Boiler seemingly has no means of repressurising it

[Lifeishitsometimes]

Does anyone here have any light they can shed before I inevitably call out the gasman?

I have a Worcester Greenstar 30si compact combi boiler. It has no external filling loop and doesn't seem to be a port for a key. I think it is supposed to have a small blue lever underneath which you pull down to refill it but it just is not there. Doesn't exist. No heating or hot water. And Sunday tomorrow 🤦‍♀️. Grateful for any sage words of wisdom.

I give up! Cannot find any form of inlet valve on what I think is the cold water inlet. It has a silver cal mag thing half way up that looks like a descaler so am presuming this must be the water inlet. so frustrating. Am usually able to do basic home maintenance. And we are all mucky. Yuck.

We have this exact boiler. According to the I structuons there are three options: an external filling loop, which looks like a braided pipe somewhere in the system away from the boiler, as others have posted upthread.

Secondly, it could have an "integral keyless filling link - the blue lever upthread.

The third option is an integral keyless filling link, which we have. You open the plastic cover on the bottom of the boiler. You should find a funny plastic key in there, which you insert into the hole with the red arrow in the photo, turn it to the right to connect the two sides of the filling loop, then turn the little white plastic knob (yellow arrow in the photo) to repressurise the system.

Taken lagging off. Followed pipe down. Nothing. All very odd. Never mind. We have all enjoyed showers tonight with 20seconds of warmish water (quick! Rinse! interspersed with 3 minutes of cold in which to stand aside and lather......) Bolierman tomorrow.

Or boilerman even

@CasperGutman thank you. As far as I can see none of those 3 options apply. We have mystery cowboy gasman special number 4 😂😂

That's odd that your hot water isn't working. The filling loop only affects the central heating as that's a closed system. The filling loop just fills up your radiators/heating pipes. For hot water the cold comes in from the mains and is heated. Hopefully your plumber sorts it easily.

Oh god that makes me fear it isn't actually something as straightforward as I thought. But in my old house I'm sure the hot water went off when the pressure was too low, not just the heating.

@Ecthelion

That's odd that your hot water isn't working. The filling loop only affects the central heating as that's a closed system. The filling loop just fills up your radiators/heating pipes. For hot water the cold comes in from the mains and is heated. Hopefully your plumber sorts it easily.

Not correct, sorry.

My filling loop was in the airing cupboard, on a completely different floor and nowhere near the boiler. Dunno why. I had no idea until I had the boiler serviced and the plumber asked where it was. It made filling it a pain in the arse because I'd have to go upstairs, open the valve for a few seconds, go downstairs, check the pressure, go back up and add a bit more etc etc. In the end I worked out that a five second fill was spot on.

I've looked in every cupboard, recess, nook and cranny. Complete mystery. I've got a heating engineer coming round, hopefully today. I know mumsnet loves a mystery so I will update when the mystery re-pressurising equipment has been located I appreciate this isn't a mystery on the scale of 'locked box found in loft etc

I seem to remember being told that strictly you're supposed to remove the silvery braided pipe when you're not filling the system so that your radiators can't be left permanently connected to the mains water. In which case all you'd see would be the stubby little valves, and you'd need to buy a new loop and screw it on.

Anyway, Mumsnet waits with bated breath

He's here now. No filling loop, no lever, no key recess. We are all baffled. He's fitting a new filling loop!

We found it! It was hidden behind a panel in a cupboard. To get to it I had to empty the cupboard and remove the shelves. Honestly!

We have hot water. And heating. Glorious. The dog can have a wash: she pongs worse than the teens!

Hurray!