Boilermate 2000. Timer being used but heating very intermitent.

Hi,

I have a boilermate 2000, this is working with a Gloworm micron 50ff. My central heating does not always work. The radiators get hot although the living room radiator only gets partially warm. I have tried to adjust the timer, use the 'on' position, reset the thermostat and reset the Gloworm to Max. The hot water is fine but in this weather, I really could do with some 'full time heating!!' Any ideas anyone? Also, after removing the cover, the top led light for the heating pump is out. Does this mean the pump has gone??

Andy

Hi Andy,

The pump lights on the board are green, not red. I presume you mean the CH green light is out?

The pump light being OFF tells us the board is not sending electricity to it. The pump is highly UNlikely to have failed. The board believes you don't want/need heating because the external controls are not supplying the board with a 'call for heat' signal. This means either a faulty timer or a room 'stat failure. Do you have a wireless room 'stat need batteries

Is there live power (240Vac) on the board terminals 25 or 28 when the green pump light is OFF but you have set the controls to call for heat? If yes to both then this points to board failure. If NO to either, this points to timer or room 'stat failure.

Cheers, Mike

Hi Mike,

I will look into what you advise. The CH light is on, the LED is out on the board if I have success I will post to advise others.

Many thanks.

Andy

Hi again Mike,

I have checked the points - 25 & 28.
28 is live but not 25. Heat is being requested and the timer is set to 'On' but now the radiators upstairs & down are hot with exception of the living room. By the time the other rads get hot the heating reduces before the living room has had chance to heat up? Any ideas? Oh, the thermostat is wired not battery. The boiler kicks in when requested and the pipes into the boilermate are hot. We have hot water but that runs out after some time.

Cheers.

Andy

IF YOU STORE TEMP IS BELOW 60 DEGREES YOUR HEATING WONT RUN. AND WILL SEEM TO HAVE A MIND OF ITS OWN !!!
HOPE THIS HELPS
MARK.
www.gledhill-repair.co.uk

Thanks for the quick reply Mark,

It appears to be running at 53 Deg. Off to figure out how to increase it.

Cheers

Andy

is your gas boiler thermostat set to maximum ?
check that the store pump is running on speed 3 [ left hand pump ]
also check the store stat to see if its falling when removed and increasing when it put back into its sleeve
hope this helps
mark.
www.gledhill-repair.co.uk

Full credit to Mark for identifying a more likely reason for the heating not coming ON. In my experience the board interlock operates at 65 degrees C though, and your store temp of 53 will definitely hold the heating OFF if the interlock is working correctly.

The cause of a low store temp will be the boiler not heating to a high enough temp before turning it's burners OFF. DO you have the boiler temperature control set to MAX (as it should be)? Is the boiler a Potterton Suprima by any chance? They suffer from a less well-known fault where they run but turn OFF at too low a temperature.

Cheers, Mike

Hi,

The boiler is set to max and the pump to 3. The Temp is currently 53Deg. The calling temp is 74 Deg and the satisfied temp is 77 Deg? The Radiators are currently hot although the living room is only tepid. Oh and the boiler is a Gloworm Micron 50FF.

Thanks
Andy

ok i would turn off the heating and just make sure that the unit is comming up to full temp.
the second green led will go out 1st then the lower led will go out this confirms unit is at store temp and the pump overun has shut down. at this point there should be no leds on . as soon as you turn your heating back on the upper led will light followed by the bottom 2 as the store calls for more heat as we are using our core temp to heat the rads.
hope this makes sense
mark.
www.gledhill-repair.co.uk

Thanks,

Will give it a go and post an update later.

Really helpful site thanks again!!
Andy

Hi,

Tried the suggested method of turning the heating off to build the unit up to full temp. This worked and the rads in the living room were piping hot. Unfortunately this only lasted for an hour or so. The temp of the boilermate dropped again to 49 degs. I am having another go with it just waiting for the temp to increase. Unless you can suggest anything else?

Andy

Hi Andy,

What temperature did the Boilermate store eventually achieve with the CH turned OFF?

So with no heat load on the Boilermate, the store appears to eventually warms up to the correct temperature (subject to Andy confirming this). But when the heating comes ON the store temp declines again. Interesting that it should decline to 49 degrees as the interlock should have shut the heating OFF when the store temp fell to 60 or 65 degrees but it didn't, and the store temp continued to fall to 49 degrees. Or maybe it did and hot water use forced the temp down to 49 degrees.

It appears that the boiler cannot replace the heat lost from the store as fast as the rads or hot water use it up. This suggests inadequate circulation between the boiler and the boilermate. Is the boiler pump working ok (and set to speed III)? Is the system actually properly full of water? Is the boiler actually alight and running all the time while the store temp is below 60 degrees? If the boiler is turning On and OFF every few minutes this also points to inadequate circulation.

Nest step is to measure the flow and return temps on the boiler while it is firing, or if it is NOT firing, check to see if there is a live signal asking it to fire on the SwL terminal. Mark may have some other suggestions.

Did the heating ever work correctly or has this problem cropped up recently, e.g. since the very cold weather arrived?

Cheers, Mike

Hi Mike,

The boilermate dropped to 49 deg but with only little water being used. One thing you point out is the Gloworm, this fires up but sometimes only lasts a few minutes. The boilermate eventually achieved a store temp of 77 deg. I am currently waiting for it to store up again. This has only happened recently as you say. The pump appears to be working and is set to three. The system is full and the cistern tank in the loft has not dropped either?

Andy

Andy did you resolve your problem if so what was wrong?

I have a similair issue with my system as my boiler can't seem to keep pace with the demand from the CH system, only by turning 3 rads off I can maintain the CH system above 60 deg otherwise the boilermate cycles between CH and HW.

Thanks

I too have a boiler mate 2000 with this problem, it is connected to a potterton Suprima boiler.
The boiler is working ok cutting out at 78 c on max.
The store temp gets above 60c then the heating pump comes on 240vac, but the store pump votage drops to 167vac. And stops circulating the primary water from the boiler. Soon after the store temp drops below 60c and the primary pump kicks in at 240vac but the voltage to the heating pump has gone. This is despite the external controls still calling for heating. I would of thought it would make sense for the primary pump to continue running even when there is demand for heating. I think it may be a fault from the ACB board? But at £silly I'm cautious to try it. Any help would be really appreciated.
Thanks