Old Boiler. Ideal Elan 2

[spearmint]

I'm having trouble with an old boiler.(but enough about the wife)

My old central heating boiler has a very short on/off cycle. It switches on for perhaps 60 to 90 seconds then off for a similar period of time and then back to on again. It constantly switches on and off in quick succession for the next hour or so until the water reaches the correct temperature. A new wall thermostat and a new control panel have not cured the problem.
The constant on off on off on off is driving me nuts, not to mention the high gas bills.
Does anyone have any ideas!
Is there a thermostat inside the boiler and could this be the problem?

[pilotlight]

spearmint, yes- there is a thermostat in the boiler , and yes - it could be the cause of the problem.

There could be other causes for this problem : - The pump may not be performing as it should, therefore not moving the hot water away from the boiler quickly enough, causing the boiler stat to shut the burner down. The system itself may be starting to " sludge-up ", again giving a similar effect.

I would suggest that you enlist the services of a recommended heating engineer, otherwise you will be just wasting money replacing components that actually do not require replacing.

Hope this helps.

[stanleyman]

You may have an old system with a gravity circulation to the hot water cylinder and these are prone to cycling when heating hot water, a fully pumped system is better. The boiler may also be overfired for the system output or have badly balanced radiators restricting the flow which should give a flow/return temperature difference of about 11C. Only a thorough investigation as pilotlight suggests will sort it out as it could be a combination of things.

[spearmint]

Hi guys

Thanks for the info. I think I will try a new thermostat and see how it goes.

[robevans68]

Hi
My boiler doing the same as this cutting in and out and makes alot of noise like a kettle. It also will not always cut in to warm hot water. If I turn the heating on it then cut in ok.