New House.... New Boiler

[Mike_Guthrie]

Morning all.

I wonder if you can help me answer a few questions. My wife and I have just bought our first house. Its a 2002 build with only one previous owner. Most of the appliances including the Boiler are original.

The boiler in question is a Potterton Suprima. From my digging around on the internet this boiler is not a combi boiler.

When we moved into the house on Saturday I powered on the boiler and set the timer panel to ON to ensure everything was working. Throughout the Saturday my wife was using the water to clean the house. Every so often the boiler would fire up again and reheat the water.

I decided to set the timer to OFF on Saturday night as when we were watching TV i could hear the boiler kicking in (when we were not using it)

On Sunday I had a shower (non power shower) around 18:00 and the water was hot. Not scaulding hot but enough for me to have a hot shower.

The timer remained off on Monday >Wednesday Each day I had a shower and used the hot water taps to clean and do the dishes. Even managed a 40L bucket of water to wash my car.

One night I used the Advanced button to fire up the boiler so I could have a bath. All was good and I cancelled the advance.

On Monday (yesterday) I got up at 6:40am to go to work and there was no hot water. Nothing. Ended up having a cold shower.

In previous (rented) flats I have had a combi boiler and used the advance for Baths and when we have people staying over.

I have ordered a new timer. As the current one is a bit loose and Old (clock style)

So my question is this How can I get Hot water (on demand) some days and not others?

Is its worth swapping the Boiler for a Combi?

Sorry for the Long post wanted to detail it out

Mike

 

[Dean744PiN5]

your hot water is supplied via the hot water cylinder and heated by the boiler, it is stored hot water not instantaneous like your old combi, once the store is depleted you will have no hot water until the boiler replenishes it again, it can take around 45mins to a hour and half to heat up depending on age of tank and its capacity.

No point in putting in a combi just for the sake of it, if you have a perfectly good working system, you just need to adjust to stored water rather than having it on tap and on demand.

 

[hertsboilers]

Look like the two port valve for hot water is gone.

 

[Mike_Guthrie]

your hot water is supplied via the hot water cylinder and heated by the boiler, it is stored hot water not instantaneous like your old combi, once the store is depleted you will have no hot water until the boiler replenishes it again, it can take around 45mins to a hour and half to heat up depending on age of tank and its capacity.

No point in putting in a combi just for the sake of it, if you have a perfectly good working system, you just need to adjust to stored water rather than having it on tap and on demand.

Thanks for the reply.

Question is if the Timer is OFF and I have not had the boiler on for a day how is it possible to get hot water? This is what is confusing me. For example my wife (who is pregnant) can't have really hot baths was able to have a bath the other night around 6pm and the hot water had not been on that day?

Mike

 

[Agile]

First check that the electric immersion heater is off. Thats only a backup in case of boiler failure. Although with a less efficient boiler like yours there will be little saving using the boiler during the summer.

You seem to have an expectation of only turning on water heating when you feel like it. But it should be timed to be heated by the timeclock settings twice a day. Usually timed 30m minutes before heating starts. Then you will have hot water whenever you want to use it.

When properly set up the cylinder thermostat will turn off the boiler when the cylinder is up to temperature which should be set at 60 C.

It sounds as if either your boiler is set for a too low flow temperature or the cylinder is set too high. Boiler should be at least 10 C higher than the cylinder otherwise the boiler will just cycle and the cylinder never reach the set temperature.

Tony Glazier

 

[Mike_Guthrie]

First check that the electric immersion heater is off. Thats only a backup in case of boiler failure. Although with a less efficient boiler like yours there will be little saving using the boiler during the summer.

You seem to have an expectation of only turning on water heating when you feel like it. But it should be timed to be heated by the timeclock settings twice a day. Usually timed 30m minutes before heating starts. Then you will have hot water whenever you want to use it.

When properly set up the cylinder thermostat will turn off the boiler when the cylinder is up to temperature which should be set at 60 C.


Tony Glazier

I checked the electric heater and its physically switched off at the wall.

I have used a time clock before for a boiler when I lived with my folks. I have just bought a new digital timer to fit this evening so I can correctly set up a schedule for the boiler.

As I said my confusion is how I am getting hot water (not instant) from the Hot tap when you run it for a few seconds. Its not scalding hot but enough to wash dishes or have a shower.

i might need to get a friend who is a heating engineer to have a look

Mike

 

[TonyW2]

You need the system checking out. If the divertor valves are faulty (a common failing) then the boiler can receive a call for heat and come on, even though the hot water/radiator controls are set to off.
As a DIY job it is an easy fix, but you do need to understand the system and the control circuits.