Hi,
I have a very old central heating/hot water system (at least 20 years?). Its pretty strange in that the boiler is actually installed behind a gas heater in the kitchen chimney... very strange but it seems to work. Anyway recently the hot water stopped working but central heating was ok - the immersion heater seems to heat up the water ok so am not too desperate yet.
Basically when I set the switch to 'hot water' only, the boiler doesn't fire up whereas it does if you set to 'hot water and central heating' - although I still don't get any hot water. Anyway I called in a CORGI plumber and he said the Director Valve was jammed and needed replacing but he couldn't do it as it was such old system - Switchmaster. So I am not sure what to do (I do a bit of plumbing so happy to replace the valve but don't know if i need an exact match or if any will do). The valve has a box attached to it which rotates to 'hot water' or 'hot water and central heating' in line with how the main control is set. As far as I can see the box works fine and it clamps onto the end of a valve which also turns so i'm guessing whatever is in the body of the valve is faulty/jammed.
I did see a director valve inc switch box at B&Q but have no idea if the wiring etc will be the same as my plumber said they were all different. Is there anyway I can get a SwitchMaster unit? Any other advise will be appreciated..
I have a very old central heating/hot water system (at least 20 years?). Its pretty strange in that the boiler is actually installed behind a gas heater in the kitchen chimney... very strange but it seems to work. Anyway recently the hot water stopped working but central heating was ok - the immersion heater seems to heat up the water ok so am not too desperate yet.
Basically when I set the switch to 'hot water' only, the boiler doesn't fire up whereas it does if you set to 'hot water and central heating' - although I still don't get any hot water. Anyway I called in a CORGI plumber and he said the Director Valve was jammed and needed replacing but he couldn't do it as it was such old system - Switchmaster. So I am not sure what to do (I do a bit of plumbing so happy to replace the valve but don't know if i need an exact match or if any will do). The valve has a box attached to it which rotates to 'hot water' or 'hot water and central heating' in line with how the main control is set. As far as I can see the box works fine and it clamps onto the end of a valve which also turns so i'm guessing whatever is in the body of the valve is faulty/jammed.
I did see a director valve inc switch box at B&Q but have no idea if the wiring etc will be the same as my plumber said they were all different. Is there anyway I can get a SwitchMaster unit? Any other advise will be appreciated..
