vaillant circulation pump?

[pipachalk]

Hi
I am after some advice. very basic stuff as i know nothing about this sort of thing. I just moved into a new house that has a vaillant condensing boiler and a VRT360f programmable control panel.
When i looked at the settings there were 3 things you could programme, hot water, heating and circulation pump. They were all set to come on all day, every day between 0600-2200 which i thought was wasting a lot of of money so i altered the settings to just come on as necessary.
My question is about the circulation pump. My old system did not have a program for a circulation pump and i do not really know what it is for and why you would want to turn it on or off.
Since i altered the settings the shower will not get hot, is this down to the circulation pump? i think its a power shower, definitely not electric.
thanks in advance and any advice will be appreciated

Philippa

 

[Onetap]

My question is about the circulation pump. My old system did not have a program for a circulation pump and i do not really know what it is for and why you would want to turn it on or off.
Since i altered the settings the shower will not get hot, is this down to the circulation pump? i think its a power shower, definitely not electric.
thanks in advance and any advice will be appreciated

Philippa

It's intended as a circulation pump to circulate hot water around the house, so that you do not have to run a few litres of cold water down the drain before the hot water arrives. Most houses don't have one; there are a pair of contacts going on and off but they don't do anything. It is like switching a socket on & off when there's nothing plugged in.

The shower will probably be supplied with hot water from the storage cylinder. You've probably lowered the hot water temperature (should be 60 degC) or you've reduced the times when the boiler is heating the water too much and all the 60 degC hot water is used by the time you want a shower. Just set it back to where it was, it should switch itself off when the water gets to the set-point, so it is not wasteful.

 

[ianniann]

It's intended as a circulation pump to circulate hot water around the house, so that you do not have to run a few litres of cold water down the drain before the hot water arrives. Most houses don't have one; there are a pair of contacts going on and off but they don't do anything. It is like switching a socket on & off when there's nothing plugged in.

Cobblers! And no, my shoes don't need repairing ...

The circulation pump is indeed for moving hot water around the house but it has nothing to do with running less cold water down the drain. When the boiler is heating water, the circulation pump moves it around through the radiators and back to the boiler. It is possible for the hot water to be circulated by gravity since hot water rises and cold water falls, but clearly not in your case. The circulation pump needs to be on when the boiler is on. It is also usually on for a few minutes longer so the heat exchanger doesn't overheat when the water stops moving. You wouldn't normally have a separate timing program for the pump since it is pointless having it on when the boiler is off and dangerous to have it off when the boiler is on. You may have different power settings for it.

Reading between the lines, it seems that you must have a hot water tank somewhere. It might be in a loft but is usually in an airing cupboard somewhere. The boiler must be timed to fill this with hot water before you can have your shower. Then the shower either pumps hot water from the tank, or just lets it flow down from a tank sufficiently high above the shower level. Get your boiler timing, or possibly temperature, wrong and you won't have any hot water. The alternative is that you have a combi boiler and no tank, but then you wouldn't have a power shower.

 

[Onetap]

Cobblers! And no, my shoes don't need repairing ...

The circulation pump is indeed for moving hot water around the house but it has nothing to do with running less cold water down the drain. When the boiler is heating water, the circulation pump moves it around through the radiators and back to the boiler.

Dear God; what a simpleton!

Do you imagine the controller would have a timer to operate the boiler burner and another to operate the heating pump? No; they operate together, operated by one timer.

Stop confusing the OP with your idiotic answers. Read the manual, P38. As stated above, the "circulation pump" is a secondary circulation pump to circulate DHW.

http://www.vaillant.co.uk/stepone2/data/downloads/e5/42/00/VRT_360f_installation_manual.pdf

The 'circulation pump' (secondary DHWS) operates during the legionella pasteurisation cycle to circulate DHW at 70 degC through the entire DHWS circulation circuit. If you're still confused, ring Vaillant and get them to explain it to you.

 

[Bunnyman]

U 2 are hilarious made me chuckle ! U both way way off

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• Bunnyman
• 26 Mar 2010
• 499

 

[mickyg]

U 2 are hilarious made me chuckle ! U both way way off

yeh but you could at least give them a clue, meanie.....oh wait a minute so could i
Op: ignore function has no use in UK. Let these manual readers have a scrap about how it works for a while then maybe do a big reveal lol

 

[Onetap]

U 2 are hilarious made me chuckle ! U both way way off

Really?
A circulation pump activated by a pasteurisation function?
So what would that be? A de-stratification pump?

Vaillant Unistor manual;
"A scondary return connection is provided in the water control pack.
Connect onto the 1/2“ pipe on the control group using a WRAS approved circulation pump which incorporates a check valve to prevent backflow."

So in the Vaillant context ( translated from German?) the circulation pump seems to be a secondary DHWS pump.

 

[Beerlover]

Not wanting to get involved in this scrap, my message is for the OP.

What is the Vaillant Boiler you have? there will be a sticker underneath & bottom left of the boiler.Or more simply how many copper pipes coming out of it.

Do you have an airing cupboard with a hot water cylinder? If yes, is there another Vaillant box 10"x12" on the wall?

 

[Bunnyman]

I well aware of what a de strat pump is thanku !

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• Bunnyman
• 26 Mar 2010
• 499

 

[xr4x4]

A gold pump will only normally be installed in a large ish house, when long hot water pipes can cause a problem.

We need to hear back from op before this can continue anymore.

 

[Beerlover]

Bunnyman, you have to bite with something like a destratification thing, don't you.

Now you have been lured out of your warren, TELL THEM

Mickyg, has told them, but they still won'y listen.

 

[Bunnyman]

Blimey beer lover don't shout lol! Mind u they don't listen if we do shout experience counts for nothing I guess

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• Bunnyman
• 26 Mar 2010
• 499

 

[Beerlover]

 

[Heat4input]

so what is the pump symbol for?