Heating won't turn off - help.

emeraldbugle

The heating came on, with the timer, but when the timer switched off the heating didn't turn off!

(It is a Glow-Worm Hideaway 100B circa 1998)

We managed to turn the thermostat on the hideaway right down to get it to go off (the instructions say only do this as a temporary measure). When the heating clicked on again later the pump then wouldn't turn off, so had to switch that off!

Any ideas? Is it an easy fix?

Thanks :j

andrew-b

Not experienced in these matters, but it sounds to me like either a fault on the main circuit board (MCB) of the boiler or maybe the programmer? Have you tried turning off the electricity supply to the boiler completely as well as pump and programmer (i.e all the central heating), wait a minute or two and restart. If it's the programmer it's a relatively cheap fix to replace and could do it yourself if you have the confidence of dealing with electrics. If it's the MCB in the boiler it's best left to the pros IMHO but assuming the parts are available (don't believe british gas if they tell you it isn't!!) it will be a bit pricier i expect. I'd hope not to be paying more than £150 for this ..but that's just a guesstimate!

Andy

emeraldbugle

Thanks, am starting to think it might be the timer control, will try turning all off and restarting.

emeraldbugle

I tried turning everything off. I turned it all back on again, so the display on the timer control came back on. The heating/water should be off, but the heating fired up on its own.

So is it the timer control or the boiler?

downshifter

Not that it's any help at all to you, (but at least shows I sympathise!) but mine does this. I've had countless people looking at it and had the timer replaced - to no avail. Have now given up and just control the system from the mains switch. In winter (obviously not now when it's so warm) I switch on manually when I need heat and off manually when I don't. Ridiculous but I'm fed up with all the experts charging me for giving me theories but not fixing it.

Works fine this way.

I do have an immersion heater for hot water so not dependent on the boiler for that.

DS

andrew-b

could still be either i think. I was hoping that the process of powering off and on again would reset any faults but i guess not! You really need a heating engineer to come out and diagnose the problem for sure as there only so much diagnosis can be done via forums. The timer/programmer will be connected upto circuitry on the boiler (either directly or via wiring centre which is basically a big junction box). A decent heating engineer should be able to track down the fault pretty easily by disconnecting and bypassing the timer and thermostat to establish if it's a fault on the boiler or the external controls (timer etc). You could go out and buy a suitable replacement programmer and wire it up (usually they come with instructions to convert wiring between common models of programmers) only to find it still doesn't work which would just be money down the drain.

With respect DS, your boiler problem may not be identical but who have you had out to look at it as they should have found the fault by now? Running an immersion heater is more expensive than heating the tank via the boiler (gas is cheaper per kWH than electricity) and likely costing you more in the long run than getting your system fixed properly.

Andy

downshifter

andrew-b wrote: »

With respect DS, your boiler problem may not be identical but who have you had out to look at it as they should have found the fault by now? Running an immersion heater is more expensive than heating the tank via the boiler (gas is cheaper per kWH than electricity) and likely costing you more in the long run than getting your system fixed properly. Andy

Thanks Andy, mine is actually oil so as I said, I can really only sympathise. I've had various people, the company that serviced it, an independent electrician, a man who thought he knew it all(!!) but no good. I realise the immersion is more expensive but it's only a little top-heating one, I only use the heater for washing up, shower is electric and there's only one of me. I live in a very cold part of the country but am very hardy! I appreciate it wouldn't be a good solution for a family but it works for me. Thanks.

fifipat

Check the batteries in your timer switch if it is separate from your boiler. Look up the internet for fault finding for your boiler. My mum had a problem with her heating and it turned out the batteries were done on her timer and when she replaced them the boiler had went on to hot water only and not heating.

Check the times that you have set and make sure you haven't hid some override button that puts it on to constant instead of timed heating.

EliteHeat

downshifter wrote: »

Thanks Andy, mine is actually oil so as I said, I can really only sympathise. I've had various people, the company that serviced it, an independent electrician, a man who thought he knew it all(!!) but no good. I realise the immersion is more expensive but it's only a little top-heating one, I only use the heater for washing up, shower is electric and there's only one of me. I live in a very cold part of the country but am very hardy! I appreciate it wouldn't be a good solution for a family but it works for me. Thanks.

That's very odd. I can pretty much guarantee you that a competent person could identify the fault within 10 minutes.

I'm not saying that I know it all, I don't, but I am fairly certain that your boiler will obey the rules of physics

If you have a multimeter, feel free to PM me and I will talk you through the tests.

ailuro2

I agree with EliteHeat - there will be an aswer to the problem, it just needs someone who is competent to go through the fault logically (I'd guess one of your valves is jammed open with a bit of crud from the system, no one's mentioned that yet!!)

I worked as a maintenance engineer for 20 years, and there's ALWAYS an answer to every fault, it's just that some are harder to diagnose than others..