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Central heating failure - at Christmas!!

AJB Temple

AJB Temple

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Back in UK for 4 days to visit people. Arrived yesterday (Sunday) and the house sitter we always have announces the central heating has failed. A week ago but they just wrapped up warm. British you see. Check all the obvious stuff (Tank full, electrics on, thermostat set etc etc). Boiler only fires when the hot water system is on. That fires the whole system up but the Megaflow is at temp in under half an hour.

I'm a plumbing semi ignoramus. But realised it must be the motorised valve on the heating circuit. Honeywell. Thought I would be able to hold it open on the manual setting. Apparently not. No idea why. Removed motor unit and found prod with screwdriver at the switch contacts fires up the boiler. Phone round Merchants who appear only to work half days. It's 11.45. Break all laws of the land to get there in time. Fit the thing. Phew. Too hot now.

Did mention I hate plumbing.....
 
I had the same problem maybe 18m-2y ago, but holding mine open manually would work. Glad you got it sorted. I stupidly ran out of oil yesterday morning, D'oh!! Managed to get a delivery today but I've been at both boilers for an hour and although I've bled them both through I can't get either to fire up!
 
I had a similar issue on Christmas Eve mine was the gaskets on the pump decided they had enough, so I was in the garage looking at the pump trying to think of what to do when my gaze fell on the wife’s wellingtons, I cut out a couple of gaskets and slapped it back together and replaced them a couple of years later.

Pete
 
Mark - check the oil shut off valve on the inlet between the tank and the boiler. This is usually mounted close to the boiler and usually there is a little button underneath that has to be pushed up. This is the fire control valve and I am told it shuts off if the tank runs out. Thermostat reset on the boiler may need to be reset as well. Really hope you get it going and don't have a chilly Christmas.
 
I have replaced both mine, not the whole valve assembly, just the motorised head, with units bought from Screwfix. One screw to release the cover, and two to remove the head. Then a fairly simple bit of wiring. Mine are absolute pigs to reach, and I had to jam an electric driver bit into a rubber door stop and do it all by feel, but yours may be straightforward.

Oops! Didn't see your last sentence! Glad you got it sorted.
 
Mark
If you've managed to bleed the oil through the pump and assuming that's working it's unlikely to be the fire shut off valve I would expect.

Assuming the electrics are Ok and the boilers are sparking, it would be strange for both boilers to develop the same fault, my money would be on dirty nozzles as it's likely you've pulled through dirt from the bottom of the tank, some of which may have bypassed the filters.
My course of action on ours is check spark, check the thermocouple glass is clean, check nozzle (always clean or replace as I keep a spare), check oil flow then then go through the start process. It sometimes takes a number of tries before the boiler stops locking out as there can be bubbles of air in the system still following a delivery.

All that said I've only run out of oil once in over 40 years but have fixed problems and replaced parts on numerous occasions. Oil boilers have pretty simple burner units.
 
When I was a wee Stephen, we lived in a an old house that had an old-fashioned fuse board, the sort that used fuse wire.
One Christmas, my Dad was finishing decorating the lounge, desperately trying to get it finished by the end of Christmas Eve. So, with wet wallpaper on the wall and a switch plate in the way, he loosened of the plate, snipped the soggy wallpaper and tucked it underneath. Then there was a big bang and all the lights, and everything else went out. It was 11pm.
It wasn't one of the fuses that had blown, it was the main supply to the house. So a very unhappy on=call engineer came out to fix it. Christmas was saved, but my Dad was not popular.

When we moved into this house, the previous owner had let the oil tank run dry, so we had no heating when outside it was -8. It took a week to get a delivery and then the boiler still didn't work. Apparently, letting it all run dry allows all kinds of crud ino the burner, which was English, so no spare parts. We ended up spending over a grand having it put right. Not what we expected when we arrived here.

And that was only the beginning.......
 
Pete Maddex said:
I had a similar issue on Christmas Eve mine was the gaskets on the pump decided they had enough, so I was in the garage looking at the pump trying to think of what to do when my gaze fell on the wife’s wellingtons, I cut out a couple of gaskets and slapped it back together and replaced them a couple of years later.

Pete
Click to expand...
What? The Wellingtons ?
 
TrimTheKing said:
I had the same problem maybe 18m-2y ago, but holding mine open manually would work. Glad you got it sorted. I stupidly ran out of oil yesterday morning, D'oh!! Managed to get a delivery today but I've been at both boilers for an hour and although I've bled them both through I can't get either to fire up!
Click to expand...
Any help, Mark...chances are high you have a Riello burner ...but the principles are the same. Or PM jimmys

Screenshot 2024-12-23 at 21.40.45.png
 
Good chart, but assumes more knowledge than people like me have got. This is my idiot (me usually) checklist:

Check Honeywell controller in airing cupboard is calling for heat and thermostat is set higher than ambient temp
Check power supply in laundry (switch near door) is on
Check isolator rotary power switch on boiler case is on (1 not 0 in switch window)
Press restart button on front of boiler
Press overheat button on front of thermostat at top of control unit inside boiler
Make sure heat control knob in boiler cabinet is not off (should be around 80% mark)
Press fire control valve reset at back of boiler case outside the case (its underneath and will click)
Check there is oil in tank
If in doubt lift lid (don’t let debris fall in) and shine torch in

Ours is an outside enclosed in a cabinet Trianco boiler of pre-historic vintage

Edit
Ours has a clear tube and floating ball (which can get stuck so make you think there is oil) on the tank, and there is a filter and drain cock at the tank outlet that is supposed to catch any debris. We also use a tank sock to absorb any water.
 
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