Stove heats up when I switch on central heating - help!!

[rkisacelticfan]

Please help!! I recently built a new house (moved in July 09). I've only recently started consistently using the heating and I'm having some problems. My system is as follows:

Oil burning condensing boiler in the garage.
Stove with back boiler in the sitting room.
All rads have thermostatic valves.
12 rads downstairs
5 rads upstairs
Automatic valves in hotpress allow for zones up and downstairs.
3 coil cylinder in downstairs hotpress (as I've solar panels also)

Problems:
1. My stove (the actual stove body, the sides and back) heats up when i turn on the central heating. it gets scaldy hot and the pump on the stove seems to come on immediuately when I turn on the central heating. My (so called!!) plumber is blaming the pipe stat (which is on the hot pipe from the back of the stove) but access is difficult to that.

2. 3 of the downstairs rads need to be bled every 3/4 days
3. Another one of the upstairs rads (its in a storage room that we hardly use) draws a blank when I tried to bleed it - no water, no air..

What I've tried:
1. Shooting the plumber...
2. Turned pump on boiler and stove to level 2 setting. Then left one at level 2 the other at 3 and vice versa but all this did was stopped the rads from heating at all (well after 2 hours of sitting in the cold they hadn't heated)
3. Removed and cleaned affected rads for sludge / grime that may have got in during building.

I've done some research and read alot about balancing and pressure. Could this be the cause? Should I get the plumber to do this? I want anything but to dig up my lovely new floors looking for a leak....

 

[JohnD]

I am guessing that both your stove and your boiler are plumbed into the heating and/or hot water cylinder supply.

this will cause one of them to heat up the other unless there are controls (electric valves or manual taps) to prevent it.

Who designed and built the system? Was this person aware this would happen, and did they include a mechanism to prevent it?

 

[rkisacelticfan]

I am guessing that both your stove and your boiler are plumbed into the heating and/or hot water cylinder supply.

this will cause one of them to heat up the other unless there are controls (electric valves or manual taps) to prevent it.

Who designed and built the system? Was this person aware this would happen, and did they include a mechanism to prevent it?

The plumber designed and built the system. I'm not sure if he was aware this would happen so I don't know if any mechanism is included. IS there anyway I could check this myself?

 

[JohnD]

I have not had experience of this design. I would look for motorised valves, either driven by pipe thermostats, or by the boiler controls. They are more likely to be on the Return pipes

Or you could ask the installer if he included a mechanism in his design, and ask him to draw it.

If you post photos of the pipes around your stove and boiler, especially any motorised valves and pumps, someone may recognise it.

 

[Norcon]

You're pretty much stuffed with a system like this when its piped up wrong and it sounds as though it is.
Thats how mine used to work until I disconnected the back boiler as I didn't like the idea of it acting as a chimney radiator.
Ripping into the floors to modify pipework wasn't an option.

 

[Salmonfisher]

what happens if you have the stove on and have a power cut ? i thought they had to be a gravity flow