Honeywell Valve can I leave it on manual?

[wilso]

Hi

Newbe here, thanks to this forum I found out the reason why my radiators were not coming on was due to the honeywell valve not working having already bashed my head several times on a cylinder and totally thrown the toys out the pram....

So I put it on manual and the hot water and radiators come on, so the question is why can I not leave it on manual permanatly? I get what it does but why is it needed?

In case I have to relpace it I take i'm right in thinking that its a system drain job?


Thanks for your posts here they were great!

 

[kevplumb]

if you leave it locked mid pos (man)

you have no control over the heating / hot water temp

 

[D_Hailsham]

In case I have to replace it I take i'm right in thinking that its a system drain job?

Not necessarily, depends on what is wrong with the valve and how old it is.

A valve is in two parts: actuator (box), which contains the electrics; valve body - the brass bit under the actuator. On older valves the two parts were not separable, but with modern valves you can replace the actuator on its own.

The actuator can fail - dead motor, faulty switches etc. The brass body contains the actual valve mechanism and this can fail - usually the valve sticks and will not open or close.

The first thing to do is check if the valve is sticking.

Turn off power (setting timer to off is not enough)
Open the valve by moving the lever from Auto to Man.
You should feel resistance as you are opening the valve against a spring.
When you release the lever the valve should return to its rest position.
If you feel no resistance - the lever is floppy in the slot - the valve is stuck in CH position.

Remove actuator to expose the valve spindle . This should turn easily by hand, but only 10-15°. If it is stiff, try a little WD40 or similar to free it.

If you cannot free the spindle you will need a new valve.

If the valve is not sticking, replace actuator.

The next thing to check is the valve electrics.

Turn power off
Disconnect the White, Grey and Orange wires (note down their connections)
Set programmer to CH and HW OFF; turn CH and HW stats to MIN
Turn power on and programmer to HW ON
Boiler should not light
Turn HW stat to max
Boiler should light and HW pipe from valve get hot.
Turn power off
Connect white wire to a permanent live terminal
Turn power on.
Valve should operate (to mid-position) and boiler run
CH and HW side of valve should get hot.
Turn power off
Reconnect Orange to the correct terminal
Power on
Boiler should run and both HW and CH side of valve get hot.
Turn HW stat to min.
Valve should run (to CH only position)
Boiler should run and the CH side only of the valve get hot.
Turn HW OFF at timer
Boiler should continue to run and CH side only get hot.

If it passes these tests, the valve is OK. Reconnect grey and white wires to correct terminals.

The fault lies elsewhere.

 

[wilso]

Wow that's great advice I will follow that.

When I push the lever down to Man there is resistance and I can hear whirring noise?? like a push n go car and then it goes back to the normal Auto position by its self. So its starting to sounds like the motor not the valve, it was all new 2 years ago so should split.

Is it going to be ok to leave it in Man until monday (4 days) as I can't get on to it until then.

Thanks again both, really appreciated.

 

[MANDATE]

The whirring noise you hear is you turning the motor forward with the lever against the resistance of the return spring. When you release it turns back again due to the return spring. It does not mean the motor is at fault

 

[D_Hailsham]

The whirring noise you hear is you turning the motor forward with the lever against the resistance of the return spring. When you release it turns back again due to the return spring. It does not mean the motor is at fault

Seconded.

The valve is not sticking, so now you need to test the valve electrics.