Boilermate Conclusion

22nd December 2005

I found out why the new sensor was reading “error”. The plumber had connected it to the wrong point on the main board! It is curious that the system should work better when a sensor isn’t connected than when a faulty sensor is connected.

Anyhow, I rewired the sensor to the correct point and everything is now working fine. It only required 4 plumber visits to diagnose the problem, change the sensor and wire it up incorrectly!

Hopefully, I can enjoy my shower in peace now!

tags: boilermate home

  • 1 On Fri, 03/11/2006 - 18:03, Anonymous (not verified) said:

    Systemate 2000

    We moved in our 5 bedroom house for 3.25years, another one of Charles Church development. Yes, we have massive problem with our gas bills. Another nightmare is that we have numerous problems with our central heating and hot water system. We have a lovely power shower but it takes forever to balance. We have 3 showers, 2 baths, 5 toilets and all the kitchen appliances but we can only use one shower at a time. Developer’s engineer has put in a balance valve under the main tabs but I don’t think it really work. We used to have massive noise came from the heating cupboard and the whole floor is shaking from time to time. Finally we have no hot water 6 months ago, it has been reported a faulty pump after 2.5 years of all the noise and shaking. The faulty pump has been changed 4 months ago and I thought everything will be fine? 3 weeks ago I found out that the central heating is not working and not even the emergency swith. I managed to get the emergency one working by switch off the main unit from the power supply, cancel all the timer system, etc. We have 2 engineers from Homeserve on site for the past 3 weeks and parts still haven’t been ordered. I managed to arrange my own engineer by threating cancel my insurance policy. Now I have been told that I can order the main PCB, organise my engineer and wait for the insurance company to pay me back in 28 days when they received the invoices! The cost of the PCB and the engineer will cost more than the cover they pay out (£300.00) and I still have to pay for the balance! All Homeserve can offer me for the lack of heating is £40.00 to get a electric heater. We’ve been told that the whole system is not actually compactable with the design of our house, however, how can we afford to change a new boiler so soon!

  • 2 On Sun, 17/12/2006 - 18:28, Richard McManus (not verified) said:

    A quick question about disgnostics

    David

    Like your Blog, seems like you are soon to achieve cult status as the saviour of all Boilermate users …!

    Anyway, I was just wondering where you got the info on how to run the diagnostics ? I’ve had the front panel off, and spotted the 2-digit LED display (which actually looks suspiciously like it isn’t working properly) and a couple of buttons, but no direction on how to diagnose a fault.

    Also, are you a mac-user by any chance …? Just going by the look and feel of the blog.

    Cheers

    Richard.

  • 3 On Mon, 04/12/2006 - 19:42, Slim (not verified) said:

    Gulfsteam 2000 in new Persimmon homes

    There seem to be ongoing problems with Gulfstream 2000 boilers in Persimmon homes. As a result a dispute has erupted between Persimmon and the installers who are refusing to come and rectify matters. As previously mentioned on this page the manufacturer, Gledhill, refuse outright to discuss problems with householders. Maybe when they start seeing their company name and product lines exposed to criticism such as this they will have a rethink. Or maybe not.

    We’ve had 4 engineers so far to look at our boiler. It makes banging and rumbling noises and locks out regularly. Currently it won’t function in any mode except emergency.

  • 4 On Wed, 04/10/2006 - 20:36, David34 (not verified) said:

    I just replaced my

    I just replaced my boilermate a class to the new version Boiler MAte A class ov 231. The old one seemed to be sproting very slow leaks, but ran fine.

    I cant seem to run a bath. Runs hot for first quarter and then goes likearm. My plumber says this is how its supposed to be. And I need to turn the tap down to a very slow rate for it to run hot??

    Cant understand used to run a bath no probs with the old boilermate

    Help

  • 5 On Fri, 17/03/2006 - 12:30, David said:

    Sounds like bad installation

    I have chatted with a couple of other Boilermate oweners, and it looks very much like your installers have plumbed the boilermate in incorrectly.

    The big clue is the fact that the domestic hot water is scalding hot – it shouldn’t be, it should be at 59 degrees.

    We are guessing that it has been installed like a regular hot water tank, with the domestic hot water running from the tank and the rads off the heat exchanger. This is totally wrong.

    The rads should be ciculating through the tank, and the hot water off the rising main through the heat exchanger. Try downloading this manual from Gledhill – hopefully it will point you in the right direction.

  • 6 On Tue, 28/03/2006 - 02:29, Noreen O'Leary (not verified) said:

    Boilermate Disaster

    Hi David,

    Thanks so much for your comments which give us a bit more ammunition to fire at the builders (Charles Church!!). We’ve asked for the designers to meet with us at the house so that they can see the problem in situ but are also going to approach Gledhill service department to come a well to check the installation. We are still reeling from the shock of the last gas bill (admittedly LPG as we live in the country) but it was £582.21 for the quarter. bearing in mind that my husband works in Japan and we were only at home for 2 out of the three months, that seems just a tad high to us! We’ll let you know how the saga develops but many thanks again for your help.

    Regards
    Noreen

  • 7 On Mon, 03/04/2006 - 18:42, Matthew Bradley (not verified) said:

    Boilermate - Nice to see I am not the only one

    Hi Noreen & David,

    I have just come across your pages for exactly the same reason about issues I have with my Boilermate (sorry David – your blog has turned into a Boilermate rescue page!)

    Noreen – My setup in my brand new Persimmon home is the same as yours. We have a 3 bed semi with 2 bathrooms. I have Glow-worm Micron 40FF boiler with a Boilermate A-Class. We just received our bill for 3 months and its £400!! I shock from the £25 a month we got in our 10 year old 2 bed!!!! My wife and I have thought it wasn’t anything to do with us because we followed the instructions on the usage to the letter, but we had come to the end of our teather this week and thought that maybe we were in the wrong and we would have to pay up. At least there is hope at the end of the tunnel!

    I will let you know how I get on with this information with Persimmon Homes. They should be on hand still with any queries for the next 2 years!!! I hope.

    Thanks guys.

    Regards

    Matt

  • 8 On Fri, 06/01/2006 - 20:29, David said:

    An interesting tidbit of advice

    Thanks Simon,

    I have seen a similar issue on the DHW sensor, but it isn’t causing an obvious problem. I will reseat the connections as you advise, just in case it makes things even better!

    Cheers,

    David

  • 9 On Fri, 06/01/2006 - 16:31, Simon (not verified) said:

    Hot water sensors

    David,

    Found your page whilst searching for information regarding my own Gulfstream 2000 boiler – another wizzy Gledhill product!

    I’d had a similar problem with hot water running cold and thought it was going to be a scaled up heat exchanger (that might be the flow reduction however).

    I ran through the manuals diagnostics, and unlike you didn’t find an erroring snsor as such, but the PHE sensor was suddenly reporting 85 degrees C every so often, I presume that this caused a safety system to cut in and stop the hot until the temp reduced.

    Having no luck in sourcing a new sensor locally I disconnected the PHE sensor – the PCB then read ‘ER’ and hot water was continuous… then reconnecting the sensor seemed to have got rid of the spurious 85degree readings too – I guess it was a slightly dodgy connection that needed a fiddle after 2 years of use!

    So, next time your boiler starts to play up, try reseating the sensor connections and see what happens – you might save a bit of cash!

    Best wishes for the New Year,

    Simon.

  • 10 On Wed, 08/02/2006 - 15:36, Clive (not verified) said:

    Boilermate

    David

    I reckon I have a very similar problem to the one you had in that the water often runs hot, then cold for a few seconds, then hot again. What I also notice is that there seems to be a constant battle going on in the airing cupboard with some sensor or other constantly telling the pump to pump and the pump trying but not able to cos no taps are open. I’m sure I was told it was the DHW sensor that needs replacing but when I ordered the part it turns out to be a PHE sensor. Any nuggets of wisdom you can throw my way will be greatly appreciated.

    Clive

  • 11 On Wed, 08/02/2006 - 21:16, David said:

    DHW vs PHE sensor

    The good news is the two parts are identical. The very good news is that the DHW sensor is much easier to fit.
    • Remove power from the system.
    • Pull the edge connector that the DHW sensor is connected to from the main board.
    • Using a very small screwdriver, open the jaws on the edge connector and remove the sensor wires from it (make a note of what goes where).
    • Shut down the stopcock feeding the cold water main into the heat exchanger. Verify by running a hot tap, the pressure should fall off to nothing very quickly.
    • Unscrew the DHW sensor and replace (using PTFE tape to seal the joint).
    • Open up stopcock.
    • Reconnect sensor wires to connector.
    • Plug in edge connector and power up.
    • Hope that your issue was correctly diagnosed.

    Good luck.

    David

  • 12 On Fri, 17/03/2006 - 04:03, Noreen O'Leary (not verified) said:

    Our Cold House with the Boilermate

    Hi David,

    On scouring the internet in the hope of some inspiration to help with our Boilermate problem, I found your site and am hoping you may have some ideas.

    We have a Boilermate together with a Glowworm boiler. The problem is that, when the weather is mild, the system just about copes with every control set to maximum. When the temperature dips to 1 or 2 degrees and lower, it just gives up! The builders have changed 3 radiators for bigger ones in the coldest rooms (I’m talking 10 degrees here) and a bigger pump but it hasn’t solved our problem. Also the hot water is scalding hot and we’re told that we cannot control this. I have a sneaky feelng that the Boilermate installed is too small for the house. We have a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom barn conversion with 2 bedrooms in the roof space with high ceilings. The hall/landing are huge but there is just one small double radiator by the front door (and some 10 feet away from the thermostat) to heat it. The result is that the system never reaches the set temperature and the gas is running constantly with the resulting very high gas bills. Although it has 3 bedrooms, they are huge. In fact this house has a bigger floor area than the 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom house that we have just left. Do you have any ideas which may help us as the builders seem to be clueless.

    Here’s hoping
    Noreen O’Leary

  • 13 On Fri, 22/12/2006 - 21:48, David Miller (not verified) said:

    boilermate 111

    Hi,

    can anyone advise please I am not getting hot rads. sometimes there hot upstairs but freezing downstairs.

    thought it was the pump but thats ok.

    Regards

    David

  • 14 On Tue, 10/10/2006 - 13:28, David said:

    Useful I wish I’d known

    Useful I wish I’d known this when trying to diagnose the issues I was having. Very useful.

  • 15 On Tue, 10/10/2006 - 13:38, David said:

    Sounds very suspect

    There is no way this is right. It sounds like they’ve plumbed it in incorrectly, and that you’re draining the hot water store directly into the bath. Whereas what should be happening is that the water going into the bath should be fresh water that is heated up in the heat exchanger on the way from the incoming mains to the tap.

    Good luck,

    David

  • 16 On Tue, 10/10/2006 - 05:47, colin (not verified) said:

    Boilermate 2000

    A little bit more info:
    If your DHW sensor reads 85 or 99 this is also an error code.

  • 17 On Fri, 05/01/2007 - 16:49, mervin (not verified) said:

    pulsacoil 2000

    Hi, very interesting reading. I too am having trouble with hot water, it started some time ago, when the hot water would be boiling sometimes then cooler the next. Now we have no hot water at all! I can hear the unit heating up and the tank is warm, but no hot water. Any comments appreciated. Regards Mervin
  • 18 On Sun, 05/11/2006 - 23:45, David said:

    Terrible

    Jenny,

    I am sorry to hear how awful your installation is. As you may have gathered, there is no way that I am an expert on these systems – just a frustrated user.

    I am firmly of the opinion that the issue isn’t Gledhill, it is the installers and regular plumbers who don’t understand the systems. They are quite differently plumbed in to conventional hot water systems, and any plumber who does his job “parrot style” will get it wrong.

    This problem is made worse by Gledhills reluctance to deal directly with end users. If they had their own service team, or troubleshooters who could come out then I think things would be much better.

    Since the displays aren’t working properly, I don’t believe you have any choice but to get the new logic board.

    I would be more concerned that the system is correctly installed, and to be sure of that then you need a plumber that understands the concept of a heat store. Gledhill were able to find me a plumber that knew the systems, which I did not use since he wasn’t particularly local – but in your case I think you should consider it.

    David

  • 19 On Fri, 03/11/2006 - 18:50, Anonymous (not verified) said:

    Systemate 2000

    Hi David, I forgot to ask you the question on my last comment. The LED Display for BAR 1, 2, 3 on the system is not working, the 3 Green LED’s in the bottom is working. The normal central heating is not working but the hot water is working. The emergency control is working. Gledhill suggested to change the ACB but I wonder whether there is anything to do with the senor, the timer or the switch control thermostat? Please comment.

    Jenny

  • 20 On Mon, 18/09/2006 - 22:22, Mike (not verified) said:

    no hot water or heating

    Hi David ,

    I have glowworn micro boiler with a boilermate 2000, glenhill intergrated thermo storage stystem , which has recently stopped working ,no hot water or heating the hot water is tepid and not hot can you please help with any suggestion . Do you know wear I can get a manual ?

    king regards Mike .

  • 21 On Tue, 16/01/2007 - 15:34, Gordon (not verified) said:

    This blog is fantastic. I

    This blog is fantastic. I read through the problems you were having with the boilermate yesterday, and guess what the syptoms were exactly the same on my DHW. The shower was going hot and cold and also the bathwater would run cold after a few minutes. I ordered the new GTE 153 sensor from keeptheheaton.com yesterday and the part arrived in the post this morning 25.90 including vat and postage. I have just fitted it and everything seems to be working fine again. I have even turned all the hot taps on at the same time as well as the shower and we get hot water consistently still…amazing!, Thanks for your help. I wonder how long the new sensor will last? Cheaper than calling out a plumber though!
    Best regards
    Gordon

  • 22 On Thu, 18/01/2007 - 17:30, Slim (not verified) said:

    Re: Gulfstream 2000 boilers

    Re: Gulfstream 2000 boilers in new Persimmon homes.

    After a couple more visits from engineers we have now found and located the problem. The problem lies not with the boiler but with the condenser drainage pipe which in our installation uses a thin plastic “push” pipe that runs into the downstairs kitchen sink outlet. This thin pipe is installed too close to the sink and as a result had become blocked.

    This has taken a year and 6 engineers to resolve!

  • 23 On Mon, 12/02/2007 - 16:47, Nathan Sheen (not verified) said:

    Hi David, What a great

    Hi David,
    What a great page! Following an unsuccessful call to Gledhill, I have found this bible of Boilermate info and wondered if you have any words of Boilermate 2000 wisdom for me?
    Everything has worked fine for the passed 3 years until last week. I currently have lots of hot water, but no space heating. The system heats all radiators for about 30mins when first switched on but then stops. Having followed the Gledhill guidelines for commissioning the Boilermate 2000, all sensors and readings seem to be correct, with no shown errors. I thought perhaps this would point to the “Flow pump”, but would it heat the radiators if it is faulty? Have I missed anything out? I would obviously prefer to pay £25 for a sensor rather than £120 for said pump. Any suggestions would be greatly received.

    Many thanks,
    Nathan Sheen

  • 24 On Mon, 05/03/2007 - 16:11, Andrew (not verified) said:

    Hi David, Yet another

    Hi David,
    Yet another person having troubles with a boilermate 2000!! The issue with mine is the hot water and it tempertaure variations. Sometimes it’s quite normal, sometimes very hot, sometimes starts hot then goes to totally cold and sometimes just the same as the cold tap! However, having read your blog and carried out the sensor tests I think it’s the PHE sensor which has died as I get err readings mostly but have, once, had an 85 reading. I have tried disconnecting it and reseating the cables but this made no difference, so I have ordered a new one.
    In your blog about you give details about changing the DHW sensor and mention that the PHE sensor is a little more difficult. Can you give me a procedure to follow? There is a valve above and below the pump which should help.

    Many thanks for your site and hoping you can assist me.
    Andrew

  • 25 On Mon, 05/03/2007 - 17:47, David said:

    Andrew, I’ll email you

    Andrew,

    I’ll email you the procedure I followed.

    Cheers,

    David

  • 26 On Tue, 06/03/2007 - 00:25, Andrew (not verified) said:

    David, Thank you for

    David,

    Thank you for that. I don’t know which e-mail provider you use but I do know that AOL blocks most as spam so i never get them which may be why I haven’t received yours. This is my other e-mail account if you could send it there I stand a good chance of recieving it. When I do I will then contact AOL and give them yet another telling off for blocking legititmate e-mails.

    Sorry to be a pain.
    Andrew

  • 27 On Mon, 12/03/2007 - 17:54, jasmine (not verified) said:

    David Great to come

    David

    Great to come across your blog. I have been having massive problems with my boiler. No hot water or heating – I try to switch to the electric supply and the the electrics trip. Have had homeserve out 4 times – most of the enigneers don t want to touch the bolier. Finally got someone to come round who managed to fix it but didn t know how or what he did ? – that was yesterday and its gone again. They say it could be the pump or the circuit board but no one knows. Thinking of giving up on homeserve and joining British Gas maybe they woudl have a better idea. Not sure if you know what it could be ?
    All electric supply has gone off on both the Glow worm and Boliermate.
    thanks

    jasmine

  • 28 On Fri, 16/03/2007 - 16:09, Andrew (not verified) said:

    David, Thank you for your

    David,

    Thank you for your assistance with changing the sensor in my boilermate 2000. It worked a treat for about 2 weeks! Now the other sensor has died and all I get from the delightful system is cold water! Happily the instructions are above so when the new sensor arrives I’ll be able to change it quite easily.

    Just one rhetorical question. What was wrong with a tank and a pipe which branched to each tape? It’s worked perfectly well for year and years. There’s no need for sensors, heat exchangers, computer chips, LEDs etc….

    Wishing for a bygone age….
    Andrew

  • 29 On Fri, 16/03/2007 - 21:37, sam (not verified) said:

    Hi David i am having a hot

    Hi David
    i am having a hot water problem with my boilermate 3. start with hot and going cold for few seconds. after reading this blog as well as the installation manual, I have done the basic checks. PCB Started making a noise when the hot water tap is open but DHW pump would not run? found the AC supply for the DHW pump is around 175V AC with the hot water tap open.pump working fine with the direct supply. all the sensors are reading fine too. tried to re-commission the unit, but when i turn the power on the display shows 888 and it wont go through automatic commissioning steps. can anybody help….please….

  • 30 On Mon, 19/03/2007 - 22:27, gledhill repairs (not verified) said:

    gledhill repairs by mark on

    gledhill repairs by mark on 01354638050 / 07967424232
    he covers cambridgeshire , norfolk, suffolk , essex bedfordshire and a few other areas he can also be contacted via e-mail at
    gledhillrepairs@hotmail.co.uk

  • 31 On Mon, 19/03/2007 - 23:01, David said:

    Mr Gledhill Repairs, I

    Mr Gledhill Repairs,

    I don’t mind you leaving a little ad on here, since it may be very useful to some of the readers – but do you really need to leave more than one? I’m deleting the older one of March 16th.

    David

  • 32 On Sat, 24/03/2007 - 22:19, stuart baskill (not verified) said:

    I have just finished

    I have just finished building the shell of my new house and am considering options with regard to heating systems. The Gledhill boiler mate system seems to fit my requirements as I can install it myself and it uses mains water pressure which in my instance is high, but from your blog site there appears to be problems. The house is five bedrooms with two bathrooms and two on suites so requires at least the bma210. Can you advise based on your experience how good a system it is.

  • 33 On Sat, 24/03/2007 - 23:53, Daniel (not verified) said:

    Help, we’ve just moved

    Help, we’ve just moved into a 3 year old house with a Boilermate 2000, we don’t have hot/cold variations we just don’t get much hot water (6 litres a minute). The cold taps easily deliver the 3 bar requirement. I have noticed however that the hot water is v hot. I think that the water isn’t passing thru the plate heat exchanger fast enough, thus overheating it. Could it be the reducing valve before the exchanger is blocked/the exchanger itself. We live in a hard water area, and the cold feed has a electrical limescale device fitted.

    Help!

  • 34 On Sun, 25/03/2007 - 07:40, David said:

    Stuart, The only problem

    Stuart,

    The only problem that I see is the lack of knowledge around when they do go wrong. Almost anything gets problems, including traditional heating systems. But, there are plenty of heating engineers around that understand them. I had problems for nearly a near with several people coming to have a look and failing to rectify the issue. In the end it was a £20 part which took 10 minutes to change, which the on board diagnostics was quite capable of identifying. Most of the other issues people talk about here come down to the same thing, lack of knowledge by the professionals.

    I haven’t had a problem since, and without the issue I had, the system is luxurious. Constant hot water at the correct temperature regardless of other users in the house turning taps on, flushing toilets, etc.

    Find a local expert to look after it, just like you would with your car, and you’ll be fine.

    David

  • 35 On Sun, 25/03/2007 - 07:58, David said:

    Daniel, Your idea sounds

    Daniel,

    Your idea sounds correct, although the boilermate monitors the temperature of the domestic hot water (DHW), and if it gets too high it reduces the flow to the plate heat exchanger (PHE) – although the system may not be able to adjust itself to such a low water pressure. 6 litres per minute is much too low.

    When I first moved in my hot water pressure was too low, but the cold was reasonable, and I found that the previous occupants had only partially opened the stopcock – simple to fix in my case.

    Since you have a chain of components, I suggest that you check that the flow after each component is good. There are no intrinsic components designed to regulate hot water flow according to temperature, just the pressure limiting valve you have already mentioned.

    David

  • 36 On Mon, 02/04/2007 - 21:56, Mike the Boilerman (not verified) said:

    Hello everyone, Just been

    Hello everyone,

    Just been pointed to this blog by one of my customers.

    I fix boilers for a living. I LOVE fixing things and I find myself fixing more and more
    Gledhill thermal stores as the weeks click by. I’ve just published a suite of websites
    built around my Gledhill repair experiences. I’d welcome some peer review from anyone
    with time to read my sites and comment. Hopefully visitors to this blog will find them
    helpful too. See www.gledhill-repairs.co.uk

    Mike Bryant, AKA Mike the Boilerman

  • 37 On Tue, 03/04/2007 - 06:54, Mike the Boilerman (not verified) said:

    Daniel, A couple of

    Daniel,

    A couple of points:

    1)The boilerMate 2000 is designed to produce water at a fixed temperature
    (of 50 degreess celcius IIRC). There is no option for the user to change it.
    50 deg is too hot for comfort for some users, but this does not mean the
    unit is mis-behaving.

    2) Pressure and flow are not the same. You cold taps may deliver 3.0 bar
    pressure but do they deliver more than the 6 litres per minute? If they DO,
    then as David says, something is restricting the flow. You say you live in a
    hard water area.

    My bet is on calcium (water scale) contamination of the heat exchanger
    restricting the flow. I change HEs regularly around here (West
    Berkshire). So often in fact that I buy them five at a time from Gledhill.
    There is one indicator that contradicts this though. Temperature is usually
    adversely affected when scale gets to the point where flow is reduced. You
    may WELL have a partially closed stopcock!

    Cheers, Mike

  • 38 On Thu, 05/04/2007 - 07:21, Mike the Boilerman (not verified) said:

    Stuart, I’d say the

    Stuart,

    I’d say the same as David. Vitually every one of my Gledhill repair customers has an unfortunate tale to tell about
    a string of failures of regular plumbers to repair theirs. The vast majority of plumbers seem to shake their heads and
    admit to knowing nothing about Gledhills and vanish, or they condemn the system (sometimes making up some cock-and-bull
    story about Gledhill no longer trading and their products being obsolete) and advise the customer to replace with an
    unvented hot water cylinder. It’s a sad reflection on my trade that it is populated mostly by luddites.

    If you can cope with problems finding engineers able to maintain yours, or learn about it yourself, then I think they are
    a good product to have.

    Further, there has been little discussion on this blog about the problems thermal stores can have with water scale. In my
    area (west London and home counties) ‘water conditioners’ are commonly ineffective. I’ve encountered badly scaled units
    fitted with virtually every make and model of electronic, magnetic and siliphos-dosing scale reducer. You may well need
    to fit the only type of truly, reliably effective scale prevention, an ion-exchange water softener.

    Cheers, Mike
    www.miketheboilerman.com

  • 39 On Fri, 13/04/2007 - 20:57, Maz (not verified) said:

    Hi I just read this blog

    Hi

    I just read this blog and it was very helpful. Someone said that 85 degrees is basically an error. So I took the cylinder cover off and looked at the ACB (the curcuit board). The ACB for was showing H85 for DHW (hot water temperature). I ran the diagnostics that are in the manual for the systemate 2000 (section 2.3, page 27) which goes through a bunch of steps that check leds and the display. When I turned the hot water tap on, BAR3 on the LED display did not light up. Therefore I guessed it could only be the pump or the thermostat. I moved the DHW sensor wire a little and the display went from H85 to 21 and then started rising. Basically I think the wire was a bit dodgy on the sensor. As soon as the display stopped displaying H85 the hot water worked a treat.

    Maz

  • 40 On Mon, 23/04/2007 - 09:59, Nikki (not verified) said:

    Hi, I’ve had someone

    Hi,

    I’ve had someone round to fix my PulsaCoil 2000 – I now have hot water but the pump seems to be on continuously. Is this normal? The pump housing is also very hot. I am anxious that the pump will wear out.

    Would really appreciate your thoughts

    Thanks
    Nikki

  • 41 On Wed, 25/04/2007 - 19:47, Parm (not verified) said:

    Hi, I have a similar

    Hi, I have a similar problem to the continual fluctuation in temperature of the DHW. We had this before and a Gledhill engineer replaced the heat exchanger. We live in a particularly hard water area although we have a decent water softener. Please would you email me how to change the sensor GTE 153 sensor from keeptheheaton.com. I cannot find the sensor on their website. Would you be able to send me a manual on how to run the diagnostics and also instructions on how to change the DHW sensor. I you can do this then I would be very grateful. Thanks.

  • 42 On Sun, 29/04/2007 - 19:40, Terry Dalglish (not verified) said:

    Hi, Had problems with my

    Hi,

    Had problems with my Gledhill a couple of months ago, got it sorted by local (Newcastle upon Tyne area) plumber who was recommended by Gledhills themselves. Really good service, would definitely recommend him.
    Company’s called RWS Heating Ltd and the number’s 07740 412 170.

  • 43 On Sat, 05/05/2007 - 11:58, Steve (not verified) said:

    HI i have a pulsacoil 2000

    HI i have a pulsacoil 2000 boiler and have been having problems with it recently. The first issue is that every so often it makes almost beeping noises and the led bulb flashes in a way that suggests taht the DHW sensor needs changing. This only happens rarely and normally it says that everything is working fine. Also recently the boiler seems to be boiling water but not pumping it to the taps and so we can only get cold water. However by turning the boiler off and then back on the problem seems to get sorted. Do you know what is wrong? Is it something i could solve or do i need a plumber? I would be most grateful if you could help?

  • 44 On Sun, 20/05/2007 - 14:01, Steve (not verified) said:

    Hi david I have recently

    Hi david

    I have recently replaced the DHW sensor on my pulsacoil 2000 boiler, however now the diaignostic led says the PHE sensor needs changing. I’m a little confused about how to do this. earlier in your blog you say that you’d email instructions on how to do this. i would be unbelievably grateful if you would be able to email me those instructions. Thanks for all your hard work

    Steve

  • 45 On Tue, 22/05/2007 - 10:47, David J (not verified) said:

    Hi & thanks for all the

    Hi & thanks for all the advice

    I had the same problem with water running hot and cold (this must be a design fault?!), reseated all the electrical connections and the problem has gone away for now at least.

    Before this I had ordered a PHE return sensor so would also like the fitting instructions if possible as I’m guessing that’ll be what goes quite soon…

    Thanks again for this great blog

    Dave

  • 46 On Tue, 22/05/2007 - 17:50, richard allen (not verified) said:

    Hi all, My question seems

    Hi all,

    My question seems simple compared to most on this site but here goes!!! What is the kilowatt rating of the gledhill boilermate class a ov? I have a new three bed one bathroom and one en-suite persimmon home and have just recieved a electricity bill for nearly £600!! My boiler packed up and i had to use the gledhill backup system for heating and hot water for two months during winter. Now Persimmon (who told me not to worry because the backup system would not cost much more to run!!) are not willing to compensate me for the bill without proof. My normal bill for the same period was £220. If anyone can help i would be very grateful.

    Richard

  • 47 On Tue, 22/05/2007 - 18:51, Steve (not verified) said:

    Hi David (or anyone else),

    Hi David (or anyone else), PLEASE HELP ME!

    I have a Gulfstream 2000, only three years old, and have recently been experiencing problems. Basically when I came home from holiday the heating and hot water had stopped. I managed to narrow the problem down to the manual reset (boiler overheat) having popped out. I reset it and everything came back on, but it popped out again within an hour. I can keep doing this to get bursts of heating, however I don’t think this is a suitable long term solution.

    I am able to use the emergency heating and hot water settings too, but again this isn’t good in the long term.

    We had somebody take a look and he reckoned it was the expansion vessel that needs replacing. We also had British Gas come and look who said that the expansion vessel needs charging, but this is not the main problem. It could apparently be one of three things:

    - Thermister – Overhead thermostat – Circuit board

    However the man from British Gas said that he can’t get the parts, and Gledhill only have the parts for a different version of the boiler because the Gulfstream 2000 has been discontinued. British Gas will also not cover or fix this type of boiler on their homecare scheme.

    Has anyone else had this problem or does anyone know what to do or who can fix it?

    Any information would be really helpful.

    Thanks

    Steve

  • 48 On Thu, 14/06/2007 - 21:18, Mike the Boilerman (not verified) said:

    Steve, The expansion

    Steve,

    The expansion vessel may need replacing/recharging but this will have no impact on the locking
    out problem.

    I agree it will be the store heat sensor, the circuit board or the overheat stat causing
    the problem. Hard to pin down which without seeing the boiler.

    The BG bloke is wrong, parts are freely avaiable directly from Gledhill for the GS2000.
    I mend them regularly and have a box of spares here on my desk which arrived from Gledhill
    this morning! The spares not the desk.

    Get your next engineer to ring Gledhill tech support from your house. They are very
    helpful.

    Or get me in to fix it! Where are you?

    Cheers, Mike

  • 49 On Thu, 14/06/2007 - 21:22, Mike the Boilerman (not verified) said:

    Richard, The BoilerMate

    Richard,

    The BoilerMate A Class OV is rated at 6kW in electric backup mode, according to
    the instruction book.

    Cheers, Mike

  • 50 On Tue, 14/08/2007 - 16:42, Stu (not verified) said:

    Got a real strange problem

    Got a real strange problem with the boiler at home, its a GlowWorm Micron 40FF…

    If I turn the central heating on, the boiler fires up and the heating comes on, just as it should.

    If I turn the hot water on, nothing, zilch, nada. Boiler doesn’t fire, no hot water out of the taps nothing.

    If I turn both the central heating and hot water on, I get central heating but I get no hot water, zilch, nada.

    I’m completely confused as to what the problem might be. I thought it might be the PCB as I’m told they can be problematic, but we got the upgraded new board about 2 years ago and surely if the problem was that, I’d have no heating or hot water like last time.

    Thoughts? Suggestions? Its killing me to keep getting up at 6am to nip down the gym for hot water or boil 2/3 kettles every morning.

  • 51 On Fri, 17/08/2007 - 14:46, jay (not verified) said:

    Hi i have a gledhill

    Hi
    i have a gledhill pulsacoil boiler too. It started running hot and cold about 2 years ago
    after which point i called an engineer who fixed the issue. aparently was a sensor change required.
    My friend has the same boiler and he too had same problem, which again was repaired.
    So now 2 years later the fault has returned.
    The diagnostics LED indicators do not show any problems. I disconnected both sensors, and
    gave them a clean. Reconnected them after and the problem is now intermittent. i.e in the morning
    the showers tends to run hot and cold. But for the second person to shower, it seems to correct itself.
    Where can i purchase these PHE and DHW sensors from anyway ?

    thanks
    jay

  • 52 On Tue, 21/08/2007 - 21:09, Boiler Service Centre (not verified) said:

    Hi David, Sorry to dredge

    Hi David,
    Sorry to dredge this old post back up, but can you tell me if you were running a Boilermate 2000 or Class-A? One of our site users has contacted us regarding a similair problem they’ve been having, and wondered if I should direct them towards this post (they’ve got a Class-A).

    Thanks,
    Daniel

  • 53 On Wed, 22/08/2007 - 06:44, David said:

    Daniel, Hi. The system I

    Daniel,

    Hi. The system I was having trouble with (which, by the way, is running perfectly these days) is a Boilermate 2000.

    I hope this helps,

    David

  • 54 On Wed, 22/08/2007 - 21:58, Boiler Service Centre (not verified) said:

    Brilliant, many thanks!

    Brilliant, many thanks!

  • 55 On Sun, 26/08/2007 - 11:09, Boiler Mad (not verified) said:

    Hi, I have a pulsacoil2000

    Hi, I have a pulsacoil2000 and have had various problems that i have managed to fix
    by either reseting the thermo switch or topping up with water however now the systems keeps
    tripping the electic safty switch of the apartment.

    Any idea what this can be?

    Cheers

  • 56 On Fri, 14/09/2007 - 09:02, gledhill repairs (not verified) said:

    sounds like you may have a

    sounds like you may have a defective immesion element there is an upgrade for this

  • 57 On Sat, 29/09/2007 - 17:06, Ian M (not verified) said:

    I too have experienced

    I too have experienced numerous problems with my boilermate 2000 and although I am not a plumber I have a small amount of knowledge from years in the building trade and not wishing to pay silly amounts of money out on labour costs if I can have a go at fixing the problem myself. However it is not advisable to touch the system if you do not understand how it works, so here goes,
    The conventional boiler will only fire up when heat is demanded by the boilermate appliance control board (ACB). This is dictated by the stored water temperature in the system, which stays in the system and is topped up via the small tank in the loft, this hot water serves 2 purposes. Firstly this is the water that runs round the radiators for heating and secondly when the hot tap is turned on the stored hot water acts as a heater for the water running to the taps, this happens via the plate heat exchanger, cold fresh water goes to the heat exchanger and is heated from the stored water, the 2 lots of water are not mixed in any way so that the water that comes out of the taps both hot and cold is pottable (drinkable). The boiler does not directly heat your hot water.
    If sporadic hot then cold water is being experienced then the main cause of the problems seem to be either the DHW sensor, the PHE sensor or the plate heat exchanger
    In hard water areas the PHE scales up hence the cold water as the stored water is not able to get heat to the cold going through. Having spoke to Gledhill and having ruled out any pump problems it was suggested that I may need to replace the PHE due to scale build up and recommended changing the sensors at the same time. I know this has been long winded but I believe the operation of the system needs explaining. Incidently if the PHE pump is not working then no hot water will be delivered to the taps as this pumps the stored hot water round the PHE and is not used to pump the water to the taps as this is already mains pressure fed.
    p.s if the system needs to be drained fully or partially for repair work etc then you will have to add more scale inhibitor into the expantion tank in the loft before refilling. Hope this all helps!

  • 58 On Tue, 02/10/2007 - 18:35, Rich H (not verified) said:

    First i’d like to say,

    First i’d like to say, thanks, your a complete life/cash saver, i had problems with my hot water flickering on and off for about 6months, basically i ignored the problem until all i got was cold water all the time. So i searched the net found this page and ordered the Gledhill GT153 DHW Sensor from keep the heat on, fitted it about a month ago and i have had pretty good hot water since, very occasionally the temp dips a little in the shower.
    Anyway i’ve had my Wimpey starter home for about 5years and when i took the old sensor out i noted how corroded it was anyway i think my central heating (sensor) is packing up now (probably not that surprising as it most likely has the same expected life as the DHW sensor and has been subject to the same type of water)

    Anyway was hoping you could forward me the instructions for fitting the central heating sensor.

    Thanks your blogg has saved me so much hassle its untrue

  • 59 On Sat, 03/11/2007 - 23:50, Stephen Dawson (not verified) said:

    Geldhill Aftercare Service

    Good Evening David,

    Intrested in your and the amount of problems people seem to have in trying to find service engineers for Gledhill units. However I am one of that rare breed being a Gledhill out-of-warranty service engineer. If anyones cares for some advice or help then my website address is www.foxelectrical.co.uk. Yes we are an electrical firm, we also carry most of the Gledhill spares in stock. We are also able to service, inspect install and commision Accolade and X-Stream unvented systems. Sorry if this is an invasion of your website.

    Regards

    Steve Dawson 07870 601180

  • 60 On Sun, 04/11/2007 - 20:21, David said:

    Thanks Steve

    I am sure that people reading this will be relieved to find the details of someone who can help. Thanks for leaving your details,

    David

  • 61 On Sun, 04/11/2007 - 23:57, Terry (not verified) said:

    The Gledhill Boilermate 11

    The Gledhill Boilermate 11 sucks, simple as that!
    Bring back the simple systems with no PCB’s and a storage tank that does not fight with its heat source. I was much happier in the old days even if the gas bill was a bit higher. Why? because I’ve worked out the cost of servicing and maintaining this crap system is far more than the energy saved. ;)

  • 62 On Tue, 13/11/2007 - 16:33, Anonymous (not verified) said:

    pulsacoil 2000

    Hi

    Our pulsacoil only ever gives about 1 hot shower in the morning and won’t run a bath. I’m not technically minded but sometimes we do get strange noises at night and the led flashes fast then slow too.

    Any advice?

  • 63 On Sat, 17/11/2007 - 11:53, Paul C. (not verified) said:

    Pulsacoil 2000

    Hello,

    Good website. Let me share my experience of my Pulsacoil 2000 that may help people….

    i) After first moving in the boiler stopped producing hot water. I filled the header tank, turned off and on again and tthe next day I had hot water for 1 year….
    ii) Then things went cold again. (Well hot-warm-cold-warm-hot, etc)... I reset the overheat thermostat (by removing the black screw-cap fitting, pressing the button, putting everything back together and re-powering.
    iii) Then after another year I got the same ir-regular water patterns. The header tank was full, the reset switch hadn’t tripped but the pump flow LED was flashing seven times, then off, repeated.
    The instruction book was excellent, it attributed it to the DHW sensor. I bought one from keeptheheaton.co.uk and after much nervousness re-fitted it as per the instructions in post 4. I may add here that my only tool was a Leatherman all-in-one tool and an adjustable spanner.
    I re-powered the unit and YES! We had hot water and two flahes (healthy mode) came back!
    All was good unto lastnight! Hot water gone again! This time 1 flash every few seconds – apparantly the PHE return sesnor. I’ve ordered it and hope to fit it myself on Monday.

    Now,
    i) Without this website, living in central London I would of shelled out ~£400 on plumbers fee’s. SO thanks.
    ii) This blog has instructions on fitting DHW sensor but not PHE sensor. Can I ask firstly, should I attempt to fit it, if so, could somebody give me any clues where I can find instructions – like the ones on post 4 for DHW replacement.

  • 64 On Sat, 17/11/2007 - 11:57, David said:

    PHE Instructions

    They are here… PHE Instructions

  • 65 On Tue, 20/11/2007 - 17:16, monti (not verified) said:

    Boliermate 2 Gledhill Heatings ok but no hot water!

    Hi,

    I have the above system mated with a gloworm back bolier. Problem is that the hot water is only warm for up to 20 seconds then it goes cold again. After searching I ordered the GT153 sensor. Now the Problem is i have no clue where it goes? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

    regards
    Monty

  • 66 On Wed, 21/11/2007 - 14:07, Liz (not verified) said:

    Boilermate 2000 error 18 on timer

    hi
    I have a Boilermate 2000 which came with the house I moved into this January. The boiler timer on the front of the boiler will not let me program in any times on any of the programs and the boiler will just come on and go off at random points in the day and night.

    Also, the boiler has now started to just turn on and stay on which is a really problem in the middle of the night!

    I have tried resetting the timer but this has just caused the boiler to stay on constantly.

    can anyone suggest what I need to do to fix this please as I am completly lost and in fear of a large bill!

    thanks

  • 67 On Wed, 21/11/2007 - 23:55, razor (not verified) said:

    biolermate2000

    i haded a new radiator on to my heating system but when it come to filling it i had major problems it just would not fill. i finally filled but now can not get the heating or hw working.i have a biolermate 2000 vented system.

  • 68 On Thu, 06/12/2007 - 00:06, Mike the Boilerman (not verified) said:

    Boliermate 2 Gledhill Heatings ok but no hot water!

    Monty,

    Sadly the BoilerMate II does not have a GT153 sensor. This part is only fitted to the BoilerMate III and the BoilerMate 2000. Your BoilerMate probably has either a failed blender valve or, more likely, a calcium-contaminated secondary heat exchanger. If the latter, chemical descaling will fix it.

    Cheers, Mike

  • 69 On Thu, 06/12/2007 - 00:17, Mike the Boilerman (not verified) said:

    Boilermate 2000 error 18 on timer

    Liz,

    There is a fundemental misunderstanding of how a BoilerMate works here. The timer controls the heating, which is separate from the boiler. In a ‘normal’ system the boiler heats the rads directly so the timer turns the boiler AND the heating pump on and off. In a BoilerMate system the boiler heats the thermal store (the BoilerMate) which then becomes the heat source for both radiators AND domestic hot water taps, so needs always to be hot. The Boiler downstairs comes on whenever the heat store inside the BoilerMate cools below a certain temperature, giving the (correct) impression that it is not under control of the timer. The timer simply turns the pump that delivers hot water to the radiators on and off.

    Hope that explains it. There’s more detail on my BoilerMate website http://www.boilermate-repairs.co.uk

    Cheers, Mike

  • 70 On Thu, 06/12/2007 - 00:24, Mike (not verified) said:

    biolermate2000

    Hi razor,

    Filling problems are rare on a 2000. It sounds to me as though yours is still not properly full though.

    I suggest you fill it through one of the drain points using a hose connected to a mains water tap. This will either shift the airlock or, if the blockage is solid, bypass it completely. Keep a close eye on the water level in the header tank as you fill!

    Cheers, Mike

  • 71 On Sat, 08/12/2007 - 19:43, Kam Summan (not verified) said:

    Gledhill Boilermate 2000

    Hi David,

    I would like to express my sincerest thanks to you and everyone that has posted on your Blog. I, like many others, had a problem with a lack of hot water, espcially when having a shower. The first thing I did was to switch off the Boilermate from the mains, and then switch it on again. This solved the problem for about a week, but during this time I have managed to obtain a DHW sensor and fitted it.

    Everything seems to be ok for now.

    Thanks again, you have saved me both time and money, which is always a good thing!

    Kind Regards,

    Kam

  • 72 On Mon, 10/12/2007 - 12:03, Steve (not verified) said:

    overheating of boilermate 2000

    Last Tuesday we went to bed as normal only to awake to a nightmare. the front bedroom was flooded as the pipe to the radiator had blown from its coupling. then the boiler went really hot but no heating or hotwater was available from it and this continued with the boiler being too hot to touch. we turned it off and then after turning it back on it did the same again and got so hot it started burning the foam pipe covers where the electrics are and could have caused a fire if i hadn’t saw it in time. Now 6 days later and 5 visits from plumbers and it still isn’t fixed. Any ideas?

  • 73 On Mon, 17/12/2007 - 11:59, Anonymous (not verified) said:

    gulfstream 2000

    Jasmine only just come across this site as I am having major problems with above. This is just to suggest you do NOT change to BG. I am now awaiting the seventh visit and eigth engineer still without success. They really have NOT got a clue.
    My fault is a familiar one on this site. The burner engaging for some twenty minutes and then shutting down, also tripping the “ store overheat lock out”.
    Gledhills own engineers can fix the many problems but there are only two ,apparently, in the south east. If you do not have an annual contract then at this time of the year they will not allow you to book them for a visit. Warranty and service customers come first and last.
    Good luck but steer clear of BG.

  • 74 On Mon, 17/12/2007 - 12:18, Anonymous (not verified) said:

    gulfstream 2000

    Steve your situation mirrors mine almost identically.
    My gulfstream 2000 is now 5 1/2 years old. I am having the same problem at this time. Running for 20 minutes then locking out. BG said you need new expansion vessel. They did fitted but trouble continues. This morn they have fitted Boiler overheat thermos and store sensor. This on advise from Gledhills Technical desk. Ten minutes after they left – lockout. I am using the emergency back up system which I estimate has cost me more than £100 since the 4/12/07.
    This mornings visit by BG was the seventh to correct this problem. Unfortunately it is clear they have not got a clue.
    Re spares I had similair comments from some of the BG engineers. On phoning Gledhills have been assured that they carry spares for about 10 years and there is no problem with this model – yet!!
    Did you find the answer to your problem?

  • 75 On Thu, 03/01/2008 - 19:26, Ian (not verified) said:

    new user, same problem

    Hi David

    like many others here, having googled my boilermate to find out some information I find myself reading your blog. I also have the Gledhill Boilermate 2000 and glow worm micron 40ff boiler combo like many others. We have recently been experiencing the hot/cold water problem with the 2 showers only. The hot taps seem unaffected.

    Unfortunately we were left with no instructions or other manuals for our boiler and I am struggling to get my head around all of the various info & pages on boilermate problems here. Would you be prepared to summarise or give me any advice on how to do any diagnostics on the boiler? Also, any further instructions on sensor replacment would be fantastic. From what I have read I am pretty confident it will be one or both of the sensors that have failed. Our boiler is housed in a very narrow, but very deep airing cupboard so gaining access to it is actually quite difficult but I am prepared to give it a go.

    Many thanks, and a great blog

  • 76 On Mon, 07/01/2008 - 18:08, MarkyD (not verified) said:

    Gledhill A-class Pulsacoil Electric Thermal Store

    Hello,

    I have recently moved into a new build property in Essex which has the affore mentioned Gledhill A-class Pulsacoil Electric Thermal Store which is used for hot water (the heating is taken care of by storage heaters).

    I have looked through a lot of the comments and I’m not sure whether they’re having the same problem as me or not, so I thought I’d post this and see what comes back.

    The problem is short and sweet. I can’t get any hot water out the thing! The hot water supply is stone cold UNLESS I use the Boost button (which is only supposed to be used if you are likely to need extra hot water e.g. if you have guests staying etc). It makes noises occasionally and appears to be “on”, but I cannot figure out what I need to do to get to produce hot water normally. There’s no obvious switches or buttons for me to press.

    Please help…anybody!

    P.s. I have also tried to obtain Technical Helpline numbers for Gledhill and did find one…alas it doesn’t appear to be connected to anything/anyone. It doesn’t even ring! Poor.

  • 77 On Tue, 08/01/2008 - 14:04, Richard Reeves (not verified) said:

    Gledhill system

    I have been looking to replace my boiler in my apartment with a Gledhill system, can the be recommended? If not does anybody have any suggestions.
    Kind regards
    Richard

  • 78 On Tue, 15/01/2008 - 09:29, Tom (not verified) said:

    Pulsa Coil III

    Hi all,

    I have a Pulsa Coil III system, it trips out everynight and stops producing hot water until the reset button is pressed and then the same thing happens the next night. If we forget to press the reset button we are without hot water. I think there must be a prob with the sensor, i.e. it may be overheating but I cant be sure? anyone know or had a similar problem.

    Regards
    Tom

  • 79 On Thu, 24/01/2008 - 21:02, mark (not verified) said:

    pulsacoil 3

    hello, its sounds like one of your immersion heaters has failed. before you reset is green lamp 2 on /off? i bet its off.
    call me on 01354638050 / 07967424232 if i can be any more help.
    thermal solutions

  • 80 On Mon, 28/01/2008 - 18:21, Helen (not verified) said:

    systemate 2000

    Hi all was wondering if anyone could help me. I have an icos M3080 boiler with a systemate 2000. The problem is that the heating and hot water do not come on when they should even when I set the timer to continuous. I have had scottish gas out numerous times in fact nearly every second day in the last month. They cannot find a problem. they have changed the PCB and heat sensors but the problem is still there. If i turn the boiler off and then on again it sometimes resets itself otherwise I have to leave it and eventually it comes on again. If the heating comes on there is hot water and if the heating does not come on there is no hot water. Any ideas that i could pass on to scottish gas would be greatly appreciated.

  • 81 On Wed, 30/01/2008 - 21:07, Jayne (not verified) said:

    Pulsacoil 2000

    Hi there,Wondered if you could help, I moved into my flat last July and the flat is only 3 years old, however my water system has been working fine, but tonight i turned the control on and there was only a little warm water, its not heating up and is only making a little noise in the cupboard. The green light is on but doesnt seem to be heating what shall i do or who do I get incontact with.Many thanks Jayne

  • 82 On Fri, 01/02/2008 - 18:22, THERMAL SOLUTIONS (not verified) said:

    pulsacoil

    hello, have any of your fuses tripped on your fuse board or on a seperate breaker for economy 7? www.gledhill-repair.co.uk

  • 83 On Fri, 01/02/2008 - 19:06, Chris Y (not verified) said:

    Boilermate 2000 DHW Sensor

    Glad (or should it be Gled) to see I’m not the only one who has experienced hot/cold showers in the morning. My wife was complaining about it for months but it only needed to happen to me once to investigate and change the DHW sensor – I was blaming her for not having the shower set right (ooops). Anyway, having done this and acquired a new skill, I’m becoming a dab hand and in 4 months am on my 3rd replacement sensor. It always does the trick! The problem seems to be that the sensor is corroding – anybody any ideas why this is happenning? A good tip in exchange for your advice is that you don’t always need to replace the sensor if it has just corroded. Have you seen the Cillit Bang penny test? Dip the sensor in this stuff and it strips away the corrosion and with the help of some emery cloth can be restored to its former glory. Still baffled as to why it continues to happen though. Help appreciated please. Thanks.

  • 84 On Thu, 07/02/2008 - 22:03, Chris (not verified) said:

    Gulfstream 2000

    Can anyone please advise me without confusing me!!!

    I am in a new build as first owner (Gleesons) and exactly after 2yrs the Bolier started playing up with the following issues;

    Poor heat into Radiators
    Loud nosies from unit and Rads
    Low Pressure

    We had it serviced in 2006 (The unit is no more than 5 years old) which took us ages to find anyone who would touch it – several turned up and basically laughed at the unit….
    We were unable to find anyone to continue the srevice in 2007 and the Unit has now completely packed in due to issues with a perferated valve.

    British Gas have been out today and advised a new unit as the required parts are likely months away from ordering. They have turned off the unit as it is deemed dangerous…

    I am being quoted in the Region on 3k for a full replacement of a similar but better product and i really don’t want to shell this out.

    It is apparently deemed a poor unit riddled with design faults and were only ever put into production for 12 months… Although out of warranty, i feel really agreaved at having to shell out money,

    Can anyone please recommend a specialist in the Hampshire area near Basingstoke etc, that knows what they are doing with thses units?

    And has anyone successfully followed a Builder with a complaint, as in my mind this Product would be deemed not fit for Purpose….

    Any thoughts would genuinely be appreciated as i am starting to smell as is my house!!!

    Chris

  • 85 On Wed, 13/02/2008 - 23:34, Andy_W (not verified) said:

    Gulfstream 2000

    David,

    Thanks for this excellent blog! – a wealth of tips & info in here.

    Chris, (your post Thu, 07/02/2008 – 22:03) I’m in a similar position; Wimpey new-build inaugural owner, two-and-a-half year’s old, out of warranty, only works on “Switch” now – which costs megabucks. Please try Http://www.iphe.org.uk and enter your postcode for plumbers in your area; it worked for me, but ALL those with Gulfstream familiarity or training (please make sure you ask!) that I contacted have a two-and-a-half to three week’s waiting time. Argh. They’ll quite candidly tell you that there are a LOT of Gledhills in our area, but precious few fixers/maintainers.

    I’m getting the impression that builders are not inhibiting the systems properly as per the manual (behind the front cover or downloadable from the Gledhill site), and that our water is too hard without installing additional high-flow (ion-exchange) softeners.

    A couple of people in my area have tried taking action against Wimpey, using the (County?) Analysts’s water-hardness report (which you have to pay for), but their defence is that they are installing the systems i.a.w. Gledhill’s recommendations by using the plug-in electric scale conditioner, which you may find fitted below the PHE on the CW feed (bottom right).

    I had my PHE and both sensors (DHW & PHE) changed after just one year, as the DHW flow-rate slowed to a trickle, under the builder’s Warranty scheme. I’d attempt similar work myself now (including de-scaling the PHE), but this time the problem appears to be more serious inasmuch as the pre-ignition checks complete ok, the burner fires-up but a few seconds later the flame rate begins to oscillate and the flue sounds like an Alphorn…Lock-out follows soon after. Ho hum.

    Regards all,

    Andy.

  • 86 On Fri, 15/02/2008 - 14:00, Andy_W (not verified) said:

    Gulfstream 2000

    FAO Basingstoke area dwellers with Gledhills, try www.miketheboilerman.com.

    Smashing bloke with extensive Gledhill knowledge, and lots of advice! He visited my sick system today and, whilst not repairable without major expense (main heat exchanger distorted/melted and leaking into the burner & fan unit argh) rapidly diagnosed the fault and offered sound advice as to what to do next.

    I think I’m going to fit a combi.

    Regards all,

    Andy.

  • 87 On Thu, 21/02/2008 - 11:30, Ian m (not verified) said:

    Boilermate 2000

    Chris
    The problem with the system is the hard water, I would suggest replacing the plate heat exchanger rather than keep spending out every few months for sensors.
    If you read my comprehensive section on how the system works which I posted on this site last year it explains basically the format of the boilermate.
    I replaced my phe and the 2 sensors and guess what lovely hot water, however I know that in the future if I cant soften the water then I will experience the same problems again.
    I am just testing an electronic water conditioner to see if this helps.
    I have looked into chemical softeners which over time will get rid of limescale buildup in the system but then the tap water is not drinkable so this then creates more financial implications.ie water filter contraptions etc.
    I just wonder if the old phe can be cleaned this way I can replace each time it scales up and clean the other one ready for re installation in a couple of years.

  • 88 On Wed, 27/02/2008 - 00:29, Anonymous (not verified) said:

    pulsacoil 111

    im looking for information on the pulsacoil timer.. we have just moved into a flat that has one ( ive always been used to gas c/heating.) ive got the hall timer thing sorted but the boiler timer for bath/sink is a new thing for me. it has a little white timer that says push on /off for sink!! i got that too.. my problem is the main clock timer it has a cover over it, i cant get it off to alter the time, to go on /off though if i pull the dial out slightly i can turn it through to next start point ‘ how do i get in to reset the timer arms on the dial ????? can any one HELP please

  • 89 On Wed, 05/03/2008 - 18:38, David Hickey (not verified) said:

    Help is at hand (Gledhill Repair Specialsts)

    Dear David

    The Gledhill range of equiptment (Boilermate, Pulsacoil, Electramate, Gulfstream etc) is not as problematic nor as difficult to repair as your readers have been led to believe.

    I am a qualified gas engineer with electrical qualiifications as well, and have been specialising in Gledhill repairs for the last 10yrs.

    My personal knowledge of the range is extensive and my company is not only recommended by Gledhill for repairs in the Midlands area but we are also occassionally called upon to carry out work directly on behalf of Gledhill on their equiptment under warranty.

    We are based in Leicester but do travel to the surrounding counties (Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire etc.) and I would be more than happy for your readers to contact me either by email service@midlandboilercare.com or by telephone on 0116 2333944 (office) 07973 624179 (my work mobile) to arrange for quick and painless repairs without being ripped off.

    As for spares taking months to arrive (read a quote regarding British Gas further up the page), we carry the most frequently used spares on our vans to effect a first time fix, and for any other spares that we don’t have, we can usually have them with us within 1 – 2 days.

    I hope this will be of use to your troubled readers.

    Kind regards
    David Hickey
    Midland Boilercare Ltd
    Leicester
    0116 2333944

  • 90 On Tue, 29/04/2008 - 22:08, tara (not verified) said:

    boliermate 2

    hi can anyone recommend a plumber in hull please. my water and heating hasnt been working for a while now we have had a new mixer valve placed that has made the water slightly warmer but can only get half a bathful if where lucky. if anyone has any idea what this problem is i would be very grateful i am really considering getting in debt for a combi boiler.

  • 91 On Wed, 30/04/2008 - 23:49, Aine (not verified) said:

    Pulsacoil 2000

    Hi,
    Im renting a ‘new build’ flat with a Pulsacoil 2000 electric water store.

    When it comes on to do its off-peak heat, its really noisy! It sounds like its boiling and is loud enough to wake me up at night – guests have also said theyve been woken up by it.

    Is this normal and just due to the fact that the walls are so thin, or is there a problem with it?

    Is there anything I can do to try and reduce the noise bar setting the timer to think its offpeak during peak hours?

  • 92 On Thu, 29/05/2008 - 10:54, Conny (not verified) said:

    Pulsacoil 2000

    Can anyone help please? I and my neighbours have been beleaguered with hot water problems.

    As part of a new build complex the Pulsacoil 2000 standard has been installed in the all of the units. However, within the first week of moving in, we had no hot water unless we turned on the boost. We called an engineer out and at a cost of £300 was told that the immersion heater needed replacing. After the installation we were told by the engineer to keep the all three switches (Peak, Off Peak and Boost) ON constantly. I had read on the web (www.pulsacoil-repairs.co.uk) not to Boost unless extra hot water is needed and disregarded the advice, considering that the boiler tended to over heat and the fault light coming on.

    Ever since when we need hot water we simply turn the Boost on for an hour or so and hot water is available, though only enough for two 10-15 mins hot showers. Every 4-5 weeks we have to reset the system as the fault light comes on. The over night Economy 7 storage does not give anything bar luke warm tepid water.

    Can anyone recommend a qualified engineer in the London area specialising in Gledhill products who can explain what we are doing wrong and how to alleviate the problems?

  • 93 On Mon, 02/06/2008 - 21:29, Paul (not verified) said:

    Amtrol boiler mate/WH-41Z

    Help, it seem’s that I don’t get much hot water and the boiler fires up to heat up the tank again. Should I get enough hot water for one shower before the boiler starts again ???. I have replaced the thermocouple once per manufacturer recommendations any ideas. Paul

  • 94 On Fri, 13/06/2008 - 01:57, praneeth (not verified) said:

    Pulsacoil 2000

    I moved into a flat this april which has a pulsacoil 2000 heater and we are having problems with it since the day we moved in. Since day one, the heater was not giving us hot water even though the timer went on. Complained to the landlord and they sent an electrician and he said there was something wrong with the sensors. He replaced it and things got better after that, now we would get hot water one morning and absolutely no hot water the next day as if the heater had a mind of its own. Complained to the landlord again and this occassion the electrician guy said the heater is not on for long and he adjusted the timer. But the problem still persisted so obviously that electrician is an idiot or he doesn’t know how to fix it. I was going through the instruction manual and seems like they have made things so complicated. Why on earth do you need a heater that pumps the water into the taps? I mean all my previous flats had timed gas boilers and even the old immersion electric heaters which weren’t timed but they were perfect; you wanted hot water, switch it on for an hour and switch off bingo there you go hot water right there. Anyways, I was looking up on the net on how to fix it myself and a plumber suggested to check the water container that sits on top of it. It is empty so I will fill it and let you guys know if it is fixed.

  • 95 On Fri, 13/06/2008 - 17:39, Vicky (not verified) said:

    Pulsacoil III Faulty Float Switch

    I have a problem with my Pulsacoil III system. I have read the manual and this website which are both very informative but have a question regarding the float switch in the F&E cistern.

    The problem occurred a couple of days ago when both green lights 1 and 2 went out and the system no longer heats up ( I have checked the power is on and after checking the PCB the system thinks it is ‘OK’). After reading the manual I thought the problem must be due to a low level of water in the F&E cistern. When I checked there was only a few inches of water in the bottom so I topped up the F&E cistern to the indented mark around the metal drum. Unfortunately, the system still doesn’t heat up.

    After further investigating I found the small plastic section of the float switch lying in the base of the F&E cistern, one of the small loops has worn away so it no longer stays connected. If the float switch is manually held in place and lifted up slightly, both green lights 1 and 2 come on but as soon as the float switch is let go of the lights go out (and the plastic section falls off into the cistern again). I am now wondering if the faulty float switch is making the boiler think that it has too little water.

    I have a couple of questions and would be very grateful for any help you could provide:

    Firstly, is the float switch easily replaceable (and does it require an engineer)? If so, do you know where I can get instructions? And in your opinion from what I have explained is this likely to be the problem?

    Lastly, is the water in the top of the F&E cistern supposed to be brown (rust coloured?)

  • 96 On Sun, 29/06/2008 - 18:10, Steve (not verified) said:

    Electramate 2000

    Thanks for this extremely informative site!!!
    Hi,
    We live in the Lancashire area and have just moved into an all electric property, economy 7 with an Electramate 2000 boiler installed and we are worried sick about the running costs and whether the boiler is functioning properly. We didn’t know this type of heating and water boiler existed. I am usually very good at working out gas and electrical problems out but I am stumped with this one. The boiler seems to have a mind of its own, I put it on the summer setting and also turned the thermostat down to 15 degrees and the boiler still turns on and the radiators get hot. Sometimes the boiler is just running and has no hot radiators. The meter flashes like mad and increases the units during the day and not at night.
    Please! Please! Can anyone help us?
    Steve – Jane
    PS. The person who had the property before has had a court order for £1200 for an unpaid electricity bill, she didn’t live in the house but just kept it warm till the house was sold!!!

  • 97 On Sun, 13/07/2008 - 11:54, Jang (not verified) said:

    Gulfstream 2000

    Hi MIke,

    I have had horrendous problems with this bioler from the start at a George Wimpey 3 bed maisonette at Windmill rd estate in Slough. Several visits from the Gledhill engineers in the past temporarrily resolved.

    Right now nothing is working. Issue seems to be heat exchange corrosion, boiler cocks out, overheating. Electric back up also needs new flow boiler.

    However the British Gas engineer says condenser installation is a copper pipe and should be plastic, electric should be double pole not single, flue is in void etc not fully traceable….

    I have no technical knowledge and cannot understand all this.I am at loss what to do.

    Can anyone help please

  • 98 On Thu, 07/08/2008 - 12:52, ken butler (not verified) said:

    GLEDHILL BOILERMATE 2000

    Hi can anyone help me with a phone number for the above company when i run the hot tap upstairs the water dribbles out,and downstairs it runs a little faster the boiler has x3 pumps could it be one of them ???? HELP IM STARTING TO SMELL.

  • 99 On Mon, 11/08/2008 - 09:25, Matthew (not verified) said:

    Systemate 2000 - no hot water or central heating

    Hi Mike,

    I have just got back from hols to find my hot water is only a slightly warm and the central heating is not coming on. The green power light on the front of the systemate storage unit is not on but the three green lights at the base of the circuit board inside all appear on. When we turn on the hot water the little boiler in the kitchen used to fire up so that we could see a pilot light but now this is not happening either.

    I wondered if you might have any suggestions?

    Many thanks,
    Matt.

  • 100 On Wed, 13/08/2008 - 20:17, Mike Groves (not verified) said:

    Boilermate 2 Delay Timer pcb

    We owe a big thank you to David Angier (for this excellent site) and to David Hickey whose advice was first rate ( a pity that you’re not in the Wiltshire area). David Hickey’s contact details are:
    email service@midlandboilercare.com or by telephone on 0116 2333944 (office) 07973 624179 (work mobile)

    We recently had a problem with our Boilermate 2 emitting a loud “buzzing noise from the area of the store control thermostat.
    A review of this site found the number of David Hickey who soon put our minds to rest of what to do.
    DavidH told us that it was probably the Delay Timer pcb relay breaking down and that if we contacted our local stockist (Bristol) we would be able to get a new one.
    Sure enough we managed to get one, off the shelf, at a cost of £85.00.

    Surprisingly easy to fit, with the hardest part of getting the front panel off and then finding the small black commissioning pin that had gone walk-about on the floor.

    Again many thanks for your help, it really was appreciated.

    Kind regards, Mike and Claire.

  • 101 On Sat, 13/09/2008 - 10:51, bobby davidson (not verified) said:

    DHW sensor

    Hi Dave

    Followed your instructions to the letter beats a plumber standing scratching his head and blowing rasberrys…hardest part of the job is removing old cable from connector block …the rest is a dream..

    many thanks Bobby Davidson.

  • 102 On Sat, 13/09/2008 - 11:22, Ron Davies (not verified) said:

    Boilermate Repair

    RECENTLY HAD MY BOILERMATE 2000 REPAIRED IN NEWCASTLE BY COMPANY RECCOMMENDED BY GLEDHILLS THEMSELVES CALLED RWS HEATING LTD (07740412170)- NOW WORKING FINE

  • 103 On Sun, 21/09/2008 - 17:14, gill (not verified) said:

    hi i have a pulsacoil 2000

    hi i have a pulsacoil 2000 which only gives hot water for one shower, the problem has been going on for months

    so far the following things have been changed

    6 pin relay (on advice of a very dogey “engineer”
    pump
    dhw and phe sensors

    i changed the dhw and phe sensors yesterday, and the problem still exisits, is there anything or anyone that can help me

  • 104 On Mon, 20/10/2008 - 14:31, Darren (not verified) said:

    Boilermate 2000 - using more gas ???

    Dear David,

    I’ve a Boilermate 2000 with a Gloworm gas boiler. I’ve read the instuctions for this type of heating system and fully understand how it delivers hot water and heating via the thermal store of hot water. I’ve been in my curent home for 2 half years and everything appeared find until last winters gas bill whereupon the gas company stated that i owed them around £1000.(eliminated gas meter as problem as that was sent away and checked). It didn’t seem that we had used or done anything different from the previous winter.

    Since then i’ve noticed that the hot water is very hot – so hot you can’t leave your hand under it. When drawing hot water it initially runs cold for a little while, then hot/warm for a bit before going cold then staying hot. Is this how its supposed to be with this system ???.

    Also the gas boiler seems to be firing up more than it should which could be why we are using a lot of gas. The boiler comes on straight away every time the heating is turned on or when you draw hot water. Should this happen as the boiler should only fire up to reheat the heat store once the temperature had dropped??. Isnt this why this system is supposed to be more efficient and cost effective.

    I short i don’t know if I’ve a problem or not – if my boiler is firing correctly when is should and if the hot water is running as it should.

  • 105 On Thu, 23/10/2008 - 23:01, p phillips (not verified) said:

    has any body heard that

    has any body heard that gledhill water storage vhas gon bust no warranty cove now

  • 106 On Fri, 24/10/2008 - 17:21, Barry Foster (not verified) said: