Having Problems with Non-Combi Boiler, Pipes and Pump - Help Needed
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Complete Amatuer
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Having Problems with Non-Combi Boiler, Pipes and Pump - Help Needed

by Complete Amatuer » Sun Aug 02, 2015 10:46 pm

Hi,
I am hoping someone can give me some guidance as I am a complete amateur (as the username suggests).
We moved in to a house a year ago and have had no issues with the boiler / heating until now where we seem to be experiencing lots of problems.
We have a boiler in the kitchen (not a combi), a water tank in the airing cupboard and a water tank in the roof so our water (I am told) is gravity fed.
Recently we started hearing loud banging noises in the pipes and I mean really loud banging. To be safe we called out a British Gas engineer as we have the home cover plan but he couldn't tell us the issue and suggested we have the entire system flushed at £700 plus VAT by them or better still buy a new boiler from them! So we changed some settings for the temperature as he suggested that might fix it in the very short term. It seemed to work but then our boiler started making really unusual noises which sounded like a big watch being wound up! Again ,we though lets not take chances (we have young kids) and phoned British Gas. This engineer suggested there was no danger but we should buy a new boiler as it will be needed sooner or later but it will add value to the house anyway!
The banging in the pipes seems to have gone as does the noise in the boiler (I am not sure what the BG engineer did to stop that but its worked) but then we had an issue with the water pump in the airing cupboard being on all of the time even when there was no water needing to be pumped around the pipes! I had no idea what to do but after turning the central heating on, letting it fill the pipes and drain it seemed to do the trick. I also bled every radiator but only one had any air in it. That was fine for a couple of days and today the pump went on again. So to fix it I tried the central heating again and it seems to have worked.
We obviously have something wrong and I will happily get it fixed but I don't trust the BG engineers and would just value any advice someone could give me on the issue.
In summary, we have hot water and central heating - although the hot water hasn't worked a couple of times recently.
There is water in the over flow tank (?) in the loft although it is dirty. The pump works but sometimes has a mind of its own and stays on.
The boiler seems to switch on and off randomly when the pump is going and I can hear water going in / out of the tank in the airing cupboard.
Any advice would be gratefully received!
Regards
Complete Amatuer

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