I get lots of calls saying “Help, I’m getting no hot water from my Pulsacoil!”. The first thing I ask is “Have you tried the “Boost” facility? Does it work?” <\/p>\n
I ask this question because whether or not the Boost works yields a lot of information about the exact nature of the fault. Either way, the answer is really useful information. In addition, using the boost might well give the user some emergency hot water! Quite often the caller has no idea theirs has this facility so this post is to help you find the emergency “Boost” backup fitted to all Pulsacoils at the factory, and how to use it.<\/p>\n
There are lots of versions of Pulsacoil and some minor differences in the way the “Boost” facility works, so figuring out which version of Pulsacoil you have is always a good idea. All Pulsacoils have some sort of labelling on them to identify the exact model (except the first ever Pulsacoil, which is just called a “Pulsacoil”). <\/p>\n
Now a bit explanation. All Pulsacoils are heated by electric immersion heaters. There are two. One does the regular, automatic night-time re-heating, and the other is the “Boost” heater for the user to turn on if the main element stops working for any reason, to get some emergency hot water. <\/p>\n
Most versions of Pulsacoil have a switch on the wall next to them to operate the “Boost”. This will normally be set to OFF, and should labelled something like “Boost, normally off”. (There will be a second switch supplying the night-time heater which should be left ON all the time.) To use the “Boost” facility turn the “Boost, normally off” switch ON. <\/p>\n
You may well hear the heater element start to hiss quietly like a kettle as it begins to heat the tank, which is a good sign telling you it’s working. Sometimes they operate completely silently though so even if you don’t hear anything, it could still be working. After about 45 minutes you may well have some emergency hot water. Turn the “Boost” switch off after use as it will be burning expensive daytime electricity and call a repair technician out to fix the failed night-time heater. <\/p>\n
Your two switches are un-labelled:
You’ll need to figure out which is the “Boost” and which is the night-time off peak supply. The main clue is you should find the night-time switch already ON, and the “Boost” switch in the OFF position. I suggest you label them before turning the “Boost” on to avoid confusing them and so you know for sure which switch turns the “Boost” off after using it. Another way of distinguishing is if the switches have illuminated LEDs on them. The switch with the LED which illuminates during the day when turned ON is the daytime “boost”. The switch with the LED which stays OFF in the daytime even when the switch is ON is the off peak night supply and must be left turned ON all the time.<\/p>\n
Both switches are already ON:
If you have a Pulsacoil A-Class this is correct, but for any other Pulsacoil it is wrong. On the A-Class, the “Boost” is turned on by pressing a little black button on the front panel user controls. Try pressing it and the red LED adjacent should come ON. If you have any other type of Pulsacoil then this is wrong and you may well have been using daytime electricity for all your hot water. Maybe the off peak night time heater failed long ago and the “Boost” was turned ON to get around this, or quite often I encounter users who have been told (incorrectly) by their letting agent that both switches must be ON all the time. <\/p>\n
You have a timer switch on the wall by your Pulsacoil:
This tells us your Economy 7 electricity meter has not been connected up to your Pulsacoil (or possibly that you don’t even have Economy 7 installed). When there is a time switch there will normally be a “Boost” setting on the time switch you can use. Look in the instruction leaflet for your timer if it is not obvious looking at it. There might also be a “Boost” switch on the wall as above, in which case you have two separate “Boost” facilities! Use them both if you wish. <\/p>\n
Still no hot water after “Boosting” for 45 minutes: You have a Pulsacoil A-Class: <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pulsacoil – how to use your “Boost” facility I get lots of calls saying “Help, I’m getting no hot water from my Pulsacoil!”. The first thing I ask is “Have you tried the “Boost” facility? Does it work?” I ask this question because whether or not the Boost works yields a lot of information about the exact nature of the fault. Either way, the answer is really useful information. In addition, using the boost might well give the user some emergency hot water! Quite often the caller has no idea theirs has this facility so this post is to help you\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,27,50,53,51,52],"tags":[],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":5}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miketheboilerman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miketheboilerman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miketheboilerman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miketheboilerman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miketheboilerman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692"}],"version-history":[{"count":68,"href":"https:\/\/miketheboilerman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1160,"href":"https:\/\/miketheboilerman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692\/revisions\/1160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miketheboilerman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miketheboilerman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miketheboilerman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Sadly this tells us there is a fault which is NOT the off peak heater element. You’ll need to call out an engineer to fix it. Or if you are a technician yourself and up for fixing it, have a good look through my Pulsacoil repairs website for more on the faults that can arise and how to fix them at pulsacoil-repairs.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Pulsacoil A-Class “Boost” works differently from all the other Pulsacoils. The A-Class has a little black button on the front panel for you to press instead of a switch on the wall. If you have an A-Class, press the black button and the red LED next to it should illuminate. If it does, then you’ve activated the “Boost” and you’ll probably get some hot water in about 45 minutes. If it doesn’t light up then something wrong with the “Boost” as well, and you won’t get any hot water no matter how long you wait. You’ll need to call out an engineer. Sorry!<\/p>\n