gas boiler packed in?

Miracle Girl

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I tried to turn on the heating last night and there wasnt a noise out of my gas bolier!! couldnt even hear the pilot light!(I had it on 3 nights ago and it seemed ok) the last time I looked at the control panel (which isnt very often). The pressure thingy seemed to low...however the heating was working fine so I didnt give it another thought.

the house is nearly 3 years old, surely it shouldnt pack in so soon, my husband is going to call the buliders tomorrow however we are not expecting much help there...does anyone know a reliable gas engineer around the limerick,north Tipp area that I can call out? hopefully it cn be fixed? anyone any idea approx how much? and if it is fixable I will get a service done as well? we never had a service since we moved in. stupid I know...must arrange to get electric shower checked as well!!
 
Whats the make of the boiler? and where is the neddle of the clock? You may be able to sort this out yourself.
 
it is a baxi pollerton, dont know what a neddle is, but if it is the pressure clock hand, then its a below zero (system turned off) it states on it that the pressure should be between 1 and 2. Does that make sense?
 
Sorry, i meant to say needle. You need to repressurise your heating system. you should see a silver fexlible pipe under your boiler or in your hot press. turn the black handled valve at the end of the pipe and you should hear water rushing pipe. keep an eye on the clock at boiler, turn off valve when it hits 1 bar. Then reset your boiler by turning it off and on again. it should now work.
 
oh my God

I followed your instructions! I turned on the boiler at the electric switch (mayb I shouldnt have done this bit??)the light came on, I found the valve you said and I turned it on, I heard the gushing noise and I turned off the valve when the needle got to 1. Panicked when the needle continued to rise to well over 3.5! switched off the boiler, I had visions of the house blowing up!! screamed for my husband!! then When i thought the needle would go over four there was this almighty hissing noise and water started spitting out at the bottom of the boiler and at the vent outside the house!!
We called an emergency number who reassured us the boiler wasnt going to blow up( at this stage I was going to start evacuating the neighbours)
he said the water was being released to reduce the pressure and said it prob would do this for an hour or so. He said the water should not be coming from inside the boiler so its very possible we have a leak which is why its stopped working and why the pressure was getting low. (our boiler is tucked away in a cubboard in the utility and I havnt noticed any water there before, there could be some (there is plenty now!!) We are going to get someone out tomorrow!!It is still releasing water even now!!
 
Are you sure the valve is now off? The pressure relief valve has opened to release water. You have to be completely sure that the valve is off. If the valve handle is across the pipe it is off, if the handle is going with the pipe it is on.
 
I just went to check now.The valve handle was going with the pipes so after a lot of hesitating I turn it so it went across and that worked, the water has stopped coming through the boiler.:) the system is off and the pressure is nearly 3.
Thanks for that!! It would have stayed on all night!! so much for me thinking it would stop with the water in an hour!
Surely the water shouldnt be coming inside the boiler! We will call someone out to look at it tomorrow. Was talking to a neighbour and app most of the houses here have the same boilers and a there has been a lot of bother with them, though prob more to do with installation rather then the boilers, thanks for your help....saved me a wet night!!
I certainly won t switch it on!
 
You need to bring the pressure down to about 1bar. You can do this by venting a radiator and letting the water in to a bucket, it may take a while. There may not be a problem with the system, sometimes the pressure drops for really no reason as long as it doesn't happen alot.
 
ok Will get hubby to have a go at that, I wont go near it again:) thanks a million for your help. There were no problems with it last night after we changed the valve handle.
we have had issues with the theormostats for downstairs and upstairs and we cant reduce the heat on them , so when we do put on the heating (when it works) we cant control it and it gets to warm very quickly. As a result our gas bills last winter were dreadful. I think we need to get someone to look at this. Think in stead of calling an emergency number we will call the builder first. Do you happen to know a good gas engineeer in limerick or north tipp?

thanks again
 
I know the advice was meant well but you can get into all sorts of trouble when doing anything to a boiler without any experience. Sometimes it is best left to a service man.
 
I know the advice was meant well but you can get into all sorts of trouble when doing anything to a boiler without any experience. Sometimes it is best left to a service man.


Normally I would agree with you, but everybody should know how to repressurise their heating system. I charge to do it and I will always show the home owner how to do it so they will not have to incur the cost in the future, because it will happen again. I have repressurised more systems over the phone than by calling to the property, people feel like they have been a little bit conned when you are only in the house 2 mins and you have to charge for travel, VAT etc.
 
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