Another Boiler Question
Discussion
OK there seem to be a few heating engineers and other experts on here, so I'd appreciate a bit of free advice if poss 
I have a combi boiler (Ocean Alpha240 Eco?) that was in the house when I bought it 3.5 years ago. The central heating works but the hot water doesn't any more, unless the central heating is on and the burners are going.
I pulled the thing apart and there's a pressure valve in the hot water circuit that pushes a pin out when one of the hot taps are turned on (detecting pressure drop?) - this pin then pushes a standard-looking microswitch that turns on the boiler and, hey presto, hot water.
The pin valve doesn't push the pin out far enough to trip the microswitch any more - the microswitch works and we get hot water if I manually push the microswitch.
I know I'll need to replace the boiler at some point (and fancy one of those gadget boilers with the Stirling engine built in to reduce my electricity bill from all these computers) - but is that pin valve replaceable easily?
It's not connected to the gas part of the boiler so presumably either any competent plumber or me with the right tools could replace it, assuming it's an available spare part?
I'd rather do a quick fix on this old boiler during the winter and get the boiler properly replaced in the summer. Good, reliable plumbers all seem to be booked up flat out in the winter, and I'm not having some random cowboy turning up and bullshitting me about needing £6k's worth of work.
Anyone here had a similar problem? I'm hoping it's an easy fix
I have a combi boiler (Ocean Alpha240 Eco?) that was in the house when I bought it 3.5 years ago. The central heating works but the hot water doesn't any more, unless the central heating is on and the burners are going.
I pulled the thing apart and there's a pressure valve in the hot water circuit that pushes a pin out when one of the hot taps are turned on (detecting pressure drop?) - this pin then pushes a standard-looking microswitch that turns on the boiler and, hey presto, hot water.
The pin valve doesn't push the pin out far enough to trip the microswitch any more - the microswitch works and we get hot water if I manually push the microswitch.
I know I'll need to replace the boiler at some point (and fancy one of those gadget boilers with the Stirling engine built in to reduce my electricity bill from all these computers) - but is that pin valve replaceable easily?
It's not connected to the gas part of the boiler so presumably either any competent plumber or me with the right tools could replace it, assuming it's an available spare part?
I'd rather do a quick fix on this old boiler during the winter and get the boiler properly replaced in the summer. Good, reliable plumbers all seem to be booked up flat out in the winter, and I'm not having some random cowboy turning up and bullshitting me about needing £6k's worth of work.
Anyone here had a similar problem? I'm hoping it's an easy fix
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