Disabling hot water circuit.

[pr06]

I'm just looking for a bit of advice on something that is probably a bit unusual.

I've just removed my old hot water tank and I've replaced it with a Sunamp device. There's no point in connecting the hot water circuit to the Sunamp as the boiler ( very old, gravity, vented ) flow isn't sufficient for the Sunamp. I'm just going to run the Sunamp from electricity ( PV & cheap overnight grid ) until I retire the boiler and replace it with a heatpump next year at which point it'll be connected to the heatpump.

At the moment, the hot water is set to off ( in the Hive app ) and the hot water circuit flow and return pipes are capped off. The tank thermostat is just tucked away. Can I just leave it at that until the heatpump comes along or should I do more e.g. connect the hot water flow and return together ( just in case the three port valve operates for some reason ) and/or set the cylinder thermostat to a low temperature and maybe attach it to the heating flow? Or maybe I remove the 3 port valve and replace it with copper pipe...

I'm just looking for the easiest solution that isn't going to adversely affect my heating system when I switch it on for winter.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Or maybe I remove the 3 port valve and replace it with copper pipe...

Quick easy solution, remove the 3-pot valve actuator, and set the valve spindle under it, to the heating only position. Irrespective of what the demand is, the boiler will then heat the radiators.

 

[pr06]

That's a good idea. Really simple.

There's no chance the valve would move in the water flow? Although I suppose I could attach a wire to the valve stem to prevent rotation as a belt & braces approach.

Thanks.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

There's no chance the valve would move in the water flow? Although I suppose I could attach a wire to the valve stem to prevent rotation as a belt & braces approach.

It will not move, once set, and the easy way to set it in the right valve position - call for CH, when the actuator has finished moving the valve, just undo and take the actuator straight off.

 

[pr06]

That's good to know. Thank you again.