heating problem.

[sparkyt]

need a little bit of guidance. not sure what the system is classed as but its an oil fired boiler with 4 pipes plus the oil feed, pump external to the boiler, copper cylinder upstairs no valves or plastic header tanks etc. The h/w comes on when you call for the central heating. Question is can some one briefly explain or point me to somewhere i can find out how this system is intended to work. problem seems to be if a lot of hot water is used then the boiler fires and the rads get hot which is creating a problem and draining the oil tank. should there be a 3 port valve or not? could this system be converted to an s plan maybe? any help much appreciated. thanks

 

[NozSpark]

It sounds like a C plan --- convection hot water & pumped heating.

Hot water demand fires up the boiler, so when you have heating on HW has to be enabled on programmer for it to fire up..

I think you probably could convert it to a S plan... you'd have to blank one of the flows and feed them both off 2 port valves which supply switched power to both the pump and boiler... pump would be fitted in the flow before the valves!

Check with a heating "engineer" though! (on-site visit)

ALSO --- sounds a bit weird not having a header tank.. are you sure it's not in the loft (or do you have an expansion vessel - pressurised heating)

 

[sparkyt]

It sounds like a C plan --- convection hot water & pumped heating.Hot water demand fires up the boiler, so when you have heating on HW has to be enabled on programmer for it to fire up..

I think you probably could convert it to a S plan... you'd have to blank one of the flows and feed them both off 2 port valves which supply switched power to both the pump and boiler... pump would be fitted in the flow before the valves!

Check with a heating "engineer" though! (on-site visit)

ALSO --- sounds a bit weird not having a header tank.. are you sure it's not in the loft (or do you have an expansion vessel - pressurised heating)

yeah when u press advance on the ch side of the controller, both lights come on for ch and hw. cant see a tank anywhere and there is no expansion vessel. thats what i cant get my head around, would normally be able to identify what system it was but that threw mw out. so you think a c plan?

 

[NozSpark]

If you have a look at this link there is a picture of a C plan

And this is an S plan

BTW.. Honeywell valves etc are IMO the best

 

[sparkyt]

If you have a look at this link there is a picture of a C planAnd this is an S plan

BTW.. Honeywell valves etc are IMO the best

looks more or less whats there but minus the valve. there are no valves at all on this system..

 

[jl-heating]

gravity hot water,

pumped heating,

the cylinder is a primatic cylinder so the expansion bubble is in the copper tank.

ideally,

new indirect cylinder, y plan if the boiler is less than 60,000 btu, alteration to the pipework, expansion tank fitting in a loft space or prssurize the system if not to old.

this would stop the rads getting hot while the heating is on.

cheap option fit a dump valve (one way valve) in the heating circuit to stop the gravity circulation (not a good idea really) or fit trv`s on the rads and turn them off (even worse idea)

 

[sparkyt]

gravity hot water,pumped heating,

the cylinder is a primatic cylinder so the expansion bubble is in the copper tank.

ideally,

new indirect cylinder, y plan if the boiler is less than 60,000 btu, alteration to the pipework, expansion tank fitting in a loft space or prssurize the system if not to old.

this would stop the rads getting hot while the heating is on.

cheap option fit a dump valve (one way valve) in the heating circuit to stop the gravity circulation (not a good idea really) or fit trv`s on the rads and turn them off (even worse idea)

Thanks JL didnt think those cylinders had an expansion part built in so thats what confused me. So would you consider the above system to be pretty old fashioned and not very energy efficient? could the existing cylinder not be reused? thanks again

 

[jl-heating]

not an efficient system, i would upgrade the cylinder to a part l insulated cylinder, with high recovery coil in it , 20 min heat up to 60 degrees.

pump the whole system will add controls to it for maximum efficiency.

cylinder stat 60 degrees, room stat set at comfy .

at the min i would guess you are depending on the boiler stat for the hot water temperature.

rads run at 80+ hot water req 60 max. so a small conflict here

cylinder 135 ish

pump 25 screwfix

controls 80/100 ish, clock,y plan, and stats req.

header tank and some pipe.

plus labour.

i would of though a days work really i would of thought 400/600 pound maximum completed.

it wont take long to claw the money back and it will be a better,hotter system

 

[Andy™]

this would stop the rads getting hot while the heating is on.

personally, id rather the rads were hot when the heating is on...

 

[Apache]

[quote name='Andy

 

[binky]

yeah when u press advance on the ch side of the controller, both lights come on for ch and hw.

Does this only happen when you press advance button?? Sounds like incorrect wiring or dodgy controller to me.

Oooh look my 1000th post - good excuse for some of this tonight Guinness

Eeerr admin do I get a chuffty badge or something??? :^O

 

[Lurch]

Does this only happen when you press advance button?? Sounds like incorrect wiring or dodgy controller to me.

Not if it's a gravity system. This is exactly how they should and do work.

 

[Doc Hudson]

Oooh look my 1000th post - good excuse for some of this tonight Guinness Eeerr admin do I get a chuffty badge or something??? :^O

I understand Admin has to hand engrave personalized Chuffty badges onto the finest white rolled gold. He will need to have a root around his workshop to find where he put the engraving tools and the gold. So while we are waiting for him to do that, I will say Well done Binky.

Doc H.

 

[Badger]

I understand Admin has to hand engrave personalized Chuffty badges onto the finest white rolled gold. He will need to have a root around his workshop to find where he put the engraving tools and the gold. So while we are waiting for him to do that, I will say Well done Binky.Doc H.

Applaud SmileyApplaud Smiley

 

[jl-heating]

[quote name='Andy