the part and not the whole valve.
£349 plus the cost of yesterday's call out to replace a valve, making a total of £399.00
Anyway I spoke to the boiler manufacturer and they feel the diaphragm can be replaced and not the whole bloomin unit. They called a gas engineer near to me to discuss and again he was of the same opinion as the manufacturer that it's just going to need the part and not the whole valve.
CatherineJ said:
Well I nearly fell off my chair with the quote.
£349 plus the cost of yesterday's call out to replace a valve, making a total of £399.00
Anyway I spoke to the boiler manufacturer and they feel the diaphragm can be replaced and not the whole bloomin unit. They called a gas engineer near to me to discuss and again he was of the same opinion as the manufacturer that it's just going to need the part and not the whole valve.
It makes me embarrassed to be in this industry when you get people like that coming 'round. That's damn steep for a diverter valve too!!! £349 plus the cost of yesterday's call out to replace a valve, making a total of £399.00
Anyway I spoke to the boiler manufacturer and they feel the diaphragm can be replaced and not the whole bloomin unit. They called a gas engineer near to me to discuss and again he was of the same opinion as the manufacturer that it's just going to need the part and not the whole valve.
Edited to add:
PS I don't know what boiler you have, but here are some typical diaphragm prices.
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=p390...
Edited by Ferg on Thursday 7th October 18:19
Well an update for those of you that were kind enough to advise me last week.
I had a new heating engineer out today.
The Diverter Valve Membrane diagnosis from the other company was incorrect. It was a faulty microswitch on the diverter valve, which unfortunately just happens to have been smashed by last weeks company (you could tell because the break was spotless with no build up of dust and dirt).
In addition to that somehow the back of the pressure guage has also been broken and water was escaping. Not sure how that has happened, the guage was probably 2 years old as I remember having that replaced after we moved in.
So as you can imagine I am in the process of writing a stern letter to last weeks comapny to tell them where they can stick their bill, which will undoubtedly be winging it's way to me.
I had a new heating engineer out today.
The Diverter Valve Membrane diagnosis from the other company was incorrect. It was a faulty microswitch on the diverter valve, which unfortunately just happens to have been smashed by last weeks company (you could tell because the break was spotless with no build up of dust and dirt).
In addition to that somehow the back of the pressure guage has also been broken and water was escaping. Not sure how that has happened, the guage was probably 2 years old as I remember having that replaced after we moved in.
So as you can imagine I am in the process of writing a stern letter to last weeks comapny to tell them where they can stick their bill, which will undoubtedly be winging it's way to me.
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