potterton 50el - heating but no hot water (cont.) - bump?

Hi Hi-spec, Hi Ray,

Thanks again for your advice.... but i still have this problem.

I have been away for the past week, staying with friends who have plenty of hot water :) so my apologies for not getting back to you sooner. I finally got a plumber round, but to no avail. He pointed out that my boiler has been wired up insanely (boiler set to fully pumped, control panel set and wired for gravity fed, none of the boiler wiring even looks close to the diagrams in the manual!). He didnt actually do anything as far as I could tell, and then suggested that I replace the whole thing..... I am not too happy with that idea as my boiler was working before!

Now, following your advice, I determined which valves feed the heating and hot water. The heating valve works fine (I cant see it move but the lever goes loose when the heating is on and the heating still works as ever). The hot water valve does not appear to function...

When heating and hot water are called for the boiler fires for the heating and, if i push the hot water valve open using the lever, hot water is also produced. Unfortunately, when i call for hot water alone (without heating) the boiler still doesnt fire regardless of whether the valve is open or closed? Any ideas?

I think that this might mean the motor is faulty as you both suggest, however, I am worried that it may also indicate that even with a new motor my hot water may not fire without my central heating being on?

Any further advice would be warmly received. I would also appreciate it if you could advise me as to where i might be able to aquire a synchron motor and how easy it would be to replace.

Also, as your remote plumbing actually seems more effective than that of the guy who came round.... are you by any chance based in london?

Thanks again for all the help :)