Central heating problem
 

Hi all,

We have a central heating problem. The thermostat 'clicks' when you turn it, but the boiler does not fire into life. It's an ideal classic if that makes a difference. Should the pilot be on all the time?

Any ideas? Both Julie and me are feeling ill at the moment, and with Mia ~16 months old it's not an ideal situation :cry:

Cheers,

G

I am not a boiler guy, but if it's a mega flow system the storage cylinder is low on water the boiler will not fire.

If you are both feeling ill get a carbon monoxide tester/alarm sooner rather than later,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditio...shtml#symptoms

I've followed the instructions on the back of the front panel to light the pilot. Turn off, set thermostat to 6, turn on. It says it should then light after a few seconds, but there is nothing, no noises, nothing. It's as if it isn't getting power. Where does it get its power from? The box under it that you set the on/off times etc (no idea what its called)?

G

no idea g i would get a trained chappy in,pilote light f,u,d stabe in the dark,

If you,ve got the gas meter outside the house have you checked to see if some joker has turned it off.

Check your main house electric panel to make sure it hasnt tripped, there should also be a fused spur near the boiler, a wire from the boiler to a plug like box on the wall where a fuse may be.

Just a few ideas.

Im no boiler expert either. However, is your system pressurised from the mains water supply ? Some of them are and have a safety lockout. If this is the case then there will be a pressure gauge and a water supply shut off valve somewhere near it. If you have removed any rads recently then the pressure will of dropped and may need restoring.

Like i said im no expert - im in the cooling trade ;)

Failing that you could try asking here for about £7. Never used the site before but it looks like you post your question and pay some plumber to answer it for you.

http://www.justanswer.com/questions/...f-boiler-seems

The click of the thermostat is the bimetallic switch? this closes an electrical circuit and 'tells' the boiler to fire, assuming the timer isn't overiding it? Pretty sure the pilot light should be on 24/7. Essentially it's either preventing itself from firing for some pre-programmed reason, or it's knacked. Have you had a good read through the manual (maybe downloadable if necessary)?

Agree with Mr Church - check the electrics. Hell, we all know electicity is the route of most our problems! :lol:

Right, found a manual here:

http://www.idealboilers.com/docs/htm...he_manual.html

In the trouble shooting the first thing it asks is "is the neon lit on the PCB", well no it's not :cry: - i've got it in bits now :lol:

I need to know where this thing is powered from.

There is the box underneath to set the time of day etc, with a fused switch next to it. The fuse is ok (checked) and when I turn the switch off the timer box goes off. Does this switch also isolate the boiler? The fuse is only 3A, seems a bit small to me.

Cheers,

G

3A will be fine - its only a control circuit fuse and carries no load - gonna read the manual ;)

No, thats the correct size fuse. Dont change it. If the switch is turning the programmer off then at least you know you have power.
Can you turn the boiler Hot water onto constant?
Can you turn the Central heating to constant?
What happens?
Have you got Gas at another appliance that you can try to check the gas is ok?

Looking at the wiring diagram the PCB is fed from the overheat thermostat so thats where id look first. There should be a mini fuse on the pcb too. After that im fooked. Not worth the risk of buggering about with it if your not confident - you dont want to poison your family with CO do ya :cry:

On the timer box thing under the boiler I can set it to "on", think I tried that earlier, but will try again.

I'll go try the gas too.

1 sec.

G

Make sure that the room stat is fully on ie 30 degrees or number 10 etc.

Yeh, room thermostat on, mains switch on, timer box set to on, switch on front of boiler on, still no neon lit on boiler pcb :cry:

There might be a manual reset button on that overheat thermostat - according to the wiring diagram it should have two brown wires going to it. Mains supply -- overheat stat -- switch on boiler fascia -- pcb neon should be lit :thumbsup:

Yup, mains comes in and goes throught the overheat stat before getting to the PCB. The button hasn't popped out though :(

G

If you have 240V to the PCB but the neon isnt lit and the mini fuse upon it hasnt blown then i would guess that the PCB is fooked Graham :cry:

if you have no pilot light, then the issue is on the boiler, and not the thermostat/timer, I would think.

You need to assess if you got gas pressure, water pressure (if a combi), if you got that, then I would think it is an internal fault on the boiler. Call out the cowboys... I mean, British Gas, they do a one off repair fee.

Sounds like you need a pucker 'gas safe' chappie (used to be called corgi) most common problem is the thermocouple that sits in the pilot flame, when hot provides a voltage to the gas valve, big lump that controls the gas, if the pilot goes out the gas valve switches off the gas supply in case it comes back on, ain't lit and gasses you, also if the thermocouple fails then the the gas valve won't get a voltage - no gas, all good fitters will have one with them.

I would take the front cover off find the input power terminals and check for a supply.

A

I can't seem to get the box bit holding the PCB enough to really start probing about with a multi meter :cry:

Looks to me like it's past what I can do anyway at 10pm at night when I'm feeling like shit anyway.

Looks like we're in for a cold night :cry::cry:

I'll have to get a man out to look at it tomorrow. Does anyone know anyone good around the Malton area?

G

About heating
 

there is a three way valve in airing cupboard they stick on when heating hasent been on for a while normally if you pull them manually they some times free off :thumbsup:

We haven't had the heating on over summer, but had it back on for about the last week or so and it's been working fine.

G

Id of thought that this would give you a "hot water only" or "Central heating only" symptom rather than a no pilot light

I dont know much about gas but im 99% it wont be that, the three way valve just diverts the duty to either heating the hot water or the rads.

i reckon its most likely an electronics fault personally. Like you said G best to get a qualified guy out and have it serviced at the same time. Watch what he does and do it yourself next time - thats what i do :)

Get the hot water bottles out. Good luck with it.

About Boiler
 

I went round to hulmey tc3 the other day it worked on his they seize up and the water cannot pump around system it confuses the boiler

Quick update, I got brave with the multimeter. There is not 240V on the first mains block inside the unit, so I'm gonna take the timer box to bits, any suggestions?

G

Before you call out British Gas or a local heating engineer - call Ideal.

They may well do a fixed fee repair themselves.

If they are anything like the Vokera engineer that sorted our boiler, they will have a van full of parts and know the boilers inside out.

There may be a wiring diagram in the inside cover of the timer. I dont know how they are wired though - sorry mate. probably a permanent live and neutral for the motor within the timeclock ( if its a mechanical one ), an output for hot water and an output for heating. These are guesses though based on what i know about refrigeration controls. Good luck

Check fuse
 

check fuse in fuse spur:thumbsup:

on the off chance, have you checked the main power connector block on the RHS of the boiler, whether there is voltage there

Thats where I checked boss, before the Overheat stat :(

what timer do you have, and does the timer have two cables coming out of it, one for live feed, one switching?

Take some covers off and take some pics of connections etc.

A

Timer is an ACL Lifestyle LP241.

I can't work out how to get into it :cry:

G

http://www.heatingcontrolsonline.co....uctions/LP.pdf

;)

got that, doesn't say how to take it to bits :(

G

If in doubt, give it a clout :thumbsup: