Checking when my boiler comes on

D_Hailsham · 7 Mar 2008

This may sound like a plumbing problem, but it is not.

My central heating is equipped with a programmer which calculates when to come on to bring the house up to temp by the time we get up. I am trying to prove whether it actually works as it says on the tin.

I thought of connecting a mains operated digital clock in the circuit which would start when the programmer told the boiler to light. When I got up I could look at the clock, see it had been running for 1 hour and calculate when the boiler lit. The problem with this was that, as soon as the house was up to temp, the circuit would be broken and the clock would reset. A battery in the clock would defeat the object of the task.

Any solutions?

Rosebery · 7 Mar 2008

Is the house warm when you get up?

If yes then it seems to do what is says it should. Or am I being far too simplistic?

dannyboi2003 · 7 Mar 2008

There is probably a more modern way of doing this but this is what I would do. Id get an old electric clock (with hands), like the sort you would have seen at school, set it to 12:00 and connect it to the circuit. Then when the power comes on the hands would move, when it goes off it would stop at say 12:43

I’ve no idea if such clocks are available but thought it was worth mentioning anyway in case you know where you could get hold of one.

All the best
Dan

D_Hailsham · 7 Mar 2008

Rosebery said:
Is the house warm when you get up?

If yes then it seems to do what is says it should. Or am I being far too simplistic?

Slightly

Let's say I get up at 7am. If the temperature has dropped to, say 5°C, the boiler will come on at 5am to bring the house up to 20°C by 7am. But, if the temp has only dropped to 15°C, it should come on at, say 6.15am.

However, it could still be coming on at 5am, not 6.15; the house would still be up to temp but I have no way of knowing that it actually came on 75 minutes earlier than it needed to.

I am trying to prove that the programmer is changing the start time according to the overnight temperature drop.

Chris.J · 7 Mar 2008

If you have a Intruder Alarm system, then, if it's a reasonably upmarket model, that will log mains failure & restoration, so power it from the circuit you wish to monitor (the battery back up will keep the Alarm panel going ok for at least 10 hrs unless it is u/s).

D_Hailsham · 7 Mar 2008

dannyboi2003 said:
There is probably a more modern way of doing this but this is what I would do. Id get an old electric clock (with hands), like the sort you would have seen at school, set it to 12:00 and connect it to the circuit. Then when the power comes on the hands would move, when it goes off it would stop at say 12:43

I’ve no idea if such clocks are available but thought it was worth mentioning anyway in case you know where you could get hold of one.

I had already thought of an analogue clock, but they are not easy to get hold of as most analogue clocks are battery operated now. I have seen some on Ebay, but do not want to spend £20 or more just to satisfy my own curiosity.

As for the Intruder Alarm idea, we do have an alarm but, the last time I touched it, it cost me £80 for a call out to reset it; so I don't think I want to go down that route!!

jj4091 · 7 Mar 2008

Why not just get up early for a couple of mornings & see if it is on, or am I still missing something from your description of the problem?

333rocky333 · 7 Mar 2008

Does anyone make a digital thermometer with built in clock and a memory, you could place near the boiler.

Maybe something cheap from hong kong

baz1968 · 7 Mar 2008

You could use one of these to monitor the temperature and from this be able to see when the heating was on or off if it was placed in the right position.

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/level5/module.jsp?moduleId=cpc/381932.xml

or

Something like this connected to your boiler switched supply to show the actual length of time that the boiler has been fired

http://www.kep.com/catalog/ii/pages/products/H57-hour-meter.html

D_Hailsham · 7 Mar 2008

jj4091 said:
Why not just get up early for a couple of mornings & see if it is on, or am I still missing something from your description of the problem?

I suppose I could always change to sleeping during the day and staying awake all night to see what time the boiler comes on

That would give me the info I want, but I prefer the usual arrangement.

What I want to know is the exact time the system comes on each day. I can then compare this with the lowest overnight temperature (min/max thermometer) to prove that the programmer is doing what it says on the tin. I would need to do this over several weeks to get any meaningful data.

Steve · 8 Mar 2008

Program it to come up to temperature at 10am - then you'll be awake to see it come on etc.

JohnD · 8 Mar 2008

D_Hailsham said:
I had already thought of an analogue clock, but they are not easy to get hold of as most analogue clocks are battery operated now. I have seen some on Ebay, but do not want to spend £20 or more just to satisfy my own curiosity.

less than a fiver

hardware shops often sell then in packs of three or so

I prefer these to digital ones, they are so incredibly simple, easy to reset, and will switch a 3kW load as they have old-fashioned contacts.

I use them for some heaters and lots of lighting

securespark · 9 Mar 2008

C'mon Mr Hailsham, everyone has thrown in their ideas. You seem to keep discounting them on grounds of cost.

So suggestions are made of cheap ways you could achieve your goal and you pooh-pooh those as well.

No pleasing some!

davedasave · 9 Mar 2008

any of you ever heard of a Rube Goldberg machine??

baz1968 · 9 Mar 2008

Yep... there's one here

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2367646121273499414

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Checking when my boiler comes on

baz1968

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