Help please on how to use Underfloor Heating with Economy 7

[PaulandGill]

We have a rented flat which is about 7 years old. There are no instructions on how to use the underfloor heating and so we need help please. The flat is on Economy 7 and there are no storage heaters - just the underfloor heating.

So, we have a box in the cupboard called a Protemp Advance II. It has a dial in it that you can turn, and the settings are a bit weird. Imagine a clock with the numbers 12 - 6 (though there are no numbers - just lines). There's an arrow pointing from 2 - 12 with the words "increase economy". There's an arrow pointing from 4 - 6 with the words "increase heating". Between 2 and 3 there is text "normal - 8 hour white meter" and between 3 & 4 there is text "normal - all off peak tariffs" and "normal - 7 hour white meter".

We have an 8 hour meter so our reaction was to turn the dial to the text between 2 & 3, and to turn up the thermostat on the wall (to 3 out of a maximum of 7), thinking that overnight the flat would heat up. But this morning it's as cold as it was last night.

So our 3 questions are
1) what did we do wrong and why didn't it heat up overnight?
2) is there a way to manually override it during the day and make the heating come on, by using the weird dial in some way? We're cold!

Thanks!

 

[MrOcelot]

Check that the entire heating system is switched on - it works better then, check the timeswitch is correctly set if it isn't a radio operated timeswitch. Check there isn't a room 'stat set down to minimum somewhere.

 

[PaulandGill]

Thanks Mr. Ocelot, but none of those options apply! Fortunately it has been mild so we haven't needed the heating on again, but it would be good to know what that Protemp controller is all about. Any clues?

 

[juderich]

paulandgill,

Did you ever work out how to use your heating controller? Coincidentally, I also moved into a rented flat about 2 weeks ago and have exactly the same controller and no instructions! Mine is the opposite problem though in that I can't switch the heating off and i'm roasting...

jude

 

[PaulandGill]

Hi, Assuming you have economy 7 too, check the 2 switches for On Peak and Off Peak. Firstly switch off the On Peak switch. Nothing to do with the heating in our flat, but it means that the hot water is heating up all day long and that in itself will generate some warmth in the flat (in our spare bedroom at least - that's where the tank is), not to mention cost you an arm and a leg in electricity bills. (Our first month's bill was about £60 and that was in May!) For the heating, on the walls of your flat you should find some thermostatic switches. We have ones with an on-off switch, and then a temperature controller from 1 - 7. Make sure they're switched off. Seems obvious, but they don't look like normal thermostats so you could have missed them. Apart from that, the only controller is the one we have. Ours is set with the dial pointing to the "8 hours on" area and we have no heating on, so check where yours is set. We haven't had any other replies so I'm hoping it doesn't get cold! Let me know if you work out how to control it

 

[johnandAga]

I reckon we all live in the same development !

I have the same heating system, weve lived here for 3 years and never quite been sure if it works or not.

The IMEL Protemp controller controls the underfloor heating system and working in conjunction with a thermometer outside the flat on the wall, if the temperature falls below 0 outside, the controller comes on inside, depending on the temperature setting on the controller, as the heating system only works overnight, it can take a day for the room temperature to adjust... however if you cannot wait that long...

The wall thermostatic switches are in the bedroom / lounge & outside the bathroom door, these control the ceiling heating.

Thats the story anyway. Were thinking to buy a radiator.

Ages ago I asked the development people about it.. the company IMEL went under almost as soon as the development was completed, and according to them there is almost no other developments using this system.
No heating engineer will touch the system.. seems like an all round dodgy half job outfit... if you know more let me know !

 

[PaulandGill]

Hi John and Aga - the Odyssey development? We had to call an electrician this week - the heating is definitely not working. We have now had a new Economy 7 controller in the meter cupboard as there was no power supply from it to the fuse box for the heating, but he seemed to think that wasn't the issue. We decided to go away for the weekend as we didn't want to risk freezing if it's still broken. We will find out tomorrow night whether the flat is any warmer. Like you, we also discovered (through some notes another resident had kindly left with the estate office) that the wall stats control ceiling heaters which explains why the bathroom was warm but the floor was cold. What a daft idea! The notes say that the Protemp controller is the thermostat for the heating so ignore the wording on the dial, just whack it up to the 6 o'clock position if you want more heat and to 12 o'clock if you want less. Hope you are warmer than we were!

 

[johnandAga]

Odessey.. thats the one, were in Galaxy Bldg.

The ceiling heating in our lounge doesnt seem to do anything (it just turns either red or green).. if I didnt know better i'd swear the thermostat is smiling at me, though the Bathroom ceiling gets warm...but whats the point in that !

As for underfloor it's a hard call for us.. weve never been warm warm.. but "ambient" in the room when it's -4 outside makes us believe somethings doing something.. and the electric bill does go up

Ages ago we had an electriciation come in, replace the fuse, the thermostat outside and the controller (allegedly) and he said everything would work and we'd be warm tomorrow.. we never heard from him again or recieved a bill that was 2 years ago and we didnt feel much warmer either.

Dont be conned by the tiles in the bathroom / kitchen, there just plastic tiles glued onto wooden boarding underneath.. there's no heating under them.

 

[ColinandGordon]

We moved in to the Galaxy Building late November 09 and with the recent snow fall have decided to try and increase the heating! No instructions left by landlord and a quick phone call proved that the heating was a bit of a mystery to him also.

Just as I began to loose the will to live I stumble across this web site to find like minded residents freezing also on the complex, bemused by what heating we have got, and how on earth one tries to control it!!! After reading all the replies I am still none the wiser and it appears the Odyssey complex has a heating system that no-one really understands

From what I have surmised I have done the following, the Protech dial in the airing cupboard has been set to full blast, the thermostats in the lounge / bedroom / bathroom have been set to 7 with the switch down to cover the LED! If this is at all wrong please let me know!

If this dosen't work I shall be setting up a social circle so we can knit woolly jumpers and share body warmth together!! Can't type anymore, time for the mittens to go back on!!

P.S. The estate office knew of no notes left by another resident, perhaps they have been burnt to keep warm??

 

[dkldn]

has anyone got any progress?

I just bought a flat in the same development, not Galaxy though. It has similar heating problem. I had an emergency call to the electricity company. What the engineer found is that the radio time switch (for economy 7 off peak signal) can't receive radio signal somehow. He also checked my neighbour's time switch which did not work either. Next day, they change the switch to a mechanical one. Unfortunately the underfloor heating still does not work. Something else must be wrong in the flat.

 

[dkldn]

the other thing we found out later on is that the imbel controller seems faulty. Our electrician connected off peak input to underfloor heating cables directly. We checked the flat next day (we are not living there), it gets warmer(although not as warm as I expected). Also checked the electricity meter, the off peak one does go up 40 to 50 kilowatt.

 

[ColinandGordon]

Well its been a month since my last entry so thought it was time to post an update from The Fridge A.K.A Galaxy Building!

Another visit to the site office proved fruitful with one of the staff finding the paperwork left by previous confused resident, they hadn't burnt them for warmth afterall! Hurrah!!

I digested the three pages of information, and true the ceiling heaters did indeed warm up a 100 cm by 5 cm part of the ceiling just by the double doors to the balcony. And yes the two thermostats outside the bathrooms really do warm part of the ceiling also.... in the bathrooms!!

However, after turning the dial in the cupboard to full wack and changing the fuses in the walls, we waited patiently as instructed for the floor to warm up over a couple of nights so that one morning our toes would strike a pleasantly warm floor as we jumped out of bed...! Alas it was not to be, the floor is as cold as ever and dosen't feel any different!! Although the apartment is not cold and we seem to be coping, I cannot be sure if the floor is doing much or if it is just our neighbours above and below keeping us warm!!!

The next biggy will be the electric bill and what we will have to pay for this economy 7 not so hot heating...!

 

[dkldn]

Are you sure your radio teleswitch is working (controls eco 7 off peak supply)? I asked electricity supplier change it to mechanical one because the radio one does not work. You should be able to know if your switch works or not by checking your off peak meter reading. At least the hot water boiler should consume several kilowatt a day.

As I said before, I asked my electrician to remove the controller, the result is not as what I would expect. The flat used around 50 kilowatt off peak per night for the last two nights, but the living room seems no improvement.

Since these buildings are less than 10 years, any chance we can ask the developer or whoever to give us a reasonable explanation?