Hi,
I have a Potterton Kingfisher Boiler which works fine for hot water but can't get the central heating to come on.
Have taken over the property and have no previous experience with the appliance.
Any suggestions anyone??

Arnhel, October 2010

As an update, it turns out I was barking up completely the wrong tree looking for a motorised valve. I'm now pretty sure my system doesn't use one - can't say if this is true for all Kingfisher 2's, but there really doesn't seem to be one at my property. What actually seemed to be the problem was that the pump had just stopped after months of summer inactivity. I was pricing up a new one but it turns out I was able to encourage mine to start pumping again with a few good whacks with a screwdriver :-)

Obviously I would never advise anyone to start hitting their delicate electrical equipment, but hey, it worked for me... When your heating's switched on, try feeling your pump: if it's vibrating, it's probably working, but if it feels completely dead, that's probably where the problem is. A new pump is around £70.

Saustin, October 2010

I have exactly the same problem! It's a Kingfisher 2, and I've got plenty of hot water but nothing getting through to the radiators. After searching around for advice, it seems the most likely cause is that the motorised valve isn't working properly. The only problem with this is, I can't find the valve anywhere... It's nowhere near the boiler or the hot water tank, or anywhere in the attic. The neighbours even suggested they thought the previous owner mentioned it being under the floorboards in the bedroom, but after lifting up the carpet and looking under the boards there's nothing there at all.

So if you can find the motorised valve in your property, you should be able to switch it over to manual and get heating until you can replace the valve. As for me, if anyone knows where a valve might be hidden, I could use the help because I've looked pretty much everywhere in the house with no success!

Saustin, October 2010