Hi all

I have a orlan super boiler with a laddomat that has been in since the spring. Just lately it has started behaving strangely. Regardless of the temp of the thermal store the boiler seems to burn for an hour or so before stopping the fan. It will sit in this dormant state for hours unless I resart the fan. Even then there is a good chance it will smother again.

At the same time the laddomat has started making an intermittent high pitched whine that can be heard all through our timber framed house.

To cover all possiblilities I have totally cleaned out the boiler, tried different sizes of wood (all at 20% or less according to my moisture metre) and checked that the spindle on the pump on the laddomat turns freely.

At first I thought it was because the logs where on the large size and getting hung up inside the boiler by jamming together as the stuff burns out below but since then I have tried splitting the wood smaller chunks and the problem persists.

Any ideas?

Jw

Maybe there's some sort of obstruction in the water flow, making the Laddomat pump whine and hence making the boiler shutdown as it can't get rid of the heat.

Air in the system? Stuck valve? Ball valves accidentally closed?

I assume you have an operating manual and have gone through the fault finding chart on page 20?

http://www.ecoangus.co.uk/ecoangus_images/Test_Reports_and_Instruction%20Manuals/Angus_Super%20Gasification_boiler_instruction_manual.pdf

Many thanks of the coments so far.

To answer the questions raised..

By the fan I mean the fan mounted on the front of the boiler that is controled by the electronics and not the in line fan in the flue to suck smoke up rather than have it come out in your face on loading.

I did read the manual but found it unclear and hard to understand. I also couldnt find anything there that seemed relevant to this situation.

It is a sealed , pressurised system.

I suspect that there may be something blocking the ladomat, a fault with the ladomat or problematic boiler controls.

The rads and UFH where new with the boiler, there is inhibitor in the tank which is normal not stainless steel. The water used in the heating circiut is the same as that in the boiler and the tank.

Cheers all

Jw

Last night I had a more detailed look at what was going on.

As I expected the boiler had gone out having been light in the morning and was now 2/3rds full of slightly cooked wood. I got it going again and then switched on the fan.

The laddomat instantly started to whine with some initial knocking and banging sounds coming from it so I tried swithching it on and off before tapping it lightly with a shoe (nothing drastic - it was a croc, very soft and light). This led to more knocking noises. I tried altering the pump speed to its lowest setting which resulted in some slightly scary noises so, not sure if what i was doing might cause more damage, I quickly switched it back to its normal speed. The whine then stopped not long after but the pump was running as I could hear it quietly humming.

At the start of this exercise the water in the thermal store was 40 deg at the top and 20 at the bottom. The water in the boiler was at 58 deg. Once it had been running for a few minutes and the boiler temp was sitting at 75 deg the top temp gauge on the laddomat was at 70 deg, the return to the boiler was at 60 and the return from the TS was at 40. This last one I found hard to undersand as the water at the bottom of the thermal store itself was at 20.

I checked it again one hour later and the boiler fan was off and the wood was sitting smouldering but not burning. The top of the TS had increased in temp to 60 - but only the very top. The laddomat gauges where much the same as before and only the very top of the TS had warmed any. I poked the fire a bit , switched on the fan and left it again. Initially there was no whine and the pump on the Laddomat was definitly running but quietly. Went to bed then woke up this morning with the laddomat whining, boiler out but with wood in it and the top of the TS still sitting at 40.

The main question in my mind is what to do next? How can i eliminate possible causes?

Any suggestions?

Jw

I guess it's bound to be the temp sensor in the laddomat - I was planning on using one myself but then found one too many stories about them failing resulting in identical symptoms to yours. From (rusty) memory the sensor is some sort of cartridge that can easily be changed - ostensibly because you can choose different temps depending on your set-up/preferences or maybe because they fail sometimes........

I'll eat my hat if its not the problem. I'm sure I found loads of stuff on-line about this problem of sticky and failed Laddomat temp valves.

Changed the thermostatic valve on the laddomat and..... I believe no hats will have to be eaten. It works.
Many thanks for all of your input.

On a separate, but not unrelated, note, I keep meaning to wade through the threads on here about gassifying boilers (especialy the really really long one) to pull out different questions and related responses. If I do ever find the time to do this is there any where I could make the collated info available on this site? It seems a shame to do all the work purely for my own benefit. There is a lot of very useful information out there but getting at it can be a bit of a trial.

Cheers all

Jw

Update

Just in case anyone else has the same problem it turned out not to be the thermostatic cartridge but a sticky valve in the laddomat although im not sure which one. It worked alright for a couple of days after I changed the thermostatic cartridge but then the problem returned. The guy who installed it came up and checked it over with temp probes all over the place and then replaced both valves in the laddomat. It now works fine.

A big thanks to all who responded to my post, Simon( the installer) and the guys at Eco-Angus who sent out parts without the slightest quibble and without any charge. I should have got on to the installer sooner but it was all in the run up to christmas and I knew he was busy. Instead the stubborn pig in me wanted to try and sort it out myself. One thing I will say is that I have a much better idea of how the system works now and I doubt I would have got it if I hadnt attempted to footle about and try to get my head round it.

All the best

Jw

They look like they have some good valves and control mechanisms in there. http://www.termomix.co.uk/index.html