Heating filler valve but no pressure guage visible

mrblack

Live in the flatlands of Meath in a 2008 new build with water coming from a well 300 metres away. Heating has not been working well lately and now has given up completely. The riello oil burner has a red light and won't fire at all. It occurs to me that the water may be low as system hasn't had a refill since 2008 when we moved in to our new build. We had a very small leak in the autumn but plumber came out and advised it was a slight temporary drip from a relief valve in the hot air press. Since then over time the towel rads upstairs stopped working and then gradually other rads in the house stopped getting hot too. But I only noticed Saturday that all the rads were cold when the CH timer was on. The kitchen/living room is heated seperately so its not a major problem. Just cold bedrooms and lukewarm showers!

Anyway after reading posts about the refill valve I located it and then looked for the pressure guage which I expected to read well below 1 bar.

Unfortunately there seems to be no pressure guage installed! None is visible near the refill valve in the hot air press or in the shed where the oil burner is.

I am stumped. Every post I read on Boards and internet advised to watch the guage until it hits just less than 1 bar or thereabouts and then stop refilling.

What can I do? I was thinking that maybe the plumber did not install a pressure guage as he fely it unecessary in our house which is supplied with water at about 2 bar from nearby well. Is it safe to just go and refill it blindly for 30 seconds and then stop refilling, fire upthe system and quickly bleed all the rads.

Have called plumber but no replies for three days so tempted to try DIY instead.

Thanks in advance for useful advice.

MrBlack

agusta

mrblack wrote: »

Live in the flatlands of Meath in a 2008 new build with water coming from a well 300 metres away. Heating has not been working well lately and now has given up completely. The riello oil burner has a red light and won't fire at all. It occurs to me that the water may be low as system hasn't had a refill since 2008 when we moved in to our new build. We had a very small leak in the autumn but plumber came out and advised it was a slight temporary drip from a relief valve in the hot air press. Since then over time the towel rads upstairs stopped working and then gradually other rads in the house stopped getting hot too. But I only noticed Saturday that all the rads were cold when the CH timer was on. The kitchen/living room is heated seperately so its not a major problem. Just cold bedrooms and lukewarm showers!

Anyway after reading posts about the refill valve I located it and then looked for the pressure guage which I expected to read well below 1 bar.

Unfortunately there seems to be no pressure guage installed! None is visible near the refill valve in the hot air press or in the shed where the oil burner is.

I am stumped. Every post I read on Boards and internet advised to watch the guage until it hits just less than 1 bar or thereabouts and then stop refilling.

What can I do? I was thinking that maybe the plumber did not install a pressure guage as he fely it unecessary in our house which is supplied with water at about 2 bar from nearby well. Is it safe to just go and refill it blindly for 30 seconds and then stop refilling, fire upthe system and quickly bleed all the rads.

Have called plumber but no replies for three days so tempted to try DIY instead.
What you have here is two seperate issues.IF The RED light on your burner is on,your burner is in lockout mode.This is a burner issue only.You can press this red button and see will the burner start and then post back..Could you post a picture of the refill valve that you located.The rads being cold are a separate issue,

agusta

I would advise not to make any adjustments to any valves on your heating system unless your 100 percent sure you know what your adjusting.you can just press the reset button on your burner twice

shane0007

WTF?
Are you for real giving that advice?

OP, I would be very surprised that there is no pressure gauge installed.
Firstly make sure you have indeed a fully pressurised system & not a semi-sealed system or even an open vented system.

If you then discover it is indeed a fully pressurised system with no gauge, then you must fit a gauge before attempting to fill the system.

Secondly, the red light on the burner is nothing to do with the pressure in your heating system. It is a flame failure device warning that the burner flame was unable to establish due to lack of fuel or a burner component failure.

So your best bet is to call in somebody who can sort both & ignore the advice quoted above.

mrblack

agusta wrote: »

mrblack wrote: »

Live in the flatlands of Meath in a 2008 new build with water coming from a well 300 metres away. Heating has not been working well lately and now has given up completely. The riello oil burner has a red light and won't fire at all. It occurs to me that the water may be low as system hasn't had a refill since 2008 when we moved in to our new build. We had a very small leak in the autumn but plumber came out and advised it was a slight temporary drip from a relief valve in the hot air press. Since then over time the towel rads upstairs stopped working and then gradually other rads in the house stopped getting hot too. But I only noticed Saturday that all the rads were cold when the CH timer was on. The kitchen/living room is heated seperately so its not a major problem. Just cold bedrooms and lukewarm showers!

Anyway after reading posts about the refill valve I located it and then looked for the pressure guage which I expected to read well below 1 bar.

Unfortunately there seems to be no pressure guage installed! None is visible near the refill valve in the hot air press or in the shed where the oil burner is.

I am stumped. Every post I read on Boards and internet advised to watch the guage until it hits just less than 1 bar or thereabouts and then stop refilling.

What can I do? I was thinking that maybe the plumber did not install a pressure guage as he fely it unecessary in our house which is supplied with water at about 2 bar from nearby well. Is it safe to just go and refill it blindly for 30 seconds and then stop refilling, fire upthe system and quickly bleed all the rads.

Have called plumber but no replies for three days so tempted to try DIY instead.
What you have here is two seperate issues.IF The red light on your burner is on,your burner is in lockout mode.This is a burner issue only.You can press this red button and see will the burner start and then post back..Could you post a picture of the refill valve that you located.The rads being cold are a separate issue,

Ahem,embarrassingly while taking a pic as Agusta requested I actually fouund the pressure gauge (hidden by a shelf of clothes) and it is reading zero as per attached pics
I will refill tomorrow and hopefully the boiler will work as well.

Thanks for the advice!

agusta

Well done,Your high limit stat is probally tripped in your boiler too

.jacksparrow.

agusta wrote: »

Well done,Your high limit stat is probally tripped in your boiler too

Why would you say this?

agusta

shane0007 wrote: »

WTF?
Are you for real giving that advice?

OP, I would be very surprised that there is no pressure gauge installed.
Firstly make sure you have indeed a fully pressurised system & not a semi-sealed system or even an open vented system.

If you then discover it is indeed a fully pressurised system with no gauge, then you must fit a gauge before attempting to fill the system.

Secondly, the red light on the burner is nothing to do with the pressure in your heating system. It is a flame failure device warning that the burner flame was unable to establish due to lack of fuel or a burner component failure.

So your best bet is to call in somebody who can sort both & ignore the advice quoted above.

Well said,wish i could have replied as good

jimf

agusta wrote: »

Well done,Your high limit stat is probally tripped in your boiler too

probably not if burner showing lockout

agusta

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

Why would you say this?

The pressure gauge is reading zero,The burner wont start.Two faults.IF no water in system the hi limit stat has more than likely tripped instead of the burner being in lock out

.jacksparrow.

agusta wrote: »

The pressure gauge is reading zero,The burner wont start.Two faults.IF no water in system the hi limit stat has more than likely tripped instead of the burner being in lock out

But he said there is a red light on the burner

agusta

jimf wrote: »

probably not if burner showing lockout

I agree,i think its unusual to have a burner in lockout at the very same time as there is no pressure in the system,so i was thinking the the op meant the red button and not the red light.So i said probably the high limit stat has tripped although i didnt say it was;)

agusta

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

But he said there is a red light on the burner

I have to agree with you