Got a strange central heating/DHW query so help gratefully appreciated.
So I have a three story house (built like that in 1912)
What I have:
Kitchen:
An Ideal Mexico Super CF100 floor standing boiler in the kitchen (which also looks like it dates to 1912!) in the boiler cupboard are two sets of pipe in and out the boiler and a domestic HW pump electric switch for the boiler
An Arga type range with back boiler that does the DHW.
Manual Central heating 'clock' for heating and hot water (though not sure if HW controls do anything??)
Airing cupboard
Vented twin coil HW cylinder with one coil outlet having a gate valve...
Immersion heater in Cylinder
Control timer for Immersion heater
Header/expansion tank just above HWC connected to the coil with out gate valve
Upper (2nd floor) landing:
Header tank on upper landing with a myriad pipes comig from it, one of which feeds the Header/expansion tank in the airing cupboard and also feeds the shower cold supply...also I beleive provides the cold feed to the HW Cylinder
The problem:
The HW used to be 74' at the tap (quite warm!)
The Immersion heater has started to trip the MCB..reset it once...lasted a day, but won't reset now (immersion gone bang??).
DHW was barly warm...checked heater tank and ballcock blocked and header tank dry...pipes to 'Aga coil' cold...replaced ball cock and header tnak now 'full' pipes to 'Aga coil' hot and water now 44'
Water not hot enough, so opened the gate valve on coil 2; water now a bit hotter (not measured it properly) but certainly not 60'
Now the dilemma:
I can't locate any 2port/3port valves anywhere...
There's only one header thank that seems to feed the 'Aga circuit' for the DHW. This may also serve the boiler DHW circuit?.
The only header thank above the radiators on the 2nd floor is the header tank feeding the 1st floor header/expansion tank AND shower...AND I believe the DHW
Can't fathom how the CH vented system maintains water as only obvious header is below upper rads....
This leads me to believe:
That the Aga/Range type cooker circuit for the DHW is gravity fed
The boiler has two circuits, one pumped for CH and one gravity fed for DHW when the gate valve is open (if so, does the boiler heat both circuits simultaniously - if so is this dangerous to stop the flow of water in one circuit but shutting the gate vlave?
Only instructions that came with the house said to open the gate valve on the coil (clockwise!) when the boiler is to do the DHW and ONLY when the range is off...
In the process of replacing all heating and DHW with new but trying to solve this mystery in the mean time!!
So I have a three story house (built like that in 1912)
What I have:
Kitchen:
An Ideal Mexico Super CF100 floor standing boiler in the kitchen (which also looks like it dates to 1912!) in the boiler cupboard are two sets of pipe in and out the boiler and a domestic HW pump electric switch for the boiler
An Arga type range with back boiler that does the DHW.
Manual Central heating 'clock' for heating and hot water (though not sure if HW controls do anything??)
Airing cupboard
Vented twin coil HW cylinder with one coil outlet having a gate valve...
Immersion heater in Cylinder
Control timer for Immersion heater
Header/expansion tank just above HWC connected to the coil with out gate valve
Upper (2nd floor) landing:
Header tank on upper landing with a myriad pipes comig from it, one of which feeds the Header/expansion tank in the airing cupboard and also feeds the shower cold supply...also I beleive provides the cold feed to the HW Cylinder
The problem:
The HW used to be 74' at the tap (quite warm!)
The Immersion heater has started to trip the MCB..reset it once...lasted a day, but won't reset now (immersion gone bang??).
DHW was barly warm...checked heater tank and ballcock blocked and header tank dry...pipes to 'Aga coil' cold...replaced ball cock and header tnak now 'full' pipes to 'Aga coil' hot and water now 44'
Water not hot enough, so opened the gate valve on coil 2; water now a bit hotter (not measured it properly) but certainly not 60'
Now the dilemma:
I can't locate any 2port/3port valves anywhere...
There's only one header thank that seems to feed the 'Aga circuit' for the DHW. This may also serve the boiler DHW circuit?.
The only header thank above the radiators on the 2nd floor is the header tank feeding the 1st floor header/expansion tank AND shower...AND I believe the DHW
Can't fathom how the CH vented system maintains water as only obvious header is below upper rads....
This leads me to believe:
That the Aga/Range type cooker circuit for the DHW is gravity fed
The boiler has two circuits, one pumped for CH and one gravity fed for DHW when the gate valve is open (if so, does the boiler heat both circuits simultaniously - if so is this dangerous to stop the flow of water in one circuit but shutting the gate vlave?
Only instructions that came with the house said to open the gate valve on the coil (clockwise!) when the boiler is to do the DHW and ONLY when the range is off...
In the process of replacing all heating and DHW with new but trying to solve this mystery in the mean time!!
