Combination Boilers
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Discussion

NiceCupOfTea

Original Poster:

25,586 posts

280 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all
Can anybody help with a problem we're having with ours at the moment?

Basically, it's not heating!

When you turn on the water the pump kicks in, but the burner doesn't light. It was fine until yesterday. THen last night it was okay again, but now it's stopped working again.

The pressure guage shows a tad under 0.5 bar which according to the manual is a tad under, but it's not clear what I should do to remedy this.

Could it be the mains water pressure is down which has affected it?

Any suggestions?

viggen114

259 posts

282 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all
broken / expired thermocouple
couple of quid item, more than a couple of quid to get a gas fitter to fit it.

:

NiceCupOfTea

Original Poster:

25,586 posts

280 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all
Would that explain it starting working again last night?

cotty

42,226 posts

313 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all
NiceCupOfTea said:
Can anybody help with a problem we're having with ours at the moment?

Basically, it's not heating!

When you turn on the water the pump kicks in, but the burner doesn't light. It was fine until yesterday. THen last night it was okay again, but now it's stopped working again.

The pressure guage shows a tad under 0.5 bar which according to the manual is a tad under, but it's not clear what I should do to remedy this.

Could it be the mains water pressure is down which has affected it?

Any suggestions?


If the pressure is to low you might need to increase the pressure, there shoud be a way of doing this via a knob or screw (oow er misses), try phoning the maker and asking them

NiceCupOfTea

Original Poster:

25,586 posts

280 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all
Yes, that's what I wanted to do, sadly there is a noddy "how to use the timer" manual and a haynes 5-spanner style installation manual, and it refers to all sorts of things I don't know anything about.

it has the usual bit of braided pipe with 2 valves at the end, not sure if I need to adjust one of those to build up pressure - thoughts?

plug

1,136 posts

267 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all
NiceCupOfTea said:
Can anybody help with a problem we're having with ours at the moment?



The pressure guage shows a tad under 0.5 bar which according to the manual is a tad under, but it's not clear what I should do to remedy this.



Any suggestions?


The pressure is normally around 1.5 bar on most combies. There should be a flexible pipe connecting the incoming mains near the boiler to one of the heating pipes with a small stopcock to fill up the heating.

vrooom

3,763 posts

296 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all
Have you paid for your gas bill?

dirkgently

2,160 posts

260 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all
plug said:

The pressure is normally around 1.5 bar on most combies. There should be a flexible pipe connecting the incoming mains near the boiler to one of the heating pipes with a small stopcock to fill up the heating.


What he said

Ferg

15,242 posts

286 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]

FAME!!Hmmm... thermocouple only keeps the pilot alight, so if it HAS a pilot and it's alight that rules that out. Low pressure is a possibility, most would survive on 0.5 Bar, but it is best to keep it around 1 Bar COLD. Re fill it using the filling loop which MAY be internal. Effectively it joins mains cold to the heating circuit via a removeable hose. If low pressure is causing it it means you have lost water (or possibly air) from the system. Any visible leaks? Vented any rads lately??
The other possibility (and to be honest there are more than a few...) is the diaphragm/microswitch. That's in and on a brass mushroom shaped thing inside and is designed to operate when the tap is turned on...check it moves. Does it work on heating or hot-water or neither?

NiceCupOfTea

Original Poster:

25,586 posts

280 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all
Thanks for all the advice! Difficult to diagnose much, even with the cover off there's not much to be seen. There are some diagnostic lights which seem to do what they're supposed to.

Will try and increase the pressure now.

NiceCupOfTea

Original Poster:

25,586 posts

280 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all
Hm, adjusted the valves at either end, but nothing whatsoever happened... Should I try it again when the pump is running?

The Burner On light isn't coming on although the fan comes on.

>> Edited by NiceCupOfTea on Tuesday 28th June 22:31

parrot of doom

23,075 posts

263 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all
Have you tried a bloody good whack on the side? That worked on my old one for a few months until it packed in altogether (different fault )

NiceCupOfTea

Original Poster:

25,586 posts

280 months

Tuesday 28th June 2005
quotequote all






















Yes!

dirkgently

2,160 posts

260 months

Wednesday 29th June 2005
quotequote all
Sounds like it’s time to enrich your local CORGI engineer

MOTCO

17,612 posts

275 months

Wednesday 29th June 2005
quotequote all
Surely you don't literally adjust these valves, they're supposed to be closed at all [normal] times. What you do, or what I do on my son's combi, is make sure they're closed,open one fully, then just crack the other to leak mains pressure water in until the pressure gauge reads 1 bar then quickly close them both.

In my opinion, for what it's worth, is that combis are unnecessarily complex and potentially troublesome. The alleged benefits they offer are illusory because they waste huge amounts of water when you're trying to get water at the desired temperature out of them. They produce "virtual" hot water which, like that other rather elusive kind of wetness, disappears instantly if you say the wrong thing. They're a pain in the ar*e.

NiceCupOfTea

Original Poster:

25,586 posts

280 months

Wednesday 29th June 2005
quotequote all
MOTCO said:
Surely you don't literally adjust these valves, they're supposed to be closed at all [normal] times. What you do, or what I do on my son's combi, is make sure they're closed,open one fully, then just crack the other to leak mains pressure water in until the pressure gauge reads 1 bar then quickly close them both.


Can anybody else corroborate this? (no offence, just want to get a couple of people agreeing before I risk flooding the place! )

Balmoral Green

42,561 posts

277 months

Wednesday 29th June 2005
quotequote all
We've had a combi since last October, very pleased with it. Havent particularly noticed any problems when someone turns a tap on elsewhere, nothing that a very loud scream of "Turn that bloody tap off!" cant solve

Also the ex-airing/tank cupboard is now yet another wardrobe for Mrs BG.

supaspark

2,105 posts

267 months

Wednesday 29th June 2005
quotequote all
I've had one like this before it ended up being the PCB, try turning the CB of at the breaker for five mins then cold start the CB, if it fires up then quits its posibly the PCB (prob some component breaking circuit underload)
Most PCB cards are £60 to £100
Good look!

Pigeon

18,535 posts

275 months

Thursday 30th June 2005
quotequote all
NiceCupOfTea said:

MOTCO said:
Surely you don't literally adjust these valves, they're supposed to be closed at all [normal] times. What you do, or what I do on my son's combi, is make sure they're closed,open one fully, then just crack the other to leak mains pressure water in until the pressure gauge reads 1 bar then quickly close them both.

Can anybody else corroborate this? (no offence, just want to get a couple of people agreeing before I risk flooding the place! )

Yes, that sounds right.

MOTCO

17,612 posts

275 months

Thursday 30th June 2005
quotequote all
As a matter of interest, you're supposed to remove the pressurising hose altogether when you've done the job. I don't know anyone with a combi that does remove it, though. Just wait until the government's plumbing thought-police find out!