A bit of a story but please bear with me.
I have just sent 10 days away having switched off the the central heating controller and boiler. This is someting I do not normally do. I usually just turn down the C.H. thermostat but leave the hot water timed. The system is open vented, Y plan When I returned, the boiler, an 11 year old Worcester Bosch Greenstar !8 Ri model, would not fire up even after going through the boiler reset procedure. The blue fault indicator light on the front of the boiler flashed at a fast rate. The hot water tank immersion heater was found also giving trouble when we needed it most, but I will refer to that later. I called a maintenance service and the engineer found the boiler fan at fault which he replaced to get the boiler up and running. He also said he found some water in the boiler which he thought had probably entered via the chimney during exceptional torrential rain and high wind that had occurred whilst I was away. Later in the day when trying out the central heating and hot water, I went into the bungalow loft and found water gushing out of the expansion pipe into the feed/expansion tank. I called the engineer the following day and he found that by turning the pump power setting from maximum to minimum the overpumping ceased. The pump is situated in the bungalow loft at floor level and the expansion pipe rises to a maximum of about 7 feet above the loft floor. The boiler itself is wall mounted in the kitchen.
To my mind there are a couple of questions. Firstly, will the pump circulate sufficient hot water for the central heating in cold weather on minimum setting. Time will tell I suppose. Secondly, if the pumping over is due to a blockage where is it likely to be and what will be the least costly way to remove the blockage, i.e is there a chemical that might work.
Turning to the Immersion heater, this has an overheat reset on the heater itself (not on the thermostat) which seems to trip after half an hour or so. I suppose this indicates that the heater is furred up and needs to be replaced.
Advise would be appreciated.
I have just sent 10 days away having switched off the the central heating controller and boiler. This is someting I do not normally do. I usually just turn down the C.H. thermostat but leave the hot water timed. The system is open vented, Y plan When I returned, the boiler, an 11 year old Worcester Bosch Greenstar !8 Ri model, would not fire up even after going through the boiler reset procedure. The blue fault indicator light on the front of the boiler flashed at a fast rate. The hot water tank immersion heater was found also giving trouble when we needed it most, but I will refer to that later. I called a maintenance service and the engineer found the boiler fan at fault which he replaced to get the boiler up and running. He also said he found some water in the boiler which he thought had probably entered via the chimney during exceptional torrential rain and high wind that had occurred whilst I was away. Later in the day when trying out the central heating and hot water, I went into the bungalow loft and found water gushing out of the expansion pipe into the feed/expansion tank. I called the engineer the following day and he found that by turning the pump power setting from maximum to minimum the overpumping ceased. The pump is situated in the bungalow loft at floor level and the expansion pipe rises to a maximum of about 7 feet above the loft floor. The boiler itself is wall mounted in the kitchen.
To my mind there are a couple of questions. Firstly, will the pump circulate sufficient hot water for the central heating in cold weather on minimum setting. Time will tell I suppose. Secondly, if the pumping over is due to a blockage where is it likely to be and what will be the least costly way to remove the blockage, i.e is there a chemical that might work.
Turning to the Immersion heater, this has an overheat reset on the heater itself (not on the thermostat) which seems to trip after half an hour or so. I suppose this indicates that the heater is furred up and needs to be replaced.
Advise would be appreciated.
