Glow worm 18hcxi boiler

[Tiggs888]

Hi all. Just moved in to new house and ‘inherited’ boiler above, which seems to operate whenever it wants to! How do you set timer for this ......or is it meant to be on all time and we control it via the temp control on front, as cannot see any timer?
We have thermostat in hallway which does put heating on, and we also have a boilermate in an airing cupboard, but i think this is a water heater......sorry for being bit thick but had very old back boiler system in previous house which we could press a button and timer to work it.....new houses are a mystery . Any replies would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Tiggs888]

Heating came on about 1am ........should we have set the thermostat to something and leave it, rather than keep turning it up when we are up and then right down when we go to bed?

 

[stem]

The Boilermate is a thermal store. It might not have a timer as the boiler is usually permanently on 24/7 to keep the thermal store hot. Think of it as a battery charged up, and ready to go whenever you need it.

The room thermostat may be a programmable type that allows you set the time and temperature for the central heating so that will control the radiators which will be heated directly from the thermal store. If you give details of the room thermostat [make / model] probably someone will be able to confirm.

The hot water is also be instantaneously heated by passing cold water through a heat exchanger fed from the thermal store. So the thermal store has to be kept hot otherwise you won't get any hot water.

The simplified diagram below shows the basic concept of a thermal store.

 

[Tiggs888]

Thank you stem....that makes more sense, in theory. I have attached some pics of the set up, ie glowworm boiler, thermostat in hall, and boiler mate settings. It looks like boilermate has timer option on it......but doesnt show 1am so why should heating be on then?.......
Any one know what settings i need ? just want it warm for an hour 7-8 am and then from 5-9pm, and to know how to regulate this set up for summer.
Your reply suggests boilermate is on all time........so do i regulate glowworm on/off times via this?
Appreciate your reply. Thank you.

 

[stem]

Ah there you go then. The boiler will be 'on' permanently to keep the thermal store hot. The 1am boiler start up would have just been a top up for the thermal store probably due to natural heat losses. If the heating wasn't on at the same time or you weren't using hot water, it wouldn't have run for very long.

The central heating switch set to 'timed' and the times you want the heating to be on for set on the Grasslin timer

The room thermostat set to the room temperature you require.

Hot water set to constant as recommended.

You can download an operating manual for the Boilermate 2000 by clicking here.

 

[Tiggs888]

Stem, you are an absolute star! So, keep boilermate ‘on’ for water and set to timer for when want heating on......then set temp on glow worm and on thermostat in hall?........what is the use of the hallway thermostat......is it just to regulate temp during the ‘timed period’ when the heating is on, and maybe gets too warm?
Thank you so much for your help.

 

[stem]

So, keep boilermate ‘on’ for water and set to timer for when want heating on

That's the idea. So if you set it to 7-8am and then from 5-9pm as you suggested, that is when the central heating will come on. The timer doesn't control the boiler though, so the boiler will operate at anytime during the day or night to keep the Boilermate thermal store hot. Obviously it will operate more when the heating is on, or if you are using hot water, but it can top up the heat automatically at anytime. Once the Boilermate is hot the boiler will switch off.

......then set temp on glow worm and on thermostat in hall?........what is the use of the hallway thermostat......is it just to regulate temp during the ‘timed period’ when the heating is on, and maybe gets too warm?

Gledhill advise that the boiler thermostat be left on its maximum setting, which they say gives maximum efficiency when used with a Boilermate 2000. The room thermostat is to regulate the room temperature so that it is maintained at the temperature set on the dial. It will do this by turning the heating on and off automatically. And yes, it will only do so during the times you have set the heating to be on for at the Grasslin timer.

 

[Tiggs888]

Thank you so much....have hopefully set things to my preferred times. Sitting in kitchen and radiators are red hot!......is this because the water is heated all time and therefore rads will be warm from the boilermate being on all time? Or have i messed up the time setting for the central heating? Sorry to be a pain but once set up i will never need to pester you again!!

 

[ianmcd]

As @stem says you need to turn the Gloworm boiler thermostat up to max and the boiler mate will control everything until it breaks down

 

[ianmcd]

Thank you so much....have hopefully set things to my preferred times. Sitting in kitchen and radiators are red hot!......is this because the water is heated all time and therefore rads will be warm from the boilermate being on all time? Or have i messed up the time setting for the central heating? Sorry to be a pain but once set up i will never need to pester you again!!

The boiler stays on and will switch on and off to keep the core of the thermal store hot (boilermate) when you select heating you are simply turning on a circulator pump that will pump HW from the boilermate around your radiators, when you open a HW tap the boilermate switches the heat to heating up the HW, then reverts back to the CH when you stop running a tap, all the times are set at the boilermate for the heating

 

[Tiggs888]

Thanks.....get it now,.....a bit. Some clever folks on here! and generous with their time, too. Bless you all.

 

[stem]

I notice in your earlier photo that your timeswitch is showing 2:50 am. I don't know when the photo was taken, but unless you were up very late (or very early) when you took the photo, the time needs adjusting. Be careful because it's a 24 hour clock, so it's easy to get it 12 hours out of sync. The current time is shown next to the little red arrow on the right of the clock hands.

The radiators should only come on at the set times, assuming that the timer is working and you have selected 'timed' and not 'constant' for the central heating.

The small slider just below the arrow shows whether the timeswitch is on or off. At the bottom of its groove '0' is off and at the top '1' is on.

From memory, I seem to think that sliding the tappets out from the centre selects the 'on' time, so I think you may have them positioned the wrong way around and in which case it's set to be off between 6:30 and 8:00 and off again between 17:15 and 21:15. At all other times the heating will be on.

 

[ianmcd]

that is a youtube video on how to set your timer