Expertise required please

sparrowcar

Hi all,

Our gas boiler is not heating the water in the immersion tank but radiators coming on and heating up no problem. I get tepid water at best from it. I had a gas guy out who replaced a solenoid as the igniter was not working properly but the problem still exists. We are using the immersion tank to heat water at present.

Any suggestions what the problem might be?

embracingLife

Two options

1)motorised valve on the pipe going to the cylinder.

2) is there a thermostat on the side of the cylinder with a cable coming out of it which goes back to the boiler. This stat could be faulty-but usually not common problem. Even see what temperature its at on the dial on the front.

Is there any motorised valve on the pipe going to the cylinder? There should be /but sometimes there isn't any. This valve could be stuck /or dead which needs to be replaced but usually it is just the motor head which is the plastic part is dead/faulty.

If there is a motorised valve there's a lever on it which can be manually turned to open the valve to get the water flowing into the cylinder. Have a look at the side of the plastic box on the motorised valve to see if there's any metal lever sticking out of it.

Anyway the motor part is screwed onto the valve body and can be removed and a new motor head attached. Save having to remove the whole valve from the pipe etc and the hassle that goes with it, draining out the water etc zzzzz.

Btw was the gas man a plumber or a boiler service "engineer"? If he was a plumber he should have sorted the problem with the hot water going to the cylinder instead of leaving you without fixing the problem etc. But the boiler service agents usually don't touch the pipes. I'm curious to know why he was not able to fix it for you?

Btw are you in a city town or in the countryside?

Could be other problems with the cylinder itself.

embracingLife

Solenoid? Igniter? Where are they off?

sparrowcar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119771681#Comment_119771681

Many thanks for your reply. I'm not knowledgeable on terminology in this space so excuse me if I've used the wrong terms.

The solenoid was in the gas boiler downstairs. The little flame you see through the hole wasn't coming on or was coming on and then cutting off. The gas guy was a service engineer not a plumber and he presumed the water was not heating die to the fact the little pilot flame wasn't coming on. He replaced what he called a solenoid and then the little pilot light worked again.

By reading what you've described I need a plumber to come and trouble shoot it. I'll work through what you said above and see if I can at least identify the bits you've spoken about. I'm in a 2005 build in Swords, Dublin so "modern" enough set up I would imagine.

Cheers

embracingLife

Ok so it was a boiler service man and not a plumber. So he fixed the boiler anyway.

Yes this is the crap you don't get told when this lot turns up! They have not a clue about the central heating system only the boiler.

Now you know 👍

embracingLife

Yes the way your 2005 house central heating is piped would have at least one and sometimes 2 or 3 motorised valves. They might be in the hot press or on the pipes closer to the boiler or under the boiler. They are a square plastic box about the size of a cup attached to the pipe with an electric cable coming out of it which is wired back to the boiler.

embracingLife

https://www.heatmerchants.ie/eph-3-4-2-port-motorised-valve-compression-u37935

This is what it looks like

XsApollo

Is the system Zoned? ie can you turn on water and rads independently?

Since you say the rads are heating and water is not ,then the boiler works.

turn on the water by itself and see if the boiler fires. If it doesn’t then the zone valve isn’t opening, if you open it manually and the boiler fires then the valve needs replacing.

sparrowcar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119772145#Comment_119772145

will give that a try

KaneToad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119772413#Comment_119772413

I'd be inclined to leave all levers/taps as they were. They don't fall out of position.

Have you tried manually opening the motorised valves, as suggested already. I had a similar issue to you before and it was a motorised valve. I opened it manually and it worked. I was then able to remove the motor part of it and get a replacement and fit same.

MOD NOTE. Please post this to the new topic that I created, where I moved the above post to.

Car99

My money is on the motorised valve , you may have to buy a full assembly including valve and motor but you can just change the motor 😉

groovyger

My nephews were messing around and I think they may have moved it somehow hence my query. I’m not aware of any faults, I am just wondering if they did in fact twist the valve.

groovyger

My nephews were messing around and I think they may have moved it somehow hence my query. I’m not aware of any faults, I am just wondering if they did in fact twist the valve.

embracingLife

Who knows what your nephews they did to it!

Go and examine it yourself and see can you move the lever to manually turn on the valve to get the water flowing - that's if the valve motor isn't working anyway.

So push the lever to open the valve - it will be slightly stiff to push as it's attached to the internal motor and you will hear a little hum (which is the motor turning as you are now moving it with the lever) as you push the lever, when you have pushed it to its fully open position it will slide into a groove which will hold the lever in the open position.

(You can also return the lever back to the original position by pushing it out of the groove, once you do that you can let go of the lever as the motor in the valve (even when the motor is off) will then push the lever on its own back to the closed position - you will hear a small hum as the motor is turning the valve to the off position).

Then listen to hear if the water starts flowing through the pipe & valve and touch the pipe to see if it gets warm on the other side of the valve going to the cylinder.

So see if the problem is with the hot water going to the cylinder through the motorised valve or not?

Then again it could be something else, so get a plumber out and they should be able to identify the issues.

embracingLife

Carr99 and OP

Sometimes plumbers providers & hardwares will sell the motor part (which is commonly called "the head" of the motor) of these valves separately instead of having to buy the whole valve. But ask what ever hardware you go to if they will sell you the head on its own, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. But that's for future reference.

sparrowcar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119774963#Comment_119774963

Many thanks for your assistance

mikewest

Odd that no one asked if there is a "balancing" valve fitted on the cylinder coil. Old school non zoned and may or may not be fitted but if fitted and closed then no hot water.

niallb

If the problem only started when your nephews were messing with it, take a look to see if the valve is manually locked.

There's often a notch that you can sit the lever into to lock it in place.

(I see EmbracingLife already mentioned this)

embracingLife

@mikewest

It's odd no heating experts have responded to the thread by now usually they flock on and pile in after the lesser mortals have given their amateur opinions 😂, so it's left to the rest of us to give our opinions on the usual solutions. If you read the Op you'll see they said that they getting a plumber out to sort out the the problem, so we're waiting for them to see whether they have got a plumber out or if our suggestions have worked for them.

But yes your suggestion too is helpful, but we're not all familiar with the ins and outs of central heating systems-me included - so you can at least give your solution in a non condescending way to the rest of us who have given our humble opinions to the Op about what may or may not be the reason why they hot water isn't heating up.

mikewest

Is there a valve on the pipe from the boiler to the coil in the cylinder (could be on the return line also or may not be installed) ? Is it almost closed off? Is that non condescending enough for you.

embracingLife

Thanks 👍