Central Heating Problem

daveco23

Hi All,
Am hoping someone more DIY oreinted than me can help out here...
Central heating system not working whatsoever - Gas boiler heats water for showers, etc, but when theromstat is turned on, not one rad in the house heats up.
Have tried bleeding and got some air out of one of them, then topped the pressure back up to one bar, but still, no rads working.
I am guessing there is an airlock somewhere in the system, but have no idea how to bleed the system itself.
Any ideas?
Thanks

matt-dublin

is there a valve in the hot press or near the boiler closed that would stop water going to the rads, i know i have one in my place so i can turn off the rads in the summer

loyatemu

daveco23 wrote: »

Hi All,
Am hoping someone more DIY oreinted than me can help out here...
Central heating system not working whatsoever - Gas boiler heats water for showers, etc, but when theromstat is turned on, not one rad in the house heats up.
Have tried bleeding and got some air out of one of them, then topped the pressure back up to one bar, but still, no rads working.
I am guessing there is an airlock somewhere in the system, but have no idea how to bleed the system itself.
Any ideas?
Thanks

the thermostat controls an electronic valve which allows water into the radiator circuit (valve is probably in the hotpress). if this valve is knackered it could be stuck in the closed position.

eigrod

There's a DIY Forum over here :http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=116 and indeed there appears to be a few similar problems already posted even on the first page there.

MyPerfectCousin

This topic comes up repeatedly, so a forum search might be a good idea in case the problem continues.

Here's what I said the last time it came up:

I am in the park with the same boiler and I had similar problems in the past and posted here about the little black (or blue) box in the hot press with the switch on the back -- the actuator.

Lately, I have to move that switch back and forth every time to get the hot water flowing to the radiators. I wonder if the actuator needs replacing.

ChickenBalls

I had the exact same problem last week (funny how the same things start to act up for more than one house!).

To recap, for me what happened was:
Radiators wouldn't heat up but the hot water worked fine then myself and the missus raised the presssure from the hot press to 1.5 - did this and nothing.
The pilot light would come on and then go off after 2mins. Then the missus decided to increase the pressure and all hell broke loose on the pressure gauge! It's started to rattle like crazy until she turned it down again - not good! Then water was very slightly dripping from the boiler and pouring water from the flu outside of the house. So got someone out to sort what was going on.
He fixed the boiler no problem, the water coming out was because of some cap being permanently open and causing water to get through I think it cotrols the flow I'm not sure couldn't grasp everything he was saying but when he fixed the boiler issue I told him the radiators wouldn't heat up and they still didn't when we put the boiler on. Next we went to the hot press and he saw this actuator thing - he couldn't believe where they positioned it when building the house - it was so awkward to get to. I told him there was buzzing from it over the last year or so and I didnt pay much attention to it. So, the plan was to remove it so he need my assistance to get the 2 screws at the back of it removed - we both got it off in the end and when its off you see a golden metal thing that you can turn left or right - this actually turns the radiators on or off (in the off position it just heats the water) mine was in the off position. So turned it by hand to turn it on - eureka! the radiators came on - Happy Days!
Now the interesting bit of info for everyone reading this; the actuator isn't really neccessary at all! The reason? Well, because my and maybe everyone's house in charlesland has the thermostate located in the most ridiculous place in the house (I live in a 2 bed terrace) beside the downstairs toilet where you could have both doors closed between the front and back rooms that little room would heat up to the max temp you've set (recommended 20 degrees) and the thermostate would turn the heating off - I've had this problem for ages until the gas guy told me. So with the actuator taken off now the thermostate doesn't come into play as that controlled the actuator turning the metal golden thingy. So how do you control the heating you say? You dont, you just have to set your timer at the boiler for it to come on or off at whatever time you decide - it suites me as my heating wont go off all the time. If your thermostate is in a good place and you want to keep the actuator controlling it then you'll need to buy one - it's simple to put on just place it over that metal golden thing and put 2 screws in, your done. Cost for an actuator ? The gas guy told me €75 but a mate of mine told me he got one for €50ish - Oh yeah last thing gas guy told me, you only need your pressure to be at 0.5 bar.

OK thats me done...

daveco23

Thanks all,
It was the actuator - moved it to the left and no probs with the radiators since..
Cheers.