Central Heating Wiring problems

[castlekeep]

Hello,

Some time ago I had a problem with my motorised valve and duely called out the engineers that my central heating insurance company use.

After they spend many days trying to sourcer another valve and after finding one spent ages wiring it in, I'm still left with problems.

Since then I have had serval visits from another company who my insurance company now use as the original one is now not on their approved list.

The second companys engineer decided to change all the control equipment as he said it wasn't compatable. He changed the motorised valve, timer unit, room thermostat and the wiring junction box.

The system still doesn't work properly and now they say I need an electrican out, which my insurance does not cover, to sort the wiring out.

The fault is :

The heating will come on using the room thermostat even though the heating is turned off at the timer.
The hot water will not come on unless the heating is turned on at the timer and the room thermostat is turned up above the current room temperature.
The heating will not come on if it is turned on at the timer regardless of setting on the room thermostat.

It sure looks like a wiring issue but considering I never had this problem until the first company changed the motorised valve, i don't see why I should have to pay to get it fixed.

Could anyone point me to what may have been cross wired so I could attempt to resolve this myself

Thanks for any guidence.

Phil.

 

[seco services]

what programmer and controls, valve etc do you have ?

it def sounds like its all wired back to front.

 

[mcmarshon]

This link was in an earlier post. You need to be v.careful tho as electrickery can and will kill !

http://www.octaveblue.co.uk/c_heating/index.htm

 

[kevplumb]

sounds as if they have made a right dogs dinner of it

y plan

• kevplumb
• 19 Sep 2009
• 22

 

[castlekeep]

what programmer and controls, valve etc do you have ?

it def sounds like its all wired back to front.

Thanks everyone,

The Room Thermosat is a Drayton RTS1
The Timer is a Drayton Lifestyle LP522
The Motorised valve is a Honeywell valve.

A very frustrated and annoyed Phil.

 

[linkyplumb]

Phil
Is the motorized valve a three port mid position or diverter valve?
Cant understand why it took days of searching for a valve!
There is definitely a wiring fault somewhere,could just be one wire out of place.Does your wiring go via a wiring centre, or is it just choccy blocks and insulating tape!
Graham

 

[castlekeep]

Phil
Is the motorized valve a three port mid position or diverter valve?
Cant understand why it took days of searching for a valve!
There is definitely a wiring fault somewhere,could just be one wire out of place.Does your wiring go via a wiring centre, or is it just choccy blocks and insulating tape!
Graham

Hi linkyplumb,

I have no datasheet on the valve but I think it is a three port mid position value. It has a little lever on the side that is in the "auto" slot.

The wiring goes into a Wiring box that has a diagram for a TWINZONE SYSTEM and a BIFLO SYSTEM on the cover. WC1/LWC1 is on a label on the inside.
The Wiring box has a horizontal row of numbered connectors from 1 to 16 and a vertical row of unnumbered connectors.

Sorry if I'm vague but I'm a database administrator and not an electrician.

Thanks for your help.

Phil.

 

[dextrous]

Although it looks complicated, wiring a system really quite simple. If you look at the diagram that kev has supplied, you'll see that it's all about arranging switches (that's all thermostats, microswitches and timers are) that turn the boiler on or off, while ensuring that those switches than need a permanent suppply have it.

If you have a simple circuit tester and a logical mind, which your profession suggests, you should be able to sort this out yourself in the space of an hour or so.

 

[kevindgas]

OP where in hants are you?
i would be able to sort it for you if local to southampton area.
fixed price £57 and i would give you an invoice stating clearly what i found. you could then write and demand a refund of our charge from your insurers if it is found that the origin of the problem is faulty wiring in the wiring centre.

 

[castlekeep]

OP where in hants are you?
i would be able to sort it for you if local to southampton area.
fixed price £57 and i would give you an invoice stating clearly what i found. you could then write and demand a refund of our charge from your insurers if it is found that the origin of the problem is faulty wiring in the wiring centre.

Hi kevindgas.
I live in Portchester, east of Fareham on the A27.

I'm contacting the insurers again on Monday to see what they have now decided to do about getting the original contractors to fix the problem. I have this feeling that this may drag on.

If I may get back to you later in the week, what sort of fixed price would you ask for coming out to Portchester. ?

I have further tested the system and :
The Hot Water will not come on on unless the Water and Heating is switched on at the timer.
The Heating will come on by turning the Room Thermostat up above room temperature even if the Heating is turned off at the timer.

Thanks you for your help.

Phil

 

[matt1e]

The heating will come on using the room thermostat even though the heating is turned off at the timer.
The hot water will not come on unless the heating is turned on at the timer and the room thermostat is turned up above the current room temperature.
The heating will not come on if it is turned on at the timer regardless of setting on the room thermostat.

Could anyone point me to what may have been cross wired so I could attempt to resolve this myself

Thanks for any guidence.

Phil.

the first and last statement suggest that the CH off terminal has been used instead of the CH on terminal in the programmer so i would start there
take off the programmer cover and check that term 2 has not been used
you should have connections on L,N !,3 and 4
photos of the wiring connections programmer and wiring centre would be great
matt

 

[matt1e]

just had a look at the programmer specs and here is what i think
the fella that changed it has plugged it into the original back plate and not changed the wiring to suit
sooo he has mixed up HW off and HW on and connected the CH call to CH off
at least thats where i Would start looking
Matt

 

[castlekeep]

Hi Matt1e,

Thanks very much for your suggestion.

I'll look into that possibility.
The strange thing is that he changed the timer unit from the original of a ACL Lifestyle LP522 to a Drayton Lifestyle LP522. The Original worked just fine.

So he might have, as you have suggested, cross wired the Drayton one.

Phil.

 

[someonelse]

You're asking the wrong question!

I'm not an electrician, or a plumber, but I do know the law!

Don't try to fix it yourself - electrics can be dodgy, but more importantly, the insurance company should be fixing it!

They appointed the engineers who came. The engineers caused the problem (I'm assuming these electrical control problems did not exist before they came??), so the insurance company should arrange to have it put right.

The fact that the cover does not include electrics is irrelevant. If the 1st engineer messed with the electrics when wiring in the new valve, or in any other way, then liability is with the insurance company.

However, as soon as you fiddle with it yourself, however well-intentioned or well-advised, this liability ends!

Get onto the insurance company and INSIST they put right the problems they caused!

 

[kevindgas]

agree with mike (above post)
but if all else fails then yes we can do portchester £57 (our standard rate)plus £10 for fuel/mileage
don't see why it would take more than an hour to trace wires and wire correctly.