What is a central heating pump?
First of all, let’s start with explaining what a central heating pump or a circulating pump is and its purpose in providing hot water to your taps and heat to your radiators.
Pumps were first invented in 200BC by the ancient Greeks to circulate water from a tank using 2 pipes, but we won’t get into that. Today, pumps are used in all heating and hot water systems to circulate cold water around a heat source such as heat exchangers or heating elements to provide hot water to a desired location. Early heating systems relied on gravity to circulate hot water using the method of convection however this was slow and unreliable. Circulating pumps were introduced to heating systems and boilers for the sole purpose of dispersing heat around the primary coils and produce more efficient heat to your radiators and hot water cylinders. If you had a faulty pump, it would cause overheating and banging sounds from your boiler.
How does a pump work?
So, this is how they work…. When a demand for heat via the room thermostat or by the hot water cylinder stat, a signal is sent to the motorised valve which will then trigger the boiler to ignite and send power to the pump. The pump will then circulate the hot water produced by the boiler around the heating circuit or hot water cylinder if you have one. If you are experiencing problems such as no hot water, no heating, boiler overheating or boiler banging noise you could have an issue with your pump.
How do I know if my pump is faulty?
There are some simple checks you can do as a homeowner or tenant to identify a potential pump issue. On system boilers with external pumps, you can see if the lights are on or off when you call for heating or hot water, this will not prove the pump is faulty but could be an indication you need to call a local heating engineer to check your system for faults. New digital pumps by Grundfos comes with fault indications lights and Fault sounds so be sure to check the manual to identify the fault.
The second check you can do is feel the pump with your hands so if the lights are on but you can’t feel the vibration on the pump then its most likely sized up or not receiving enough power but be careful, they can be very hot! A heating engineer will be able to check for 240v at the pump and attempt to release the pump and get you up and running again. Silverdale plumbing provides boiler break down, heating and hot water repairs in your area from as little as £60. Speak to our team today for some free advice!
If you have a combination boiler installed in your property you may experience some error codes on your display, different makes of boilers have different error codes that indicate a fault with your faulty central heating pump. Here is a list of error codes for some of the main boiler manufacturers installed in London.
Boiler error codes for pump issues.
Alpha – Code 2 / Code 10 / Code 15 / Code27 / Code 60 E-tec, E-tec plus, Evoke / Code 61 / E-tec, E-tec plus, Evoke / 0A3 / 0A16 / 0A17 /0A18 / 0A37 – Pro tec 70 90 115 / 0E37 / 0E46 / 0E81 /
Baxi – H.01 – .05 / H.01 – .08 / H.01 – H.21 / one flash on green light / 2 red flashes / flash on and off / on flash flash / 3 green flashes / Code 111 118 / code 125 / E109 / E119 / E125 / E110 / E193 /
Glow-Worm – F72 / F05 / F14 / F20 / F24 / F25 / F23 / F26 / F11 / F5 / F9 / F22 / F89 / F20 / F23 / F24 / Temperature 80 flashing
Ideal – L1
Vaillant – D.10 / D.11 / F.11 / F.12 / F.13 / F.20 / F22 / F24 / F.75 / S.17 / S.2 / S.7 / S.07 /
Should I call a heating engineer?
If you have any of the codes above or any fault code on your boiler display, get in touch with Silverdale plumbing, we have extensive experience in boiler break down repairs and central heating pump replacement in London, we offer competitive rates in London and surrounding areas and have fully qualified heating and gas safe engineers in your local area.
Areas we cover Enfield / Barnet / Haringey / Hackney / Islington / Camden / Barnet / Westminster & Chelsea / Hammersmith & Fulham / Ealing / Brent / Harrow / Wembley Edmonton / Tottenham / Kentish town
