Back Boiler no hot water when heating isnt on?

[Hatter2004]

Hi everyone

This is my first post so please be gentle!

I have a back boiler which up until last year worked ok for heating but we never had any hot water.
We finally got this sorted with a new cylinder last year and over the winter everything has been fine as the heating has been on and hot water was instant.

Before the cylinder was fixed if we wanted the heating on we would just turn the switch to HEATING on and turned up the thermostat and the radiators would come on. After the cylinder has been fixed we dont have to do this as the radiators are on all the time and we just turn them off by the little knobs on the side of each radiator.

Over winter the water was nice and hot i presume because this is because at least one of the radiators would be on. Now that its warmer i dont have any radiators on and cant seem to get hot water without putting a radiator on for about 30 mins/.

Surely this cant be the only way to get hot water. Or am i missing something entirely?

I have an immersion switch which i have never used.

Could someone just simply tell me what to do to get hot water. Should i have the switch in my cupboard to WATER on? Or just put the immersion heater on every morning?

I know i am being thick so please help me if you can xx
thanks
Helen x

 

[bhm1712]

ive never heard of a heating system which works the way yours does, im sure there must be a problem somewhere, one of the plumbing guys will be here to help soon!!!

does the boiler come on when you turn the switch to HOT WATER?

normally on older systems you cannot have heating on without hot water, not the other way round like yours! i dont understand why your rads are on all the time and you can only control them by the rad valves themselves?

what controller do you have?

 

[Hatter2004]

Thanks for the reply Bhm

I really have no idea what i am doing. Because the hot water didnt work for years we had numerous people come and look at it but with no solution other than to change the boiler which we cant afford.

British gas put in a dual control thing model UP2 if that means anything. Before the cylinder was put in we used to turn it to on for the heating and then altered the temperature dial and the radiators would come on. Now we dont have to do that - we can just turn the radiator on at its own knob thing and it will come on.

Its just doing my head in !

 

[D_Hailsham]

Please provide the following information:

Do you have a room thermostat, if so make and model.
Do you have a hot water cylinder thermostat (about 30cm from the floor)?
Do you have any motorized valves, if so how many?
Which timer/programmer do you have make and model?

 

[Hatter2004]

Hi

some of this is going to probably be a bit vague

The Room thermostat is in my bedroom which is where the cylinder is. Its a Satchwell one but i cant find the model

There is a little dial on the cylinder about 30cm up that is currently pointing to 60 and all is says on it is KS1

I am not sure what a motorised valve is but dont think i have any

The programmer/timer thing is a British Gas one UP2 however we dont seem to use this now the cylinder was 'fixed' as the radiators were on all the time regardless of what the programme thing said

 

[bhm1712]

it sounds like the fix was a bodge

you should always have to use the programmer, the rads shouldnt always heat up when the water is on.

id get someone to come and have a look at it as it sounds like the need for a pro!

usually if the rads warm up with the HW the gravity check valve is not working allowing the hot water to circulate the rads when it should not. but we need to know what type of system you have!

 

[D_Hailsham]

The Room thermostat is in my bedroom which is where the cylinder is. Its a Satchwell one but i cant find the model

That's OK can come back to it later.

There is a little dial on the cylinder about 30cm up that is currently pointing to 60 and all is says on it is KS1

Looks something like this, with a cable attached?
View media item 10596

I am not sure what a motorised valve is but don't think i have any

Like this:
You should have either one of the left one or two of the right one?
View media item 5946 View media item 5945

The programmer/timer thing is a British Gas one UP2 however we dont seem to use this now the cylinder was 'fixed' as the radiators were on all the time regardless of what the programme thing said

Then something is wrongly wired!

 

[Hatter2004]

thanks for all your hard work, but i was right - it was me being thick!!

What had happened was i had the fire serviced by British Gas a couple of weeks ago and they replaced the fire front for me for an identical (but in better condition). When i took the grate off the little dial was set to 0 and when i turned it, it fired up the boiler.

I have the dial on number 4 which is the highest - not sure if this is too high though as the water seems scorching now!! I cannot seem to find which number it should be on

Thanks for all your hard work though x

 

[bhm1712]

that still doesnt explain why your rads come on when HW is on...and why you never have to use the programmer anymore!

 

[D_Hailsham]

thanks for all your hard work, but i was right - it was me being thick!!

I would not leave it as there is definitely something wrong.

When I took the grate off the little dial was set to 0 and when I turned it, it fired up the boiler.

I have the dial on number 4 which is the highest - not sure if this is too high though as the water seems scorching now!! I cannot seem to find which number it should be on

The little dial is the boiler thermostat. Normally it would be left on the highest number as the boiler is really controlled by the cylinder thermostat and the room thermostat.

If you answer my earlier questions about what components you have, we can help sort the problem out.