Thanks for this suggestion. The plot now thickens. Inserting four one hundred watt light bulbs connected in parallel to make a total of four hundred watts, and then wiring them across the fuse holder, with no fuse installed, and powering up the boiler either dhw or central heating, the boiler works
fine. The glow from the bulbs varies as various relays operate, but never bright enough to equal the 480 watts
needed to blow the fuse. So either the fault has cleared,
or it's an intermittent fault. The voltage across the bulbs is less than 40, meaning the boiler unit is getting about 200 rather than 240 volts. Oh, the dc resistance of both pumps, and both gas valves tests ok. Will see what happens over the next few days. Thanks again
HowardA
August 2008