heating gone. AGAIN.

shones

As a young family, we have little (or Zero on a normal day) cash for maintenance on the house.
So along with the -10 nights up here in the north we've had Frozen pipes (easy enough to sort ourselves) Broken CH, guttering came down with the 18 inch of snow we had just before christmas. With the exception of CH we've managed to do the other stuff ourselves. my husband works full time just to cover our morgage, and i'm working part time and taking my kiddiewinkle to work with me. Were doing as much overtime as possible and just scraping by.

my problem is my !!!!!!! central heating. nobody in my family knows anything about heating, so theres no way to get it done cheapish. when we bought the house it worked for about 6 months and now it has its wobbles every winter. but its an old system, (you know the ones you light on the gas fire and have the massive tank upstairs taking up half of your bedroom , making it difficult to get a wardrobe along side its huge cupboard?) well its one of those. Luckily (or unluckily i'm not really sure) we have an emergen heater also so we have hot water but the radiators just do not heat up at all when i put the CH on. i'v bled them and bled them untill iv got radiator bleed coming out of my bloody ears, Theres no air in them at all.but still NO HEAT??? the gas fire is still working so the living room is ok but upstairs it is C-C-C-Cold Like frozen condensation on the INSIDE of the windows in the bathroom.

i have no cash to get a bloke out and pay him 500 squids just to fix my dickie boiler so it can brake down again next time it gets below 15 degrees outside. i have very little cash at all even, so i couldnt get a fix it mister out even if i wanted to. would it pay to get a couple of those daft little halogen/oil filled/ convection heaters to heat up ours and the little uns bedroom while i'v paid off my debt and can afford a new !!!!!!! ch system, or is it abit too daft/naive/stupid?

spinningsheep

I would go out and buy some oil filled radiators for £20 each and leave the internal doors open in the house so to let the air and warmth circulate, this should help to warm the rooms to a livable temp. The fact that you aren't using the heating (I assume the boiler is a back boiler behind the gas fire, in which case it should operate independant of the gas fire, not just when it is on, this may have gone) should in theory mean you are not spending money on gas, so spend this on electricity to keep warm, then, when the winter is coming to an end you can save to get someone in to check the system, so that when we get this all over again next winter, you hopefully won't be in this position again. Also, get down to a Primark if you have one near you, they do lovely fleecy blankets for about £3 which are great to snuggle under at night when watching TV, and can be used to line the insides of your curtains to keep heat in. Close those curtains as early as possible to keep heat in the room and not escaping out the windows.

gas4you

Sorry to hear your situation. There are many more than you realise in this awful predicament.

Are you saying just the radiators are not getting hot or the boiler itself is not working at all?

If the first, the first thing I would do is locate the pump and take the center screw out and insert a flat bladed screwdriver and try to turn it. If not get a mallett and try gently but firmly banging it.

If the second scenario, is the pilot light alight? If not can you light it? If so does it stay on when you release the button you hold down whilst lighting it?

What make and model of back boiler is it?

shones

the radiators arent working.
i cant seem to locate the pump. i dont know whether its because the boiler has alot of lagging or it is just no where to be seen. i can light it, and the pilot light stays lit and you can hear the old whosh of it heating and starting, but no heat. i must have bled my radiators a hundred times aswell.
its an incredibly old boiler i think "homeflame super"? or i heard someone say a tri something or other. thanks for the advice though.

Owain_Moneysaver

It's almost certainly either your pump



or the motorised valve



Replacement cost will be about £50 parts and an hour's labour by a plumber.