How do I open this blue valve please?

Vee44 · Sep 23, 2019

I believe this is the inflow valve under my ideal mini boiler.

The bar lever is around 0.5 which I think is why the central heating keeps clicking off after about 5 to 20 seconds.

I need to top it up to about 1 bar but I don’t know how to open this valve because if I try a twist it is stuck solid in place.

Do I need to turn the screw inside it? If I turn the screw does that open the water flow or does it just loosen the lock so that it can be hand turned to make the water flow?

Harvest Fields · Sep 23, 2019

That doesn’t look like your filling loop if I am
Honest. Do you have a silver braided hose?

OffshoreGas · Sep 23, 2019

If the handle is in line with the pipe 99% of the time that means the valve is already open.

As HF says that looks more like it might be the valve for the cold water coming into your boiler that is heated for your taps.

You should have a filling loop, you may find it’s in an airing cupboard if your home previously had a hot water tank.

Normally it will be a shiny steel flexible hose with a valve on one end. Probably looking a bit like this

Vee44 · Sep 23, 2019

Harvest Fields said:
That doesn’t look like your filling loop if I am
Honest. Do you have a silver braided hose?

There are five copper pipes going into the bottom of the boiler and I can’t see any flexible pipes anywhere, or any pipes with one of those small valves you can turn with a screwdriver. Is it possible there is no filling loop?

OffshoreGas · Sep 23, 2019

Vee44 said:
There are five copper pipes going into the bottom of the boiler and I can’t see any flexible pipes anywhere, or any pipes with one of those small valves you can turn with a screwdriver. Is it possible there is no filling loop?

Sometimes you’ll find them in an old airing cupboard if your home used to have a hot water tank.