central heating ?

[sardine]

A relative of mine has a central heating system that is out of control, random rads get hot at random times, I think she keeps fiddling with the valves and control unit, I have never had central heating, and I have no idea how it works.

She's got an immersion tank, gas boiler, Potterton control unit, thermostat in the hall, and a mixture of thermostatic and manual radiator valves.

Anyone tell me how this system is controlled, and how to get a constant temp in all the radiators up and down stairs ?

 

[Cobbler]

The picture of the clock shows "on" this means when it's set like that, both the heating & water are permanently on,
It would just be controlled by the room 'stat & the thermostatic rad valves. You would normally have it on the timed setting, so it came on at times of your choice. Not conversant with that clock, so can't tell you how to set it, but most are fairly simple to work out. Something like set the clock, then heating time, am & pm, then hot water time.

The boiler will be controlled by both the stat in the hall & the timer together. I hope this makes sense.

I'm sure someone who knows that timer will be along in a minute

 

[cocker]

Basically
Central heating on , turn up room stat and thermostatic radiator valves to max , go round and balance the radiators ,
Then adjust the thermostatic radiator valves - this will take ages to get right .
But
Most females have no understanding of the way central heating works with thermostatic radiator valves .
After you've set it all up they'll make some adjustments then tell you it's still not working .

Or the system might need cleaning / servicing

 

[Kayos]

Random operation with trv's usually means they are sticking. Remove the heads and check the pins are free, but note on many models the pin is quite easy to pull out, usually followed by water then swearing as you try to put it back in

However if by random you mean upstairs or a rad piped as a heat leak (connected to cylinder circs) it could be a valve or programmer issue

Very hard to diagnose without being on site, also don't keep pressing reset on the boiler, not saying you have been but that is what kills the pcbs, it's a design flaw in the board

 

[Kayos]

Basically
Central heating on , turn up room stat and thermostatic radiator valves to max , go round and balance the radiators ,
Then adjust the thermostatic radiator valves - this will take ages to get right .
But
Most females have no understanding of the way central heating works with thermostatic radiator valves .
After you've set it all up they'll make some adjustments then tell you it's still not working .

A correctly operating trv will let the rad get to full temp then shut down once the room is warm, so from cold it doesn't matter where they are set

 

[the snooper]

Hot water will override heating when tank temp drops

 

[Kayos]

Hot water will override heating when tank temp drops

Only on a Y plan, S plan does both

 

[cocker]

A correctly operating trv will let the rad get to full temp then shut down once the room is warm, so from cold it doesn't matter where they are set

Quite right but if your as slow and easily distracted as me you need as much time as you can get before things start turning themselves off !
I am not a plumber

 

[Kent]

Get a heating engineer around. In all honesty it likely needs a service anyhow

 

[brightspark]

Only on a Y plan, S plan does both

y plan does both as well as individualy if both heat and water are calling . its a mid position valve -as well

 

[gaz1]

easy shut all the rads down at the non thermostat side or for non thermo valves close the non hot side tell by running system at the start,
then 1/4 turn all of them open and run the system by turning the bottom switch to the on position the top switch to off position

you should be able to tell if all are working within quarter of an hr and should equal the same heat all through the system if any that arnt then below might need doing

set all rads to 3 or 3 1/2 any rad that is not working shut the closest ones down and then blast through the non working one this shifts any air out of the system

if any fail to get warm including the middle then the issue is either sludge in the middle of radiator or an air lock sometimes nearly all rads need shutting down and the one causing the issue needs to be fully on, on both sides to blow through the system on that radiator

bungalow settings are different the closest radiators need to be set like above the last ones on the line need adjusting over running periods of the system

if its an upstairs downstairs type and upstairs is red hot compared to down stairs then then close the upstairs like above

what your doing is equaling the system out

heres your settings for the time clock

http://www.justanswer.com/uk-plumbi...tructions-potterton-wall-timer.html#re.v/462/

the top one is for hot water to heat the emersion heater you can run both the central heating and emersion heater at same time however you may have to equalize the hot water cylinder as well as it may rob your radiator system if you dont

 

[octo0072000]

doesn't Y or S plan have the bathroom and one radiator downstairs not on TRV valves

 

[Kayos]

doesn't Y or S plan have the bathroom and one radiator downstairs not on TRV valves

Should do, I used to do hall and put the room stat in there

Not all systems are fitted correctly tho, the control/bypass rad should be piped in series on a condensing boiler, rarely saw it done on jobs other than mine

 

[the snooper]

What I never get is why people put the room stat in the hall and not in your living room, you want your be comfortable where you are sat and spend most time, when it's in the hall and and you get living room to correct temp as soon as front door is opened on comes the heating and living room gets too hot

 

[brightspark]

a-room with just a radiator in on opposite wall to thermostat- the best. if in the kitchen or the sitting room is used the cooker heats the room and knocks the heating off as does the sitting room fire. mine-s in the dining room but the-theres no door in between it and kitchen and I have to turn thermostat up high. it don't make 2 much difference though because I hav-e thermostatics on the radiators in rooms. the passage isn't much better with outer doors being opened and closed

 

[the snooper]

a-room with just a radiator in on opposite wall to thermostat- the best. if in the kitchen or the sitting room is used the cooker heats the room and knocks the heating off as does the sitting room fire. mine-s in the dining room but the-theres no door in between it and kitchen and I have to turn thermostat up high. it don't make 2 much difference though because I hav-e thermostatics on the radiators in rooms

Don't need fire on at same time as rads have you hot no blood

 

[brightspark]

Don't need fire on at same time as rads have you hot no blood

tell our lass-that if u dare better u than me. best laugh I saw-at work was some sparky put the thermostat above a radiator-. heat came on -thermostat turned it off and so it went onwhat a prick took me-2 minutes to guess it

 

[Robotstar5]

Don't need fire on at same time as rads have you hot no blood

Try telling Mrs Robo that

 

[the snooper]

Are you men or mice, hold on ill get you the cheese

 

[Kayos]

What I never get is why people put the room stat in the hall and not in your living room, you want your be comfortable where you are sat and spend most time, when it's in the hall and and you get living room to correct temp as soon as front door is opened on comes the heating and living room gets too hot

Its a neutral area and the best compromise for a decent temp, (all Yorkshireman jokes aside) my hall stat is 17deg, this is a nice temp in the living and dining rooms and the bedrooms are controlled with TRV's the towel rad in the bathroom is just on lockshields and stays on all the time