Heating OK but No Hot Water

[dcaraher]

I have an Ideal Mexico Super CF465 Boiler, Wilo Gold 60 circulating pump, Honeywell 2 port diverter valve ( V4034).

My heating is working fine but no hot water. I called out a heating engineer who advised it was the diverter valve. Cutting a very long and sad story short I ended up buying the valve myself and fitting it, I only changed the valve head not the valve itself.

I still have no hot water. The valve appears to be working fine. When the demand is for heating and HW there is no resistance on the manual arm. When the demand is for hot water only there is resistance. The pipework on both sides of the valve is hot.

I traced the hot feed upstairs in the loft to the tank and again the pipework is hot into the tank. Just below that is what i assume the feed to the hot water supply, this is cold. I also have a feed from the top of the tank to a power shower and that is cold.

I have checked the vent valve on the tank and no air just a trickle of hot water. I've contacted the original engineer and he can offer no advice, it is annoying that he can't be bothered to come and look despite the fact I have replaced a diverter valve on his recommendation.

Any suggestions or advice would be really appreciated.

 

[seco services]

is you have a problem with hw what has the demand for heating/hw got to do with it ?

you have 2 x 2 port valves one for heating one for hw ?

sounds like you've wired the hw to the heating one aswell.

if you have resistance on the valve it will be closed so how can the pipe bothsides be hot.

 

[dcaraher]

Sorry for being such a dimwit, but my limited knowledge may be damaging my explanation.

I only have one diverter valve. When the electronic timer is set for HW only I get resistance on the manual arm. When the timer is set for CH and HW I do not get any resistance.

When the timer is set at HW and CH both sides of the pipe lending into and out of the diverter valve are hot. Which makes me think there is a flow through the valve to the tank. Is that wrong?

Does this help?

 

[Agile]

My heating is working fine but no hot water. I called out a heating engineer who advised it was the diverter valve. Cutting a very long and sad story short I ended up buying the valve myself and fitting it, I only changed the valve head not the valve itself.

I have checked the vent valve on the tank and no air just a trickle of hot water. I've contacted the original engineer and he can offer no advice, it is annoying that he can't be bothered to come and look despite the fact I have replaced a diverter valve on his recommendation.

Any suggestions or advice would be really appreciated.

It seems there is something that you are not telling us!

Normally when you call an engineer he will diagnose the fault and do whatever is required to fix it.

Did you pay him for diagnosing the fault?

Why didn't he replace the valve which he told you was faulty?

Please could you explain this background to the situation so that we can take the matter forward.

By the way I think that you actually have a three port valve ( which may not be correctly connected up. )

Tony

 

[seco services]

I only have one diverter valve. When the electronic timer is set for HW only I get resistance on the manual arm. When the timer is set for CH and HW I do not get any resistance.

thats correct as the valve will be in relaxed position when hw only called for.

When the timer is set at HW and CH both sides of the pipe lending into and out of the diverter valve are hot. Which makes me think there is a flow through the valve to the tank. Is that wrong?

this is correct the lever will be loose and the valve in mid position as both are calling for heat, so bothsides will be hot.

 

[dcaraher]

Again sorry I didn't want to bore the board with my tale of woe, but here goes.

The engineer visited, I have paid for this call, and diagnosed a faulty diverter valve. He was scheduled to come and fit the valve yesterday. He called me to say that the supplier they use did not have the part in stock. I said I could get the part for him and he agreed to fit it.

I then received another call to say he was stuck at another call and would not be able to get to me until Monday. In desperation I said I would fit the part myself and he agreed to help by phone if I had any problems.

I fitted the part but it didn't resolve the problem. I called the engineer again and by my explanation on the phone he agreed that the valve appeared to be working OK.

After many phone calls he eventually said he was "lost as to what the problem could be because the way I was describing everything I should have hot water.

I will be contacting the company tomorrow to let them know what has happened, like you I was very surprised that the engineer did not say OK well leave it now and I will get the office to book another call. He simply said he "was lost for an answer".

Despite all of this I still have no hot water and was simply looking for some advice. I suspect I will need another engineer to have a look , and I am more than willing to do this, but if anyone could give me a short term fix or advice it would be very helpful.

 

[dcaraher]

Seco, thanks for your response. So having confirmed that the diverter valve appears to be working OK what is the next line of attack to try and resolve this.

Again thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

[Agile]

It seems there is something that you are not telling us!

Normally when you call an engineer he will diagnose the fault and do whatever is required to fix it.

Did you pay him for diagnosing the fault?

Why didn't he replace the valve which he told you was faulty?

Tony

 

[seco services]

Seco, thanks for your response. So having confirmed that the diverter valve appears to be working OK what is the next line of attack to try and resolve this.

Again thanks for taking the time to reply.

so you have proved the valve is working ok.
so what happens when calling for just hw ?
does the pump/boiler run ?
you say the pipe to the cylinder gets hot does the pipe out of the cylinder get hot (return) ?

 

[dcaraher]

Tony, thank you for response in which it seems you repeated your questions from your first reply. I thought I had answered them.

1. I have told you everything, Cross my Heart.
2. I did pay them, cross my heart.
3. The reason he didn't fit the part, as explained is that he was stuck on another call, and I was desperate to fix the problem.
4. I will be asking his boss why he didn't offer to come out, even though he was working until 2300 yesterday. I managed to speak to him by phone for some diagnostic advice, thats how I know.

I hope this answers your questions. Now are you able to offer any advice?

 

[dcaraher]

Seco, thanks for your response. So having confirmed that the diverter valve appears to be working OK what is the next line of attack to try and resolve this.

Again thanks for taking the time to reply.

so you have proved the valve is working ok.
so what happens when calling for just hw ?
does the pump/boiler run ?
you say the pipe to the cylinder gets hot does the pipe out of the cylinder get hot (return) ?

When calling for HW the boiler and pump appear to be working. The pipe into the cylinder is hot, the pipe out of the cylinder is cold. I also have a pipe out of the top of the cylinder to my shower that is also cold.

 

[seco services]

have you a bleed valve on a pipe around the area of the valve to the cylinder ?

 

[dcaraher]

have you a bleed valve on a pipe around the area of the valve to the cylinder ?

Yes if it looks like a gun metal grey valve with a red dust cap. I have removed the dust cap and opened the valve slightly I had a trickle of hot water.

 

[seco services]

can you not get any air out ?
what speed is your pump on ?

 

[dcaraher]

can you not get any air out ?
what speed is your pump on ?

I didn't get any air at all. The valve has vent written on it with a manufacturers name. I assume this is the right vent.

The pump has three setting I am on the middle setting. The pump is a Wilo Gold 60