My son has a flat in Bournemouth which is heated by a Creda Comfortaire system. This is a large (12kw) centrally located storage heater type system with duct work leading to each room. It heats up overnight using the Economy 7 tariff and the heat is controlled during the day via a thermostat which controls the fan. He is now having trouble with it as it does not appear to be heating up over night. This seems like the wrong way around but it does make perfect sense, the high current feed which feeds the heating elements has a rating of 50A and is fed from the 24 hr supply. The much lower current circuit is from the off peak only supply. This is effectively a control circuit. So, the 50A supply is on and available all the time, the lower current circuit is coming on over night as it should be. I can test during the day by connecting the low current 'control' circuit to a 24 supply using an extension lead. So, when I apply power to the control circuit, I can hear the relay click and can detect 240v across the output of the relay, above the relay is a thermal relay. The thermal relay has four terminals. I think that two of these are a live an neutral which get fed from the relay when the off peak supply is energised. The other two terminals are for the switching function of the thermal relay as one permanently has 240v on it. What is strange is that the terminal that is the live that heats up the bi-metal strip for the thermal relay only has 240v on it about a minute after the off-peak supply is connected. When it does have 240v on it, I can see the electric meter wizzing around so I know that it is then working. However, a minute or so later, the 240v that heats up the bi-metal strip drops to zero. This indicates to me that the thermal relay is working fine which is a relief as a replacement is around £150. So, I guess it could be the relay but not easy to test this as the wires are 50+ years old and I don't want to mess with the relay too much. There is another small component above the power and thermal relays but it's quite difficult to get to and I'm not sure what it is. I've added pictures of the power relay and thermal relays.
So, I'm now a bit stuck. Can anyone please help with any of the following questions:
- Any ideas on how to continue troubleshooting would be gratefully received.
- I suspect I will have to get someone out to take a look. However, my worry is that these are now 50+ years old so will need someone with pretty specialist skills. Can anyone advise how best to find someone in the Bournemouth area who will have experience with these units ?
- If it is terminal, I know you can't replace these units as they stopped making them decades ago. As the flat has all the ductwork installed and a big centrally located cupboard where the Creda unit is located, is there any like for like system that could be installed (no gas in flat) ?
Many thanks in advance.
Steve
So, I'm now a bit stuck. Can anyone please help with any of the following questions:
- Any ideas on how to continue troubleshooting would be gratefully received.
- I suspect I will have to get someone out to take a look. However, my worry is that these are now 50+ years old so will need someone with pretty specialist skills. Can anyone advise how best to find someone in the Bournemouth area who will have experience with these units ?
- If it is terminal, I know you can't replace these units as they stopped making them decades ago. As the flat has all the ductwork installed and a big centrally located cupboard where the Creda unit is located, is there any like for like system that could be installed (no gas in flat) ?
Many thanks in advance.
Steve