Faulty Diverter Valve?

[Catceefer]

Can anyone please help?

We have a Potterton Profile 60e. A new pump was fitted a couple of weeks ago as the old one was making an awful din. The heating was fine until the last few days.

Now, our heating has started to play up. The hot water works fine, but the radiators do not heat up properly. Those upstairs get warm, but the downstairs radiators remain cold. Eventually, they will all get tepid.

Things that I have tried:

- bleeding all radiators and pump
- turn all radiators off and then on again one by one
- ensuring room thermostat is on full and boiler is up to full

This got the radiators working last night, but this morning, only the hot water worked properly and the radiators were cold again.

This morning, I turned off the hot water, but left the heating on. Within a few minutes, the radiators heated up fully. I have just turned the heating back on and the radiators are staying hot.

The manual lever on the diverter valve, a Honeywell FS 9824, flops about and does not seem to work, although it did move when I turned the heating back on again.

Does this all point to a defective diverter or am I missing something obvious elsewhere? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

James.

 

[misterdubya]

Sounds as though the system needs balancing including the h/water. Unless you have a high recovery cylinder.

Mr. W.

 

[bengasman]

First guess: duff pump and/or sludge; dito for second and third guess.

 

[Catceefer]

Thank you for the replies. I do hope that the pump is not defective as the isolator valves for the pump leak and I get water everywhere unless I drain the system.

I tried a little balancing, but as so many of the radiator valves are old and jammed, this is hard. How do I balance the hot water?

I had wondered about sludge and, as long as it soldiers on until the summer, I will flush the system out again. I really should replace a lot of the taps in the system in the summer at the same time.

Regards,

James.

 

[bengasman]

...I had wondered about sludge and, as long as it soldiers on until the summer, I will flush the system out again.

Why wait til summer????

 

[Catceefer]

...I had wondered about sludge and, as long as it soldiers on until the summer, I will flush the system out again.

Why wait til summer????

Quite simply, I am not very quick working on plumbing. If the system keeps going until the summer, I can take my time over the job and not have to rush because the house is getting cold. If the heating keeps playing up, then I will just have to get on with it now.

Regards,

James.

 

[bengasman]

You do realise that the chemicals only work with the heating on I hope. The stuff I use most stays in for 4 weeks.

 

[Catceefer]

You do realise that the chemicals only work with the heating on I hope. The stuff I use most stays in for 4 weeks.

No, I did not realise. I naively assumed that you just poured in it and then drained out the system. Mind you, I have yet to buy any or look at the instructions.

The heating was off again this morning, even though it worked last night. Again, I turned off the hot water for a while when I got up and the heat came through the radiators and contined to do so when the hot water was turned on again.

Regards,

James.

 

[algas]

Try turning the pump speed up !

 

[Catceefer]

Try turning the pump speed up !

I turned it up from 1 to 2 this morning. It worked properly this evening, so fingers crossed.

Regards,

James.