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[TD]

Any strainers in the system?

Erm?    What are those?   

A mesh basket in the pipe to catch bits of crud.

It is unlikely that you will have one in a 15 year old domestic heating system but modern boilers might have one.

The commercial systems that I spend most of my time working with have lots of strainers and it can cause all sorts of grief when they block up......

Ah yes, no nothing like that.

The pump is OK though, I popped off the bleed screw and watched for a while and it doesn't stick or stop when the boiler shuts down.   

Ummm....if you've unscrewed the bleed screw on the pump.....water should come out of it surely 

[Sir Tigger KC]

Any strainers in the system?

Erm?    What are those?   

A mesh basket in the pipe to catch bits of crud.

It is unlikely that you will have one in a 15 year old domestic heating system but modern boilers might have one.

The commercial systems that I spend most of my time working with have lots of strainers and it can cause all sorts of grief when they block up......

Ah yes, no nothing like that.

The pump is OK though, I popped off the bleed screw and watched for a while and it doesn't stick or stop when the boiler shuts down.   

Ummm....if you've unscrewed the bleed screw on the pump.....water should come out of it surely 

It does. 

[STEMO]

Sorted yet?

[Sir Tigger KC]

Nope 

[aaronjb]

Called a plumber yet? 

(Channelling my inner STEMO..)

[Sir Tigger KC]

Nope 

[STEMO]

Nope 

Freeze then, yer tight bastid. 

[Sir Tigger KC]

Nope 

Freeze then, yer tight bastid. 

It's nice and mild here so not freezing!    I've got a couple of things to try before I give in and get someone out to condemn it. 

[Andy H]

Any strainers in the system?

Erm?    What are those?   

A mesh basket in the pipe to catch bits of crud.

It is unlikely that you will have one in a 15 year old domestic heating system but modern boilers might have one.

The commercial systems that I spend most of my time working with have lots of strainers and it can cause all sorts of grief when they block up......

Ah yes, no nothing like that.

The pump is OK though, I popped off the bleed screw and watched for a while and it doesn't stick or stop when the boiler shuts down.   

Does the sound of the pump change when the boiler stops?

Does it sound as though the pump is full of air just before the boiler stops?

[Sir Tigger KC]

Does the sound of the pump change when the boiler stops?

Does it sound as though the pump is full of air just before the boiler stops?

No the pump sounds the same. 

It's almost like the boiler burps and releases a large bubble of air which then gets mashed up into a stream of little bubbles as they go through the pump.

I've now decided it's something to do with the boiler as I've run it until it starts glugging and gurgling and shuts down.  Then I've turned the boiler off but left the pump running and eventually it all goes nice and quiet.  Start the boiler again, and within 10 - 20 minutes it starts glugging again....

So I think it's either air getting in the heat exchanger somehow, maybe a crack or faulty joint somewhere (but there are no leaks) or air is sucking in via the automatic vent on the return pipe, accumulating in the heat exchanger then releasing out into the flow pipe and through the pump. 

[Kevin Wood]

Could it not be that the boiler thermostat is getting lazy? Maybe it's heating too hot, to the point of boiling, and then not kicking back in again until it's all stone cold?

TBH, mine has always gurgled a little when up to full temperature. I think a lot of it is air coming out of suspension in the boiler and then getting re-absorbed once it's cooled a little, because I too never find any air when bleeding the system. I went round in circles for ages draining it, cleaning it, adding inhibitor, replacing valves that I thought might be admitting air, until I decided just to ignore it.

This combined with a dodgy thermostat that's changed the operating temperature a bit might explain it?

[TD]

Could it not be that the boiler thermostat is getting lazy? Maybe it's heating too hot, to the point of boiling, and then not kicking back in again until it's all stone cold?

TBH, mine has always gurgled a little when up to full temperature. I think a lot of it is air coming out of suspension in the boiler and then getting re-absorbed once it's cooled a little, because I too never find any air when bleeding the system. I went round in circles for ages draining it, cleaning it, adding inhibitor, replacing valves that I thought might be admitting air, until I decided just to ignore it.

This combined with a dodgy thermostat that's changed the operating temperature a bit might explain it?

Could it do that in the 10-20 min time frame mentioned 

I told him ages ago he needs a new boiler, but he wont listen 

[STEMO]

If young Tigger takes into account all of the information given on here, there'll only be two bits of pipe he hasn't touched.

[Doctor Gollum]

If young Tigger takes into account all of the information given on here, there'll only be two bits of pipe he hasn't touched.

Both of his...

[Sir Tigger KC]

If young Tigger takes into account all of the information given on here, there'll only be two bits of pipe he hasn't touched.

Both of his...

Think I might have thermostat problems there as well!   

I thought that if a boiler boils or kettles as I think it's known, then it's very noisy?