What has he done??

hi
just been to my friends house who has not so long ago had his gravity heating system "upgraded" to a c-plan.

this was supposidly to stop the boiler banging.

hes, had nothing but trouble since installed, heating settings overiding hot water, etc.

we were just discussing it, and i thought i'd have a look...
i found the guy had fitted the following new parts:
28mm 2port valve on the hw flow... (didnt have 1)
fitted a new clock. (had old time switch)
fitted a cylinder stat... (didnt have 1)

I honestly couldnt work out what he had done, it clearly wasnt a cplan... he'd only used the brown and blue of the valve.

i tested the brown wire it was constantly live reguardless.

he could only select hw or hw&heating... it was a 2channel clock... i thought the whole idea of the valve was to add more control to the system? he couldnt select ch only.

somthing just seemed wrong, so i've just totally rewired the lot for him.... now working fine with indipendent controls of bother hw and heating or both.

the house has a warm air system, it has a very big motor on the back.

they had wired this motor directly to the clock, bypassing the relay for the motor and thus bypassing motors own dedicated supply...and just upped the fuse to a 13a

anyway could any one shot some light onto how this thing was wired, i think it was just a botch, i could be wrong tho... they could be a reason for fitting a valve and having it in the open position all the time i don't know :S

I the guy who fitted it simply said its ok and refused to come out.

is he right?
mick.

edit: apiologies if u cant understand this message, i aint too good at explaining things

mick-uk said:

anyway could any one shot some light onto how this thing was wired, i think it was just a botch, i could be wrong tho... they could be a reason for fitting a valve and having it in the open position all the time i don't know :S

Click to expand...

It's now irrelevant, but did the valve close when the cylinder stat was satisfied?

I the guy who fitted it simply said its ok and refused to come out.

is he right?
mick.

Click to expand...

How can we tell?

I do hope the valve is fitted after the vent and not before it,just check that out as soon as poss

Has the boiler got an open vent and col feed

oilman said:

mick-uk said:

anyway could any one shot some light onto how this thing was wired, i think it was just a botch, i could be wrong tho... they could be a reason for fitting a valve and having it in the open position all the time i don't know :S

Click to expand...

It's now irrelevant, but did the valve close when the cylinder stat was satisfied?

I the guy who fitted it simply said its ok and refused to come out.

is he right?
mick.

Click to expand...

How can we tell?

Click to expand...

thanks for the reply

its quite possible the valve closed when satisfied, i didnt check... but if it did, this means hes going to be heating the water if he likes it or not... when the ch is on... its this a common thing?

i wired the heating call to the roomstat thn 2 the white on the valve & 2pump and orange to the boiler.

I then took the grey to a permenant 240 supply, and cylinder stat call to the brown on valve.

Blue & Earth obvious.




when i asked is he right, all i was baiscally asking is is it common to only used the brown & blue on the valve?

valve is fitted after the vent

The water heating when CH is on is a common situation and is how the gravity works anyway. If the pump is off, then at least the water circuit will be switched off once the cylinder is hot, so saving heat passing back to the boiler.

Please write in English, it's easier to type with a full keyboard than it is to decipher pigeon txt messages.

oilman said:

The water heating when CH is on is a common situation and is how the gravity works anyway. If the pump is off, then at least the water circuit will be switched off once the cylinder is hot, so saving heat passing back to the boiler.

Please write in English, it's easier to type with a full keyboard than it is to decipher pigeon txt messages.

Click to expand...

Sorry about my typing.

so I could have quite possibly wasted my time rewiring it all? lol

mick.

the house has a warm air system

Click to expand...

i wired the heating call to the roomstat thn 2 the white on the valve & 2pump and orange to the boiler

Click to expand...

are you sure about this

mick-uk said:

so I could have quite possibly wasted my time rewiring it all? lol

Click to expand...

Provided you actually wired it completely as it is supposed to be, the answer would be: you did not waste your time.

No disrespect, but are you sure you have followed the official Honeywell c-plan wiring on EVERYTHING?
The reason I ask is that if you did, provided the parts are not faulty, it should be working a treat and you would probably not be posting here.

bengasman said:

mick-uk said:

so I could have quite possibly wasted my time rewiring it all? lol

Click to expand...

Provided you actually wired it completely as it is supposed to be, the answer would be: you did not waste your time.

No disrespect, but are you sure you have followed the official Honeywell c-plan wiring on EVERYTHING?
The reason I ask is that if you did, provided the parts are not faulty, it should be working a treat and you would probably not be posting here.

Click to expand...

working a treat yes mate... the main reason for posting was i wanted to understand the reasoning behind the previous wiring... that was recently fitted.

I followed the c-plan, and rewired top to bottom, renewed all cables. used 3 core heat resistant flex.

mick.

mick-uk said:

I followed the c-plan, and rewired top to bottom, renewed all cables. used 3 core heat resistant flex.

mick.

Click to expand...

BTW, while it is legal to replace wires, if the first bloke put in new control system, strictly speaking he should have been part P certified. You could at least get your money back if he didn't want building control to find out.

Well I'm left wonder how safe the system is with all the tampering that going on by DIYers

Idle hands come to mind. WHY is there a 28mm valve on the pipes to the cylinder. What purpose is it serving when there is adequate control on the warm air unit?

Anyhow, did your friend check if the fitter was registered to work on the appliance? This unit can kill- do not forget that!!

doitall said:

Well I'm left wonder how safe the system is with all the tampering that going on by DIYers

Click to expand...

I agree somthing like this shouldnt be attempted my most, I do have a good understanding of electrics...
some onelike myself, will follow things to the word... but...
no disrespect to those who do a good job, but there are some registered installers that are overconfident and often "cut corners" just like many diy-ers do.

I recently came across a 30kw combi been piped in 15mm even tho, the gas meter was just the other side of the wall! Called this guy back only to be told "oh i didn't know".
onetime on a job, there was a guy, yanking on a gas pipe to try and bend it out of the way...really violently, so much so the meter locked out(pre pay)... he showed me his badge!

I've never reported a fitter for a bad installation, but came across many things... filler loops with no check vales, condensate going into fresh water drain...

makes me wonder too.
now i'm certainly not tieing all fitters with the same brush, but likewise with diyers, some are good some not soo good.

just my 2p's worth