The guy I lodge with oop in the smoke had a new Ravenheat and indeed a complete new heating system fitted about 18 months ago. So while it's undoubtedly a proverbial brown smelly thing it's still quite a fresh one
I have no idea what specific model it is, there's no obvious plate on it anywhere. Just a single rotary control labelled condensing control. I believe it to be a 30KW model sourced from B&(spit)Q by the house owner which is totally OTT for his 2 bed mid terrace running 6 radiators He chose it and was convinced bigger is better I does not modulate that I have ever heard and there's nothing to look at to see if it does. All rads bar one are fitted with TRVs, the system is completely open vent and runs a "traditional" open vent hot water cylinder upstairs with a cold cistern and F&E tank in the loft. There's a temperature stat on the cylinder and a roomstat in the kitchen/lounge where the non TRV rad also lives. A 3 port motorized valve along with the pump lives on the first floor with the hot cylinder
Symptoms are :-
1) Kettling (I think). From new it as always exhibited what I thought was kettling. Boiler runs for about 30 seconds then starts to make a sort of hissing noise. Last week I have been wondering if it is actually a bad bearing in the fan as it stops very instantly when the boiler shuts down
The boiler then shuts down and begins symptom 2
2) Short cycling. Again it's done this from being a fresh new install. On first demand for DHW it runs for maybe 1-2 minutes. Then any CH or continued DHW demand the boiler burns for maybe 20-30 secs, goes off for 20-30secs, burns 20-30 secs etc etc etc
A "holding the flow and return" temp survey reveals little difference betwen flow and return, both being quite hot but not unberable
3) A new and serious symptom. Boiller ignites with quite a whoomp. I know this means that a service is due (so far unserviced)!!! and I have told him as much. However, apparently it's just fine as is and it will not get one until it stops working. I've argued the point that it will be too late if it stops working with a big bang but hey it's his call . I'm not going to do anything other than call him an idiot for leaving it running like that
i have never felt the installer had it set up right. 1 & 2 have always made me suspect this and a mix of endfeed and compression fittings on the 15mm gas connection makes me question the quality of the install. He was CORGI though and all the required benchmarks and certs are in place. I know that the owner chose the wrong boiler make and I suspect size. I assume the boiler is too powerful for the system but also assume that the installer should have adjusted the output via burner setup??
I managed to decrease 1) and 2) about a year ago by turning the pump from min to mid speed and the "condensing control" from max to mid but it seems to be slowly getting worse. As far as I can tell the pump is fine (max speed setting makes no additional difference to teh symptoms), and the 3 port seems to be doing all the right things. Water and CH all get hot as expected
I have no idea what specific model it is, there's no obvious plate on it anywhere. Just a single rotary control labelled condensing control. I believe it to be a 30KW model sourced from B&(spit)Q by the house owner which is totally OTT for his 2 bed mid terrace running 6 radiators He chose it and was convinced bigger is better I does not modulate that I have ever heard and there's nothing to look at to see if it does. All rads bar one are fitted with TRVs, the system is completely open vent and runs a "traditional" open vent hot water cylinder upstairs with a cold cistern and F&E tank in the loft. There's a temperature stat on the cylinder and a roomstat in the kitchen/lounge where the non TRV rad also lives. A 3 port motorized valve along with the pump lives on the first floor with the hot cylinder
Symptoms are :-
1) Kettling (I think). From new it as always exhibited what I thought was kettling. Boiler runs for about 30 seconds then starts to make a sort of hissing noise. Last week I have been wondering if it is actually a bad bearing in the fan as it stops very instantly when the boiler shuts down
The boiler then shuts down and begins symptom 2
2) Short cycling. Again it's done this from being a fresh new install. On first demand for DHW it runs for maybe 1-2 minutes. Then any CH or continued DHW demand the boiler burns for maybe 20-30 secs, goes off for 20-30secs, burns 20-30 secs etc etc etc
A "holding the flow and return" temp survey reveals little difference betwen flow and return, both being quite hot but not unberable
3) A new and serious symptom. Boiller ignites with quite a whoomp. I know this means that a service is due (so far unserviced)!!! and I have told him as much. However, apparently it's just fine as is and it will not get one until it stops working. I've argued the point that it will be too late if it stops working with a big bang but hey it's his call . I'm not going to do anything other than call him an idiot for leaving it running like that
i have never felt the installer had it set up right. 1 & 2 have always made me suspect this and a mix of endfeed and compression fittings on the 15mm gas connection makes me question the quality of the install. He was CORGI though and all the required benchmarks and certs are in place. I know that the owner chose the wrong boiler make and I suspect size. I assume the boiler is too powerful for the system but also assume that the installer should have adjusted the output via burner setup??
I managed to decrease 1) and 2) about a year ago by turning the pump from min to mid speed and the "condensing control" from max to mid but it seems to be slowly getting worse. As far as I can tell the pump is fine (max speed setting makes no additional difference to teh symptoms), and the 3 port seems to be doing all the right things. Water and CH all get hot as expected