Hot water is way too hot (Gloworm Spacesaver boiler)

[Lugger]

Hi all, this is my first post so a big wave to everyone

I was at my girlfriends house over the weekend and noticed that the hot water was far too hot. It is so hot that you cannot wash your hands under running water etc.

Her boiler is a Glow-worm Spacesaver 20-30 F and I have two problems:

1. I cannot see any controls on it to adjust the hot water temp, there is just he normal timer etc unit on the wall.

2. I cannot find a manual or any information for a Spacesaver 20-30 anywhere, including the manufacturers website under "Discontinued Products". How old is this boiler??!!

Any assistance is welcomed, thanks in advance.

 

[kevplumb]

water tooooo hot
has to be a boiler not a combi

 

[Lugger]

water tooooo hot
has to be a boiler not a combi

Ah right, gotcha.

Meaning what on earth are you talking about?

What has to be a boiler not a combi and why all the laughing??

 

[kevplumb]

if you knew you wouldn't ask

 

[Lugger]

if you knew you wouldn't ask

Ah I am being plagued by the resident idiot I see. Oh well, I will ignore you until someone helpful logs in and replies.

In the meantime go away and do something useful.

 

[JohnD]

He may mean that a Combi type of boiler has difficulty making the water hot enough?

Does she have a hot water cylinder in an airing cupboard? If so, have a look

(1) is there an immersion heater, and is it switched on? (if so try turning it off. It may have a defective or incorrectly-set thermostat)

(2) have a look under the cylinder insulating jacket. About a third up from the bottom of the cylinder there may be a cable (probabably white rubber flex) going to a small device, about the size of a few matchboxes. This is a thermostat that tells the boiler when the water in the cylinder has reached its temperature. Make sure there are no visible wires or electrical parts before touching it. You will probably find there is a tiny dial on it with numbers. This is to adjust the cylinder stat. Note its original setting, and see if it clicks softly when you turn the adjuster with a small screwdriver.

However - at this time of year - it is very likely that the heating is on continually, so the boilre is running all the time, and that excess hot water is being fed to the cylinder even when it is up to temp. Have a look round the boiler and the cylinder, for another electrical device sitting on top of a cluster of three biggish pipes. One of them comes from the boiler, one feeds the cylinder and one feeds the radiators. Feel these pipes to see if all three are very hot. Or there might be separate electrically operated valves for the cylinder and the radiators.

Come back and tell us what you can find.

 

[ricarbo]

All boilers have adjustable thermostats, don't they (well except for a 'special' made up by Potterton at a Council's request, so the tenants couldn't fiddle, that I saw 25 years ago)? You just haven't found it. try taking the front cover off. I'm sure if you rang up the makers, they'd be able to help you. They sent me an obsolete manual free when I asked them.

 

[PIPERPETE]

i would imagine that the sytem doesnt have a tank stat and should have one, The desired water temprature should be 65Deg.

how old is the boiler??? i would suspect a stst on the boiler somewhere

 

[Lugger]

Thanks guys, I am going back there on Wednesday (probably) so will have a look and see what I can find.

I can tell you that there is a hot water tank in the airing cupboard so I will look more closely at that too, it has the usual thermostat on the side adjustable with a screwdriver. It looked like it had previously been adjusted with a large hammer so I may not be able to adjust it again.

No idea how old the boiler is as I can't find any information about it anywhere hehe. I am assuming it was installed sometime in the Middle Ages....

 

[timbalcombe]

No disrespect but if she's anything like my mrs the immersions been on since day1!! Check to see if there is an electric switch in that cupboard, if so turn it off!

 

[Agile]

Ricarbo, most boilers have an adjustable thermostat as you say.

One family which does not is the Keston 80?130/170. Apparently one of the major potential customers ( probably council ) said that they wanted a simple boiler that just gave water at 80*C.

Luckily its not difficult to add an adjustable thermostat which makes these boilers much more versatile.

Tony

 

[ricarbo]

Sounds like you're in luck if there's a thermostat on the cylinder, you won't need to reduce the boiler temperature, which would have obvious implications for the effectiveness of the radiators.
I wonder if the bloke who specified 'no adjustables' on the boiler Agile saw, was the same bloke that got at the Potterton I saw. It was a Netaheat if I remember. They did the same to an Aga and they were fitted by the hundred in Greater London Council flats, when they first put in central heating in about 1975.

 

[Gasman1015]

if you knew you wouldn't ask

Ah I am being plagued by the resident idiot

Sorry kev, it cheered me up though.

 

[Lugger]

Ok I popped in to see her yesterday evening but was not there long so only had a quick look:

1. The immersion does not appear to be on. There is a switch near the hot water tank as expected and it is in the traditional OFF position. The red light that is part of the switch stays off regardless of where the switch position is, so I am only guessing that it is off from the switch.

2. The little grey thermostat box on the side near the bottom has been mashed up so I cannot tell what temp it is set to, nor can I adjust it. It is held on by a metal strip that runs around the outside of the boiler and looks easy enough to replace.

Should I replace the thermostat do you think, as its broken as far as reading its temp and adjusting it goes, so this needs doing whether it solves the problem or not I think.

Any other suggestions or things I should look at? I could not get to the boiler as it was on so I left it alone. here are two screws at the top that look like they hold the cover on, so I can get to there easily sometime in the future.

 

[JohnD]

I think that both the cylinder 'stat and the immersion heater switch need replacing, for a start, as they do not sound in satisfactory condition. You can also have a look at the 3-way pipes as mentioned earlier, but you may find the first step fixes it.

How are the two supplies isolated, and how old is the electrical and heating installation? How professional does it look? Is there a CU with MCBs?