help central heating problem!!!

[damsel in distress]

Desperately need advice. Have spent a fortune on 'so called' expert plumbers, all of which have not fixed my heating!!! After several visits and several bills I do finally have heating now in all my radiators (upstairs and downstairs) but for some reason the hot water overides the CH, thus have to freeze to death whilst water heats!!! It didn't do this the year before the last so I know this is not how it should work. Had the motorised valve replaced 2 years ago and also 2 new pumps, surely these are not due replacement. Any ideas - please!!!!!!!!

 

[namsag]

Boiler make and model also system type would help..

If it is a heatstore cylinder, water has to be hot before the rads come on

 

[damsel in distress]

potterton profile 40e - does that help?

Not sure about cylinder, cant see anything on it that indicates what it is, its not new i do know that.

 

[damsel in distress]

pretty sure its not a heat store cylinder, as it worked the winter before last.

 

[Mrs Spanner]

Hello Damsel in distress, I know how us women like to be warm so I've had a rummage in the archives...does it sound anything like this problem here?

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20357

 

[damsel in distress]

Thanks Mrs spanner, in my case the rads are warm until the hot water system kicks in to heat water up then for some reason the radiators cool down Really not keen on calling another plumber for them to suggest to drain system and desludge it again, or replace parts that arent needed!l

 

[Agile]

Systems are often configured that way because the lady of the house thinks that hot water is important to wash the kids!

Tony

 

[The Baker]

How long have you lived in the house?

Was the central heating and domestic hot cylinder operating satisfacterily last winter (assuming you were there last year)

How long does the boiler take to heat up the cylinder before it switches back to heating the Rads,
also,
when heating the cylinder, does the boiler burner stay lit for most of the time it takes to heat the cylinder or does it go on and off and on and off until the cylinder is heated?

Is your boiler stat turned up to maximum.

Do you have a programmer that allows you to select Hot Water times independent of Central Heating times, if so what time periods are you selecting.

Does the cylinder have any manufacturers details on it to enable a correct diagnosis,
how many pumps, if any, are next to the cylinder.

Tim

 

[bengasman]

Turn the cylinder stat back to 50 and see what happens.
Turn timer to ch constant and dhw off and see what happens then.
Check if you have 2 motorised valves or 1.
Check if there is a manual bypass somewhere

 

[damsel in distress]

oh my god, not sure if I can answer all those questions.Lived in house for 4 years. Boiler stays on during heating water. boiler is not up to max. The programmer - has also gone belly up this winter as cannot put independent timer on t ocontrol the seperate times for each system( hot water/CH). Last year able to programme 2 on/off times for CH and also 2 on/off times for HW, as well as different automated times for weekend. Now do this manually - bit of a pain in the backside! 1 pump next to the cylinder.1 motorised valve I think. Yes there is a manual bypass. CH is on constant until I turn hot water on and vice versa because I keep forgetting,will get a new programmer so I don't have to rememember! It ison my list 2 father christmas!!!

 

[scatmanjohn]

My guess is it has always been wired up this way but because your clock is not working correctly its showing up this problem.

When the clock was working correctly did you have the hot water and centrla heating coming on at seperate times?

 

[damsel in distress]

CH and HW sometimes did coincide with each other, I'm pretty sure but the more I talk about my 'problem' the more unclear I ambecoming about it. Maybe I will just get the programmer replaced and try not to worry about it!!!

 

[bengasman]

If you are sure there is only 1 motorised valve, 3 pipes coming to it, close the bypass

 

[The Baker]

It would seem probable that you have a hot water priority system.


If you feel the timer/progammer is duff, you might like to consider purchasing the same model as thia could be easily changed.

Which make and model of programmer/timer do you have?

Tim

 

[Agile]

Desperately need advice. Have spent a fortune on 'so called' expert plumbers, all of which have not fixed my heating!!!

Yes, but have you called Chris R of this forum who also resides in Surrey!

Tony