Hello

i have a baxi back boiler that is 22 years old! it has worked great since i have owned the house - 3 years, but a few weeks ago i started having trouble.

There was an intermittant problem where the big flame behind the fire would come on and then go off again - so my Brittish Gas engineer firstly tweaked my pump, that didnt fix it so then he replaced the gas valve. So now the flame stays on, but for some reason i have heating but no hot water!!! Could this be the zone valve?

i know that its an acient system, and i am saving up to replace it by the end of the year, i just need it to run for a little while longer.

any help you can offer would be appreciated

thanks
Deborah

Deborah, January 2009

The cold feed may be blocked even though the f and e tank
may be full. check the cylinder stat and control valve. the valve may be stuck in the closed position for hot water. You can check this by selecting hot water, check the boiler fires up, then go to valve to see if the heat is actually getting there. if it is then the valve is more than likely seized and would then require replacing. Also there may be an electrical fault.

Ed., January 2009

well, hes through my homecare package, so apart from paying my monthly subscription its free. although this will now be his 4 visit to sort this out! he dosnt seem that motivated to sort it out - maybe in the current economic crisis this is his wway of makign sure he dosnt get made redundant!!

I am going to have a look in the loft tonight and see what state the header tank is in - i assume there will be more that one, but all of them shoud be full, so if one is empty then its probably mine!!

i will also try putting the water on only and see what happens.

thanks so much you guys are great.

Deborah x

Deborah, January 2009

Yes,the boiler will be staying on because the pump is generating what water there is around the system.Easy way of telling is by putting it to water only.The boiler will stay on for a matter of seconds before it goes off and wont come back on.Hope he hasnt charged you a small fortune for a 3o second job of just pushing the ball down and refilling the system.

Tony S, January 2009

Hello again

no he didnt check the header tank, as i think he thought that replacing the gas valve sorted the problem. I have him coming out again tomorrow, so i will ask him to do this. But my flame is now staying on ok, but i just have no hot water, but i do have heating!

And the big flame at the back of the fire does both the heating and the hot water, so i assume this means the boiler is working ok, but i am not sure why i dont get hot water, would the feeder tank being empty explain this even though my flame is now staying on?

thanks
D

Deborah, January 2009

Hope he checked the header tank had water in it as it sounds like that is dry.You will get heating ok because water is already in the system but if the tank has ran dry in the loft then the indirect part of the system is full of fresh air hence the reason why the flames keep going off.

Tony S, January 2009

sounds like it could be the valve or a blockage, the fact that your heating works means that your boiler is working ok. You probably need an engineer, good luck!

Rob, January 2009