I currently have a Glow-Worm Flexicom CX30 combi boiler servicing hot water and around 10 radiators. The boiler has a pump built into it, so it's not a separate device in the pipe work.
I am in the middle of building an extension, and we're just about to put in UFH. As the room is 9.7m x 5.1m internally, we discussed our requirements with an underfloor heating supply company and they helped specify what we would need. It was agreed to split the pipe runs into 4 sections, purely so that the room has 4 'zones' but controlled as one circuit with a single thermostat and to help the heat get around the room in a more even fashion.
The parts were ordered a while back (I work as and when I can amid being a full time carer for my wife), and now I have started unpacking the components we ordered and working out what goes where in the system. I'm kind of building it dry on a bench to get the layout clear in my mind before I will be transferring it to the location it is to be installed at.
Here lies my first challenge. The items ordered, while coming with basic instructions, are a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to connect together, but the thing that really threw me were 4 off 240v actuators, a Heatmiser RF-Switch, and a Heatmiser RF Thermostat. Upon further investigation, no wiring centre was included in the bundle of items we have bought. Even though the room is to be split into 4 'sections', one single Thermostat is going to be controlling the whole of the ufh, and as I couldn't see how to connect 4 240v actuators I contacted the supplier. They advised me that the manual actuators that are already on the 4 port manifold will be sufficient for now, and then I can choose to move to the 240v actuators (each controlled by a different thermostat) if we ever decide to have separate zones in the new room. This makes me wonder why they even suggested we buy them now, if they're going to be an ornament.
I have spoken to Heatmiser and they told me that even if the 4 ports are to be considered as a single zone, there still needs to be a wiring centre in the system, otherwise how would I wire in the pump, actuators, etc., but when I relayed that information to the supplier and asked if there had been any oversight, I was told that the CH port on the RF-Switch is effectively a single port wiring centre and there's no need for an additional one, and doesn't need me to use any of the actuators they sold me, stating one again that these are for future-proofing.
My trouble is that I can't get it clear in my head if that's true or not, and if it is correct, how am I supposed to wire in the pump, etc. into the system, and also integrate it into our existing central heating system. I'm not suggesting it's beyond me, but another issue that is bugging me is that there's no valve to divert water into the UFH part of the circuit separately to the rest of the CH system, so if either our existing thermostat or the UFH thermostat calls for heating, both parts of the circuit will go on, which is, in a way, fine, as if it's cold enough for either thermostat to go on then we probably want heating in the house and the extension to go on together. Or, will the fact that the pump in the UFH part of the circuit won't be on if the other thermostat turns on the boiler be sufficient to minimise the water flowing around the UFH part?
So many questions, so few answers.
Maybe I should do away with the old thermostat altogether and just wire in the new one to control both heating and UFH together, but that will more than likely require me to purchase a wiring centre in that instance.
I sent an email back to Heatmiser earlier and I'm awaiting a reply from them, but in the mean time I'd welcome any thoughts on my situation.
Thank you if you managed to read through all the above and understand it. I try to include as much information that I think will be relevant so as to minimise back-and-forth comments where I try to fill in blanks, but that sometimes means I start waffling on too much.
I am in the middle of building an extension, and we're just about to put in UFH. As the room is 9.7m x 5.1m internally, we discussed our requirements with an underfloor heating supply company and they helped specify what we would need. It was agreed to split the pipe runs into 4 sections, purely so that the room has 4 'zones' but controlled as one circuit with a single thermostat and to help the heat get around the room in a more even fashion.
The parts were ordered a while back (I work as and when I can amid being a full time carer for my wife), and now I have started unpacking the components we ordered and working out what goes where in the system. I'm kind of building it dry on a bench to get the layout clear in my mind before I will be transferring it to the location it is to be installed at.
Here lies my first challenge. The items ordered, while coming with basic instructions, are a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to connect together, but the thing that really threw me were 4 off 240v actuators, a Heatmiser RF-Switch, and a Heatmiser RF Thermostat. Upon further investigation, no wiring centre was included in the bundle of items we have bought. Even though the room is to be split into 4 'sections', one single Thermostat is going to be controlling the whole of the ufh, and as I couldn't see how to connect 4 240v actuators I contacted the supplier. They advised me that the manual actuators that are already on the 4 port manifold will be sufficient for now, and then I can choose to move to the 240v actuators (each controlled by a different thermostat) if we ever decide to have separate zones in the new room. This makes me wonder why they even suggested we buy them now, if they're going to be an ornament.
I have spoken to Heatmiser and they told me that even if the 4 ports are to be considered as a single zone, there still needs to be a wiring centre in the system, otherwise how would I wire in the pump, actuators, etc., but when I relayed that information to the supplier and asked if there had been any oversight, I was told that the CH port on the RF-Switch is effectively a single port wiring centre and there's no need for an additional one, and doesn't need me to use any of the actuators they sold me, stating one again that these are for future-proofing.
My trouble is that I can't get it clear in my head if that's true or not, and if it is correct, how am I supposed to wire in the pump, etc. into the system, and also integrate it into our existing central heating system. I'm not suggesting it's beyond me, but another issue that is bugging me is that there's no valve to divert water into the UFH part of the circuit separately to the rest of the CH system, so if either our existing thermostat or the UFH thermostat calls for heating, both parts of the circuit will go on, which is, in a way, fine, as if it's cold enough for either thermostat to go on then we probably want heating in the house and the extension to go on together. Or, will the fact that the pump in the UFH part of the circuit won't be on if the other thermostat turns on the boiler be sufficient to minimise the water flowing around the UFH part?
So many questions, so few answers.
Maybe I should do away with the old thermostat altogether and just wire in the new one to control both heating and UFH together, but that will more than likely require me to purchase a wiring centre in that instance.
I sent an email back to Heatmiser earlier and I'm awaiting a reply from them, but in the mean time I'd welcome any thoughts on my situation.
Thank you if you managed to read through all the above and understand it. I try to include as much information that I think will be relevant so as to minimise back-and-forth comments where I try to fill in blanks, but that sometimes means I start waffling on too much.
