Problem with Ideal Istor HE325 programmer

[popnutter]

I have a problem that I hope one of you guys might be able to help me with. I've been trying to work out what's going on with my boiler for a few weeks now but I'm still no further forward.

The issue seems to be with the central heating element of the programmer - it's set to come on at 6.30am and go off at 11.30pm every day (all the other 14 programmable times are deleted so they're all flashing and not assigned), yet the heating regularly fires overnight and keeps the house warm for no reason that I can find.

Also - between those times during the day, when the thermostat has the black triangle showing indicating that the boiler is on, if you look at the boiler the central heating program (number 1) isn't showing - yet the boiler is on and merrily heating the house.

Now I like being nice and toasty overnight as much as the next person, but it's costing me a fortune in gas and I need to get the problem sorted. Has anyone got any ideas?!

Cheers!

 

[Garfeild]

You need to get someone in to check it,the Istor programmer is a nightmare,and i work for them,why they had to make it so complicated is beyond me.
Now in the past i have gone out to similar problems to yours,only to find that,
1) the programmer had been by passed on purpose,so wasnt doing anything
2) upon removing the facia,i found another programmer connected behind,so the one the customer could see,wasnt connected,so wasnt actually doing anything.
3) Wired in wrong by the installer (not on purpose),so that the room stat overrode the programmer.
4)its knackered.

You could try resetting and starting from scratch to see if it takes the times.

Is it still under warranty?

 

[popnutter]

Hi - thanks for your reply.

If the warranty is a year then no - it's about 14 months old (typical, eh?!).

I've reset the programmer previously with no luck - would resetting the boiler as a whole make a difference?

And yes - it IS far too bloody complicated...I'm guessing that no-one involved in the design actually has one in their house

 

[Garfeild]

I doubt resetting the boiler itself will make much difference,it may be the programmer is faulty.
Most owners seem to leave the heating on and use the room stat to adjust the temperature,ie turn it down when going to bed,or going out so its not firing when not required,then back up when needed,not a good way admittedly.

Does the boiler still fire at night with the room stat turned down?

Are there any other external controls ie zone valves for different floors?

Has the boiler always done it or has it developed this fault?

It is a new build property?

 

[popnutter]

I've tried turning the room stat down from 20 to 18 degrees overnight and it still seems to fire even though the actual room temp shown is (at least) 20 degrees.

We have individual rad stats but that's only to control which rooms are warmer than others.

I don't believe it's always done this - I used to leave the programming of the boiler to my wife, but after she tried and failed to stop it from firing overnight I had a go and I still can't get it to work.

It's not a new build, it's a renovation - gas was piped to the house so that this new gas boiler could be fitted as we wanted rid of the evil oil boiler - but this was installed towards the end of 2008.

 

[Garfeild]

Sounds like an electrical fault if the boiler is still firing for ch with the roomstat not calling for heat.
Do you leave the hot water on all night ? i wonder if the boiler is firing for hot water,and the 3 way valve is letting by to the CH circuit.
It really looks like you need an Engineer to investigate,may be worth running it past Ideal first to see what theyve got on record for the boiler,ive been out to boilers past the 1 year,depends what they have on record for installation date.Tell them its been a problem for a while.