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[camallison]

Fingers crossed that it is just the pump - heating engineer thinks so from my description of symptoms and is on his way now.   

Chilly Colin

[UncleUB]

All aboard the motorhome methinks...

  Its just the pump(and not the boiler)

[silversurfer44]

Let's hope it's not the old boiler 
Mine packed up once and she's never been back.

[camallison]

Let's hope it's not the old boiler  
Mine packed up once and she's never been back.

SWMBO is a very nice lady and I would never call her an old boiler!

Uncy - we're ahead of you, and have already moved out into the motorhome.  We have two 13kg bottles of propane to keep the heater going and also satellite TV to keep the kids happy - what more do we need?  It only took 10 minutes to heat up the van and now we're cooking!  Courtesy of wifi, we are also connected to t'Internet.

Colin

[camallison]

Heating Engineer has been - it WAS the pump and it had stalled due to gunge build-up.  (Technical term).  He has started it again and will coem back when the weather is warmer and flush the system out.  Showed me how to get the pump started again and ungunge it should we need to in the short-term - to save me a call-out fee.  Now that's what I call good service.   

Warmer Colin

PS - the kids want to stay out in the van now!   

[silversurfer44]

Let's hope it's not the old boiler 
Mine packed up once and she's never been back.

Joking!

[HPsauce]

Might be worth looking at fitting one of those magnetic gunge traps at the same time as it's all flushed.  

[camallison]

Might be worth looking at fitting one of those magnetic gunge traps at the same time as it's all flushed.  

Good idea - must look it up in my Screwfix catalogue.

[CurlyWhirly]

Heating Engineer has been - it WAS the pump and it had stalled due to gunge build-up.  (Technical term).  He has started it again and will come back when the weather is warmer and flush the system out.  Showed me how to get the pump started again and ungunge it should we need to in the short-term - to save me a call-out fee.  Now that's what I call good service.   

I wish the plumber last year had shown me how to ungunge the pump as he charged me £125 for a new one !

[CurlyWhirly]

Might be worth looking at fitting one of those magnetic gunge traps at the same time as it's all flushed.  

Do you mean the MagnaClean ?

If so I had one fitted after my old pump got gunged up and it's worth every penny.

I clean it every month.

[tickmike]

Glad you got the heat back on   

It's simple to get the pump rotating again if it gets a lump of muck in it, First turn off the power to the boiler, put a small container under the pump to catch any small amount of water, then on the motor end of the pump there is normally a 'Brass' metal screw (sometimes plastic) undue that and if you look in the hole you will see a screwdriver slot,put a large flat bladed screwdriver in the slot and turn back and forth until the motor spindle turns again, you can turn the boiler back on and test, then don't forget to put the brass screw back.

[camallison]

Glad you got the heat back on   

It's simple to get the pump rotating again if it gets a lump of muck in it, First turn off the power to the boiler, put a small container under the pump to catch any small amount of water, then on the motor end of the pump there is normally a 'Brass' metal screw (sometimes plastic) undue that and if you look in the hole you will see a screwdriver slot,put a large flat bladed screwdriver in the slot and turn back and forth until the motor spindle turns again, you can turn the boiler back on and test, then don't forget to put the brass screw back.

YUP - he showed me how to do that, and also how to isolate the pump fully, dismantle it and clean out the trapped gunge - it was well and truly clogged.

[Liz]

You were lucky, mine was that bad it took them two day to ungunge - the stuff was like treacle coming out - its a wonder it moved at all.  I had to  have it power washed twice and also a new pump fitted as the old one gave up the ghost,  Mind you the system is a bit antiquated but it should be fine from now on as the stuff they use keeps it free.

 Also as I am on a water meter - I dread to think of what it has done to my bill with all that flushing out.

Bank loan perhaps

Liz

[camallison]

Thanks for all your responses fellow kitizens.  The degunging did indeed involve high-pressure water jetting.  We have such a beast for clearing moss off of our paved areas, so the means was already to hand.  I intend having the system flushed and cleaned in the warmer weather.  In response to the OP, the system doesn't hold a massive amount of water and so it isn't too much (literally) down the drain.       Compare that to the cost of a complete new heating system.

Once again, thank you all.

Colin