Glowworm Ultimate No Heating or Hot Water

After returning from a holiday abroad to the cold of this country one of my customers had to call me out because they had no heating or hot water. The first thing I did was look at their Glowworm Ultimate boiler because they said that they could not see the pilot light. I removed the bottom tray and could see from the gas valve that there was no permanent pilot and that being the fan-flued Glowworm Ultimate had automatic ignition (the pilot lights itself as and when the boiler needs to fire up).

It was at this point that I noticed that the overheat button on the controls fascia was sitting out. I pushed on the button and sure enough it clicked as I reset it. As soon as I reset the overheat button the boiler came to life and fired up. I hung around at the boiler for a moment to ensure that the system was circulating and not likely to overheat immediately. The boiler was running fairly quietly so went to check around the rest of the system.

I told the customer that it may have been caused by a bit of air or if there was a power cut whilst the boiler was running. He replied by saying that he had been having unrelated issues just before he went on holiday. He had asked a friend of the family to replace the immersion heater which turned out to be faulty and kept tripping the electrics until it was replaced with another unit. The plumber had also broken a part on the heating system and ended up draining and refilling the system to replace it and the pump. Like I had already said the boiler overheating was either due to cutting out of the electrics or air in the system. After resetting the boiler the system is working as it should be again.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Glowworm Ultimate Whining Noise

I was called out at the weekend because a customer was concerned at the noise their boiler was making. Unusually I could even hear it over the phone whilst the customer was talking to me. It was quite a high pitched noise and almost sounded like there was a washing machine on fast spin. As soon as I heard it when I was in front of the boiler I could immediately tell that it was the fan that was making the noise.

Due to the was these boilers work the fans are subjected to quite high temperatures over their lifetime and it is no surprise that they fail. The bearings in the motor often dry out and begin to emit a whining noise. If left too long the friction in the motor can cause the fan to seize and burn out. Fortunately the customer was wise to the fact that something wasn't quite right and called me before they were left with no heating or hot water.

I replaced the fan, each if which is different for each model. The fans come on a plate which has varying sized holes in the bottom depending upon the boiler size. Also the bigger boilers have bigger windings on the fan to increase the rotation speed and exhaust of gases. The boiler is now running much better and the customer was surprised how much quieter the new fan is.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Hot Water Staying Hot Even Though Turned Off

A customer rang me to have a look at his hot water today as he was getting plenty of hot water even though it had not been set to come on for almost a week. Quite often I go to have a look at this fault to find that the immersion heater has been turned on by the wife or kids! When I looked in the airing cupboard the immersion heater was wired into a plug and clearly unplugged.

Looking at the timer the central heating was set to be on through the day and the hot water was off.  I turned up the room thermostat to bring the pump and boiler on. I then waited in the airing cupboard feeling the pipes to find out where the heat was going. The heat appeared between the pump and motorised valve first of all and could be felt going to the radiator circuit. The radiator circuit being port A of the motorised valve. The pipework between the valve and the motorised valve was very short making it difficult to gauge the temperature of the hot water travelling within the pipe due to the transfer of heat back from the cylinder. I felt the pipe on the cylinder return, which is the lower connection and could feel it slowly starting to get warm.

I decided that it was almost definitely the motorised valve at fault and decide to replace it. When the valve had been removed I could see that when the valve was in the central heating position port B for the hot water was not being closed off fully. Had the valve been open wider I'm sure the customer would have been complaining that their hot water was excessively hot because it would have been heating the whole time the heating came on.

I replaced the motorised valve and retested the system to make sure that the valve was moving as it should and that their was no air in the system and all the radiators got hot. Once everything was up and running I left the heating and hot water set on the timer.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Boilermate 2000 No Hot Water

I was called by one of our customers because she had no hot water, and running a hair styling business from home it was urgent. I visited to find a Glowworm Ultimate and Boilermate 2000 cylinder. The lady had tried to put the electrical boost function on the cylinder but was still not getting any hot water.

I looked inside the cover of the Boilermate 2000 cylinder and could see that the display on the PCB was blank, although two of the green LEDs were lit and two of the pumps were running. Pushing the little buttons on the PCB to toggle through the displays of the circuit board was not having any effect. For some reason the PCB had failed and was no demanding heat from the boiler or operating the boiler pump. There was no GT155 PCB in stock locally or available next day from our suppliers and had to be ordered for the following week.

I looked into the electrical side of the Boilermate Cylinder and could see that the immersion heater had been wired up, and that there was wiring to the cylinder for the electrical side. However, the fuses were pulled out and secured out with a cable tie and the electrical side had never been commisioned at installation. I advised the customer to contact and electrician to check the electrics which got the hot water heating again temporarily until I was able to return with a new PCB.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Baxi Solo WM 30/4 RS No Hot Water

I was called to look at a Baxi Solo WM 30/4 RS which was not working and the lady had ran out of hot water. Immediately I could see that the pilot was not lit and attempted to relight the pilot light. It would not stay lit and being the SS version had an overheat thermostat interrupting the pilot thermocouple at the gas valve. Once I had reset the overheat thermostat I was able to relight the pilot light and the boiler was able to fire for the hot water.

As soon as the main burner came on I could hear that the boiler was unusually noisy and so checked the burner pressure which was as it should be. The pump which was adjacent to the boiler was fairly old and didn't quite sound as if it was running at the correct speed. I replace the pump and refired the system and the boiler was running a lot more quietly and didn't sound so scaled up.

After the boiler ran for about five minutes it started to crash and bang before cutting out on the overheat thermostat. I used my flue and gas analyser to measure the flow and return temperatures to find that the flow temperature was exceeding what it should have been and the boiler thermostat was not cutting off the boiler until the overheat thermostat kicked in. I replaced the Ranco C77P0135 thermostat and the system was working well again.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Ideal Classic Clicking Noise

My boss was called to look at an Ideal Classic boiler because the customer was complaining that it would regularly make a clicking noise for an extended period of time whilst the boiler was running. He visited but could hear no noise, although the customer said it had been making the noise all afternoon. He left them to monitor the situation.

They soon called him back because it was still 'clicking' more or less constantly. Once again the boiler was working perfectly upon his arrival. He assumed that it may have been one of the gas valve solenoids breaking down and causing the boiler to constantly re-light. He changed the gas valve and left with the boiler working perfectly.

Being on call the following week the customer called me out because the boiler was still 'clicking' and the problem had not been solved. Once again, I arrive to find a boiler working perfectly that had been 'clicking' all morning. Using my experience I looked at the PCB as I recall having the same problem before. I could see that there was some blackening to the relays on the PCB. When the relays become blackened I think it is more difficult for them to maintain contact and do their required task. I replaced the PCB and left the boiler working. I had to re-visit the customer a week later for an unrelated issue and he said the boiler had been working silently since my visit.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Glowworm Cxi Dripping and G10 Seal

A friend of mine recently moved into a new house and asked me to look at his boiler as there was a couple of outstanding issues left by the previous owner. Before moving into the house he had been told by an engineer that inspected the heating system that the boiler required a new G10 burner door seal. He was also told by the previous owner that there was a regular drip, hence the bowl underneath.

Looking at the burner door I could see that the boiler had the earlier burner door seal fitted. The main seal looked to be ok, but there was signs of staining at the bottom of the burner door where the smaller seal is. I knew it was likely to be the earlier seal as the burner door was secured using the earlier nuts which are not of the Nyloc type. I removed the burner door and exchanged the earlier 'rubber' seal for the graphite one. The lower seal is still made of 'rubber'. I also filled in the label with the date and stuck this to the boiler so the seal should get replaced in five years time.

The dripping I immediately noticed was coming from the disconnnector. The disconnector valve is the fancy non-return valve they have fitted to the built-in filling loop. It is quite common for them to drip just after re-pressurising the system, and sometimes the dripping stops after a minute or two. Unfortunately  the disconnector had been dripping for an extended period and required replacement with part number 802600. This part comes with a new disconnector valve and an upgraded filling tap. The earlier taps were plastic internally and use to seize and break shut, whereas the new ones are brass internally.

Had the disconnector not been leaking it would have been cheaper, and quite easy on this installation to use a standard filling loop on the existing pipework. After installing the new filling loop I repressurised the heating system which due to the low local water pressure was a struggle to get to 1 bar. The disconnector dripped after filling for a short period which I expect is a consequence of the low water pressure and would consider fitting a standard filling loop on my next visit.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Glowworm Compact No Central Heating

Was asked by a lady to look at her Glowworm Compact as her central heating was not working. The hot water was working, but she did complain that it was a too hot if anything of late. The lady could not understand why the boiler was constantly running even though the central heating was turned off on the timer.

Looking at the boiler it was running even though the timer was turned off. Looking at the symbols on the boiler I could see that the tap symbol was illuminated even though there were no taps running and the boiler pump was running. I turned the timeclock on but nothing changed with the boiler. I opened the tap and the water was very hot, and cooled a bit before the boiler fired up.

After I turned off the tap, the boiler still continued to run for a while before getting too hot and cutting out. The tap symbol remained illuminated. I ran the tap on and off a couple of times and the tap symbol extinguished, then the heating symbol came on and the heating began to work. I tried the hot water once again, and after I turned the tap off the tap symbol stayed illuminated.

I removed the hot water microswitch on the right hand side from it's position over the pin which operates it. Once removed the hot water symbol extinguished and I could see that the pin was still out quite a way as if a tap was open. I was able to push the pin back in with my hand which I should not be able to do if a tap was actually open.

I replaced the diaphragm (Parts Center 440776) in case it had stretched and the diaphragm cover (Parts Center 440100) in case the pin was corroded and sticking. Another happy customer with working heating and hot water.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Glowworm Cxi Dripping Water

I was called by a customer to look at a Glowworm Cxi which intermittently would have water dripping from underneath. The customer had a bowl underneath the boiler and pointed to the corner of the case on the front left at the bottom and had seen water dripping from there.

I looked around the bottom of the boiler and could not see any signs of water on any of the joints or at the disconnector. I opened the case of the boiler to see if there was any signs of water inside the case. I could see some brown staining on the 'floor' of the inner case and it ran across from the front left corner to the condense trap. There was a couple of droplets sitting on top of the condense trap.

I checked the route of the condense pipe which ran into the waste pipework below the kitchen sink. Fortunately it was connected using threaded fittings and so I was able to disconnect the condense pipe from the waste pipe easily. Sure enough it was full of gunge due to the way it had been connected in under the sink, waste had been slowly accumulating in the condense pipe before blocking it up. I managed to get a fair amount out into a bowl. Leaving the condense disconnected I poured a little water into the inner flue using a jug which flushed through the condense pipe.

During the summer their probably was not a great deal of condensate produced with just the hot water in use. However, turning the heating on revealed the problem as the amount of condensate would be increased.

This has solved the leak in the short term but have advised the customer to have the drainage altered to prevent the condense from blocking again because it could cause more expensive damage.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Honeywell Programmer No Hot Water/Central Heating

I was called to look at a system because the customer was complaining that they had no hot water but that their heating was working. For a system with a three-port valve this is unusual but not impossible. Looking in the airing cupboard I remembered that I had fitted a new Honeywell motorised valve last year so thought it unusual that it should fail. Their was an old Potterton PTT2 cylinder thermostat so thought that this may be the issue.

I put the hot water on at the programmer and returned to the airing cupboard. The cylinder thermostat was lit to say it was demanding heat and I could feel that their was circulation around the hot water circuit. I turned the cylinder thermostat up and down and it was responding to my demands. All working with no problems.

I put the heating on and waited for the radiators to get hot. I waited and nothing happened. Strange, I've come to look at why there is no hot water which is working and now I have no central heating. Returning to the airing cupboard I checked the electrics in the junction box. There was no power on the white, and there was also no power to the room thermostat from the programmer.

I went back to the programmer, Honeywell ST9400, which I had fitted five months ago and turned the heating and hot water off. I then turned the heating back on, five seconds later the boiler fires up and the radiators have started warming. I turn the hot water back on, and now this isn't working. Usually when either the heating or hot water is switched on their is a click and the related green light illuminates. However, in this case both the lights would come on but their would be no click from either the heating or the hot water depending upon which you switch on second.

I fitted a new Danfoss FP715 programmer and set the dipswitches to the 7-day mode and everything was working as it should be.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Baxi Solo 3 No Heating

As always when it turns cold I get numerous calls to look at heating systems because the central heating is not coming on and the homeowner has no idea why. The lady in question had turned everything off because in the morning when the heating was supposed to come on she was disturbed by a loud clanging noise coming from the airing cupboard.

As I usually do I began by ensuring that the hot water was working correctly and set the hot water to come on. The pump kicked in and sounded as if it was working fine, I went to the garage to check on the Baxi Solo 3 which was lit and running. I returned to the airing cupboard and could feel that the hot water was circulating with no issues.

I then turned the hot water off and set the heating to be on, as I returned to the airing cupboard the clanging began. The motorised valve installed was a Tower valve with a red plastic body which in my experience are not the best valves. As it was trying switch over to heating the mechanism was slipping. It would open so far before the tension of the spring got too much and clanged the valve back to hot water. I drained the system and replaced the three-port valve leaving another happy customer.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Ideal Classic Sealed System Tripping Electrics

I was called by a customer because his electrics kept tripping off, and he had isolated the problem to be with his central heating system. He suggested that the consumer unit tripped off whenever the heating came on. I decided to test the system to narrow the fault down.

Firstly I switched the boiler off on it's power switch before turning the fused spur back on. The electrics stayed on and so I switched the hot water on. The system has two zone valves and so after a few seconds the valve opened and powered the pump. As soon as the pump started I could hear that it was making an unusual noise but still sounded as if it was working, then after five seconds the power tripped out. I reset everything and decided to try the central heating, and everything tripped out in exactly the same way about five seconds after the zone valve opened.

I removed the casing around the sealed system unit and then altered the position of the pressure vessel to enable access the electric of the pump. After removing the electrics cover form the pump I could see that there was quite a lot condensation within the pump electrics and this was without doubt the cause of the problem. I replace the pump and set the system going again, and all was working correctly.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Baxi Combi 80e No Heating or Hot Water

A retired gentleman called me to look at his Baxi Combi 80e because he had neither heating or hot water. Unfortunately, being elderly he is unable to get into the loft to check on the boiler. Contrary to Building Regulations the loft does not have fixed access, although it is lit and boarded. Regardless  of this, the poor old boy would not be able to ascend or descend a ladder and calls me regularly.

As soon as I looked at the boiler I could see that the water pressure in the system was very low and the 'pump' warning light was flashing to indicate that there was no circulation. This is the 60 degree light. I refilled the system to 1.5 bar using the filling loop, set the heating on and tested the hot water. The hot water was working again fine, but when I returned to the loft I could see that the water pressure in the system had increased significantly, and so turned the heating back off.

I fetched my hose and pump out of the van. I connected the hose to the system and let the pressure out leaving the drain-off cock open. I then connected my pump to the Schrader valve on the pressure vessel and the gauge on my pump was showing zero pressure. I preceded to pump up the pressure in the pressure vessel until the pressure was steady at 0.8 bar. I then turned off the drain-off cock and refilled the system to 1.5 bar. This time when I ran the system, the radiators got hot and there was a normal increase in system pressure.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Potterton Suprima Flashing Red Lockout Light

A customer asked me to look at his Potterton Suprima because on a number of occasions over the last  fortnight he had been running out of hot water and going to the boiler to find that the red light was flashing. He would reset the boiler and it would continue working for a couple of days before it required resetting again.

The boiler had the earlier 407750 style PCB which are renowned for their tendency to lockout for no good reason. I suspected that the circuit board would probably be at fault but as always looked over the boiler to see if their was any other obvious faults which would cause the boiler to lockout. My first port of call was to look at the ignition of the boiler and it's associated parts. The ignition leads can often break down through age and repeated servicing, but the lead looked to be in good condition and not the original lead.

I then looked at the ignition electrode to see if it was fouled or distorted. The gap from the electrode to the burner is usually the same as the thickness of a pound coin but looked less. I touched the electrode with my finger to find that it seemed loose and would rotate within the ceramic. I replaced the electrode, 8407754, and the boiler has been working fault free for the last couple of weeks.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Worcester Bosch Greenstar 24Ri Blue Flashing Light

A customer called me worried because the blue light was flashing on his Worcester Greenstar 24Ri and he was worried that it had developed a fault. When I arrived, he switched the controls on and the boiler's blue light began to flash straight away. Apparently, he had noticed the blue light flashing a few days ago but the heating and hot water seemed to be working as they should be. I thought that the the boiler would stop working if the blue light was flashing so thought this strange.

Fortunately, the gentleman had the manual to hand for me to consult. I looked at the fault finding pages where it gives a description of the different statuses and faults that may have occurred indicated by the blue light. The installation and servicing instructions can be downloaded from Worcster-Bosch which contain the fault finding on page 51.

As soon as I looked in the book I realised that the light was actually pulsing rather than flashing which is the indication that the boiler is in it's service mode for measuring the flue gases at the boiler's maximum rate. I removed the cover which allows access to the service mode switch, and expected to find the tool for the service mode selector switch still inserted. The tool was parked in it's clip where it should have been, and the switch when turned to the normal position was only a fraction away from the normal position.

A junior colleague had been to service the boiler just over a week prior, and had obviously failed to turn the service selector switch fully back. After resetting the switch to the normal position the boiler was working as it should be with the blue light on and not flashing.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Glowworm Spacesaver No Heating

I was asked to look at a heating system the other day because the customer's central heating was not working. The customer could see that the pilot light on their Glowworm Spacesaver was alight but the heating was not working when the controls were calling for heat and the boiler was no firing up.

I tested the hot water and sure enough the boiler fired up and the system was running perfectly for hot water. I then turned the hot water off and put the central heating on and nothing happened. I checked in the junction box to make sure there was power on the grey and white wires to the motorised valve, which there was.

I then drained the system and replaced the Boss three-port valve with another motorised valve, refilled and heat tested the system and all was working well again.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Ideal Minimiser Not Lighting

I was called to look at an Ideal Minimiser by a customer today as their boiler had required resetting a couple of times in the week after noticing that the heating and hot water were not working.

I ran the boiler and it appeared to be running and lighting with no issues. I could hear the spark across the electrodes which was rapid and maybe more prolonged than it should have been. I let the boiler cool a littler before stripping out the fan and burner.

As can be seen from the picture above, both the sensing probe and electrodes were distorted and required replacement. There are a number of different setups that can be found on these boilers and this is the original burner plate and electrodes. As far as I am aware the original electrodes cannot be replaced as they are. The new electrodes are stouter and come with a new burner mounting plate. The newer boilers had an atmospheric kit fitted and some older ones have it retro-fitted. On these boilers there is no tube connected to the burner plate. If there is no atmospheric sensing kit fitted then then the burner plate replacement will need to have an orifice for the existing tube which connects in on the right hand side of the burner plate.

I replaced the burner plate and electrodes Parts Center no. 462190, and the boiler has been of no trouble since.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.

Glowworm Ultimate Cutting Out After Five Minutes

I was asked to look at a Glowworm Ultimate that was not working correctly. The customer was complaining that the boiler only seemed to come on for five minutes before cutting out and that the heating was not getting hot.

When I arrived I put the hot water on and that appeared to be running correctly, they had a tank full of hot water and the system sounded as if it was circulating correctly. I put the heating on and there was no reaction from the system and I checked that the room thermostat was turned up, which it was. I then checked in the junction box for the heating system to find that there was power on both the white and grey wires to the motorised valve after turning the hot water off.

I replaced the head on the Drayton MA/1 three-port motorised valve, and retested the system which was no operating correctly. It would appear that the heating may have been coming on when the valve was in the mid position but not moving over fully to supply heating only.

Disclaimer: The works described in this blog are a record of work undertaken and should not be taken as guaranteed to solve your problem. Work should only be carried out by persons qualified and competent to do so.