Central Heating Upgrade

[sotal]

I've been having a closer look over our central heating system in our new (30 year old) house and it could do with being upgraded a bit - Just after a bit of advice as to what would be the best thing to do with it. Trying not to spend too much on it as other things are taking priority!!

The heating system works fine and is powered by a wall mounted gloworm boiler in the garage. The gloworm does look a little old though but works fine.
We then have a manual timer on the wall in the garage which lets us have "timed", "off" and "constant". We don't have any way of selecting hot water or heating we just get both together.

There is also no thermostat anywhere - there is imply just a dial on the boiler which you turn from min to max depending on how hot you want the radiators/water.

So currently I've tried turning off all the radiators (except one which has seized) but it's a bit of a pain to do that and then have to open them again.

What I would like to have done is a Y-Valve put in and an electronic 2 channel timer to replace the old timer. Then probably thermostatic valves on every radiator and leave the boiler alone for the minute with a few of just having it swapped for a direct replacement in the future.

Does this sound possible and is it the best way to go?

 

[ssray]

we have a old 1930`s house and fitted trv`s on all rads-except the hall one, as we needed a open circuit for when the other trv`s shut the flow down and we fitted a room stat in the hall to control the boiler so the rad there would not need a trv.

 

[sotal]

Thanks ssray,

That sounds like the system in my last house, have you got a y-valve on that so you can have the heating independent of the water and vice versa

 

[gas4you]

If you change your system to fully pumped with the controls you mention you need to fit an auto by-pass valve in the pipe work just after the pump and before the zone valve.

The radiator in the room that has the room thermostat should be the one that does not have the trv on it

 

[sotal]

To be honest it's a bit too much for me to do - not enough knowledge on it so I would get someone in, just wanted to know if it was possible to upgrade it so that water could be independent of heating and vice versa.

When you say change it to fully pumped. What does that mean? Will I need to get the pump changed? Or is it just terminology?

In terms of parts required would it just be:

Electronic Two channel Timer - approx £30
Honeywell v4073a - Y-valve - approx £60
Auto Bypass valve - ????


Would I also require a room stat? and would I also need a cylinder stat?

 

[gas4you]

Don't but them seperately Decide what make you want and get a pack. This will include the programmer, 2 port valve (or 2 x 2 ports), room stat, cyl stat and wiring centre, all for a lot less than the individual prices. I always use the danfoss FP715 heatshare pack. About £70 + VAT online. The auto by-pass valve will be around £25

 

[sotal]

Thanks for the advice - that really helps.

Is it the kind of thing anyone can do (from a legal point of view) and from a complexity point of view?

The most I've ever done with this sort of thing is unwire the last system and replace the 3 way valve and the timer, but it was swapping like for like ( well a broken y valve, and we upgraded the timer) The worst bit was that it didn't have the wiring centre - just a load of wiring blocks. I was fine with the wiring side of things more worried about the plumbing. Is it particularly hard??

 

[clf-gas]

Take Daves advice on the heating packs, spend as much or as little as you wish.

Have a look around this site for more info

http://www.gasman.fsbusiness.co.uk/index.htm

 

[gas4you]

Thanks for the advice - that really helps.

Is it the kind of thing anyone can do (from a legal point of view) and from a complexity point of view?

The most I've ever done with this sort of thing is unwire the last system and replace the 3 way valve and the timer, but it was swapping like for like ( well a broken y valve, and we upgraded the timer) The worst bit was that it didn't have the wiring centre - just a load of wiring blocks. I was fine with the wiring side of things more worried about the plumbing. Is it particularly hard??

The danfoss that I fit is now even easier with their new wiring centre. As long as you're not colourblind and can follow instructions you should have no problems. Just make sure your heating system is fully isolated form the mains before you start and remove the 3 amp fuse from the fused outlet for extra safety

 

[sotal]

Thanks for all the advice - I'll take a good look over that site posted above.