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Get a plumber in I hear you say, but that would not satisfy my curiosity 
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Just recently, over the past couple of months and getting worse all the time, our rads get hot even when the thermostat in the hall has not reached its demand temperature. So being a cheapskate, the first thing I did was swop out the Honeywell thermostat for a new one of the same model, no change.
Today I decided to get up into the small space above the stairs (we don't have an airing cupboard) where the cylinder, pump and 3 way valve live. Now, I know nothing about plumbing but the way the previous owner fitted this debacle must leave todays plumbers totally stunned. Anyway, it would appear that when the HW demand came on, the rads would heat up also.
With me in the cupboard and madame downstairs at the thermostat, I decided to try and test the 3 way valve (Honeywell V4073A1039). The first thing I did was to push down the little lever on the outside 3 or 4 times, keeping the thermostat down so there was no CH demand, and there was resistance and the lever slowly returned under its own momentum to the auto position.. I then asked that the thermostat was turned up to 20 so it clicked, and then pushed the lever down, there was no resistance but when the thermostat was turned back to 15, the lever slowly returned to the auto position.
I wonder if by manually pushing the lever down a few times, I may have unjammed the valve mechanism?? only guessing here. As I write this, I have upped the temperature on the HW tank so the boiler fires up to meet this demand, while keeping the thermostat at 15 to see if the rads heat up. 30 minutes in and having run the HW taps to force the boiler to fire, which it has done, the rads appear to still be cold? I am really confused and just wondered if it would be worth just changing the 3 way valve. Not a big job and I am quite capable of draining down and changing it over
.Just recently, over the past couple of months and getting worse all the time, our rads get hot even when the thermostat in the hall has not reached its demand temperature. So being a cheapskate, the first thing I did was swop out the Honeywell thermostat for a new one of the same model, no change.
Today I decided to get up into the small space above the stairs (we don't have an airing cupboard) where the cylinder, pump and 3 way valve live. Now, I know nothing about plumbing but the way the previous owner fitted this debacle must leave todays plumbers totally stunned. Anyway, it would appear that when the HW demand came on, the rads would heat up also.
With me in the cupboard and madame downstairs at the thermostat, I decided to try and test the 3 way valve (Honeywell V4073A1039). The first thing I did was to push down the little lever on the outside 3 or 4 times, keeping the thermostat down so there was no CH demand, and there was resistance and the lever slowly returned under its own momentum to the auto position.. I then asked that the thermostat was turned up to 20 so it clicked, and then pushed the lever down, there was no resistance but when the thermostat was turned back to 15, the lever slowly returned to the auto position.
I wonder if by manually pushing the lever down a few times, I may have unjammed the valve mechanism?? only guessing here. As I write this, I have upped the temperature on the HW tank so the boiler fires up to meet this demand, while keeping the thermostat at 15 to see if the rads heat up. 30 minutes in and having run the HW taps to force the boiler to fire, which it has done, the rads appear to still be cold? I am really confused and just wondered if it would be worth just changing the 3 way valve. Not a big job and I am quite capable of draining down and changing it over
