C.H. Newbie-Greenhorn-'Kids Today' problem.

[Beaman]

Hello board!

I'm in a bit of a pickle - my girlfriend and I have just moved into our first home. It is 7 years old and in pretty good condition.

We have a central heating and hot water system and i have a small grasp of how it works, but we're having problems.

Firstly, at night, the radiators seem to just go off. The thermostat in the living room is on 30, the boiler is on and going, the timer is on, the hot water tank thermostat is set at 60, the pump is working.

The radiators come on at 5:30 in the morning when GF gets up and get hot, but it just seems to go off at night.

The valve thingy has me mistified. There are three parts to it (setup like a 'T') - A, B and AB. A is the radiator and B is the water, i presume AB is for both?

I thought that the water for both was seperated and didn't mix? What's gong on there? Is the water actually mixing or does it just pump both somehow?

The valve itself - when the radiators are going cold, i flick the valve over from Auto to Man and hot water rushes through to the radiators, but an hour later and it's moved back and the heat is gone. Sometimes I'll move it and it just automates itself back to the AUTO position and nothing happens. Sometimes it stays in the MAN position but no water goes through.

I felt the pipes going into and out of the boiler and they were only just warmish. The top pipe in the hot water tank is hot, but the coil pipes in the side (i may be wrong here, about them being for the coil) aren't hot at all.

Not knowing enough about it makes it difficult to analyse. We've had a 'friend of the family' come over (he's an engineer) but he didn't know what it was. I'm loathe to call him again as he didn't ask me any questions or what-ifs, he just wanted to replace the timer and if that didn't work, the valve. Which didn't fill me with confidence, he's evasive about cost too (g/f's parents always call him for favours and hand him cash, so it sounds like he just makes it up.)

Are there any troubleshooting tips you can give me to help diagnose the problem, or perhaps you know of a really good book or website that would include information I should know in the future, being a new home owner.

I don't mind getting my hands dirty and i'd like to have a good understanding of what is in my home and how it works.

Thanks for any help anyone can give, i'm getting pretty exasperated as there doesn't seem to be any logic to any of it!

Many, many thanks (from me and my girlfriends very cold toes).

I posted this on another forum, i've been searching for a week for one and two came along at once!!!

Beaman.

 

[blahblah]

No disrespect intended, but are you sure you've got to grips with the programmer? Sounds as if the 'fault' is rather regular.

 

[Beaman]

Yes, this is what i though, but the programmer says it's on.

The lights on the front of the Dayfoss (is that right) say that the heating is on and the water is on, but still it has the same effect.

I am more inclined to beleive it's my error, yes. Which is why i don't want to call an engineer out. What other control is there for the programmer if both the lights are on, telling me it should be working?

If the lights aren't on and I turn heating on, the boiler fires up and everything starts going, the rads get hot but then they cool down even though everything is pumping round and seem to be on.

I'd love a 'How Hot Water Systems Work' book to help me - know of any?

I've tried turning everything up to it's fullest and everything down to the lowest to see if i can duplicate the problem, but i'm lost.

Sorry for the lack of info. Does it sound like there isn't a real problem and i just need to find a manual for the programmer?

It's a Danfoss CP15, or something.

Thanks again, i *really* appreciate the help.

Beaman.

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Tell us more about your girlfriend getting up and getting hot

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Sounds like a Y plan system setup.
You should be able to have HW on it's own, CH on it,s own or both together, the Programmer you have will most possibly have dipswitches on the back for you to be able to get lots of timing variations ie. 7 day or 24 hour programming for HW and CH seperatly or together, it's like having two seperate timers in one unit.
Right start from the beggining, switch on proggramer for HW only so light comes on, pump should run and boiler fire, go and switch cylinder stat down so it clicks and boiler should go off, pump may carry on running for a while as a pump overrun stat may be fitted in the boiler, the pipe to the hot tank should get hot, now switch off HW, switch on CH on the programmer, (make sure room stat is calling for heat) there should be a short delay as the valve
moves inside and clicks it's internal microswitch, boiler and pump should come on, pipe to heating should get hot, switch down room stat and boiler should go off, (pump may still run for a while) right, switch prog to HW and CH on, make sure cylinder and room stat are both calling for heat, boiler and pump should come on, both pipe to cylinder and pipe to heating should start getting hot, if this all happens as I have said, and your getting problems at the same time everyday then it sounds like the programmer isn't setup correctly or you have a weird intermittant problem and need Mouldy and skullhead to fix it.

 

[Beaman]

Okee Dokee, i'll go home and check this out and get back to this forum later this afternoon.

The engineer who had a look said that he thought the system type meant that we must have hot water if we are having heating - is he talking about the coil heating the water tank?

If so, he's right in that respect, but it won't have any bearing on the tank calling for heat - is that right? i.e., the water will get hot(ter) if we have rads on, but only because the coil passes through the tank and it's a by-product. Or does he mean that if we switch on rads, the water will switch on too?

All i'm going to say is that she isn't getting very hot or sweaty. I'm not going to go into our perversions on *this* forum, but needless to say it's very hard to get truly kinky if bedtime relations are limited to under-duvet inspections. We have been unable to set up our swing and although latex can be hot, it's too cold to wear just the suit with winter coming in.

It's not very practical being tied to a bed with nipples that could cut glass. Or is it? No, it's not comfortable, that's what i meant. And if you've ever changed after rugby in the freezing cold, you'll know there are further implications that really should be avoided during those times.

ANYWAY. I really appreciate your input. I'm going to go home and go through all this and see if i can't be a little bit more informed and logical.

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Okee Dokee