Reillo Not firing

techi

Hi Guys,
Hopefully someone can help me resolve boiler issue.

Yesterday went out to get shopping and got a message from father in law to saw heating not working.

I checked when home and sure enough rads were cold but thermostat was on, plenty of oil.

I removed cover from boiler only to note it was warm inside so it had at least fired and shut off at some stage.

Checked for power/trip switches etc confirmed all in order, it wouldn’t kick in from red button press. (Red light stopped working years ago)

Removed photocell and cleaned (not that it was dirty) and still nothing. I checked startup capacitor which is a 4.5uf but reading 3uf, now I didn’t think it would be that critical but I had a 6uf in the shed which I swopped out for and low and behold she fired up.

This did not last long 5-6 minutes and switched off again. I opened front cover as I could hear a noise whilst boiler off. Seems like a pump and an pressure sensor ( I think ) anyway I flicked the pressure sensor switch from auto to manual and the boiler fired up and stayed up heating the rads with a side affect of spinning a leak from screw at front of joint connection on top. I will try attach pics, in my untrained wisdom I decided I’d try tighten screw which made leak much worse however I’ve got it back to a very minor seep/leek. Clearly this isn’t supposed to happen so I’ve disabled power to stop what I think is a pump running. Incidentally with the original capacitor in I could not get unit to fire at all.

techi

Pics to help hopefully

John.G

That blue item is a motorized (zone) valve which is energized to open (normally) from either a room or cylinder thermostat depending on which system its controlling, when it opens it gives a signal for the boiler and circ pump to start, the boiler burner will then cut in/out on its own internal thermostat but the circ pump will continue to run until the motorized valve is de energized. You have opened this valve manually and this is probably giving a signal for the boiler/circ pump to run although some motorized valves like the Honeywell will not give a signal when opened manually as the manual position is only supposed to be used when filling the system. You should have another one of these motorized valves somewhere on the other pipe. When these motorized valves are operating normally the red LED on the actuator lights up when the valve is required to open.

techi

I’ve placed back in auto mode, adjusted boiler temperature to its lowest to see what if it’ll kick in, nothing happening I’m suspecting the pump but could be completely wrong. Thanks for the run down on blue box very well explained and makes sense. The little pressure valve will need replacing regardless as I cannot stop it’s little leak 100%.

Appreciate the reply @John G.

whizbang

Have you accidentally turned the top Pump valve to off ?

Where do you see the leak ?

techi

If you look at photos I’ve uploaded, above the pump the nut has what appears to be a little screw, I’m assuming it’s a small pressure release. When I switched to manual earlier and the unit fired up water started to seep from it. I tried to adjust think just a normal screw but water everywhere. I’ve adjust as best I can but still seeping only a very small amount but there nonetheless. You can see water around it from photo. Whilst adjusting it, it’s seems to have a light spring behind it if that makes sense.

whizbang

That is the isolation valve for the pump; allows you to remove the pump without draining the system.

I'm pretty sure the slot has to be inline with the pipe for open, and 90degrees to that is closed.
Check its the same as the one on the bottom of the pump.

But the real plumbers here know them as notoriously poor; leaky, and dont seal closed either.
Fiddle about with the position to try to stem the leak, anything less than 45degrees from fully open wont really affect flow.

techi

You’re spot on with its positioning it was originally inline with pipe and I have it horizontal, I will have another go re-aligning it correctly in the morning.

jimf

the top pump valve is in the off position so no circulation

those valves leak even if you look at them

there is a chance the stat on your boiler had tripped the high limit

John.G

The marks must be vertically in line with piping when fully opened, you will eventually have replace these pump isolation valves, use gate type which have gland nuts which can be tightened up on any leakage.

techi

The valves top and bottom have been replaced, temperature in boiler set to it lowest and it running fine and on command. I’m assuming from that my pump is possibly on its way out? I will adjust upwardly over time to see where it kicks out again.

John.G

If the two pump valves that you have replaced are now open fully and if the zone valve(s) are starting/stopping the pump then you may as well put the boiler stat to ~ 70/75C and see if the boiler is still tripping on the hi limit stat which it more than likely would with one of the pump isolation valves closed.

techi

John.G wrote: »

If the two pump valves that you have replaced are now open fully and if the zone valve(s) are starting/stopping the pump then you may as well put the boiler stat to ~ 70/75C and see if the boiler is still tripping on the hi limit stat which it more than likely would with one of the pump isolation valves closed.

Sorry for delay in getting back guys, I’ve changed temp to 70/75 as suggested by JohnG and thankfully everything is working as it should. Really appreciate all the input and suggestions, still not sure what caused issue I’m still suspecting a pump issue maybe it’s starting to fail, for now it’s perfect and an 83 year old happy he has heat.

Thanks again

jimf

sometimes for no apparent reason you will get this what we call nuisance lockouts

maybe pump was just stuck i wouldnt worry about it for now but if it continues maybe plumber time is on the horizon

pump motor impellors can get stuck and then free themselves again as said above kick on for now glad u got sorted

and thanks for the feedback its nice to know what the outcome was as sometimes on here once problem is solved we never hear any more