Boiler frost protection on all night?

EliteHeat

x_emma_x wrote: »

The boiler is a Baxi solo rs, ive had a new timer fitted as the other one was broken so am really at a loss as what to do next. The repair man said to turn the room thermostat down to get the radiators off at night but then in the morning its cold because they're off. Does it sound like its broken and should i get some1 else round to look at it?

Did you problem start shortly after the new timer was fitted at all?

x_emma_x

The problem has been like it since it started to get cold and a new timer has made no difference. My heating is timed to go off at 8pm, when i go to bed at 11ish the heating comes back on and stays on all night even though the timer is telling me that its off. Will the frost control heat my rads even though they are meant to be off? If the room thermostat is down they stay cold but as i said before it then is cold when i get up in the morning.

123oleary

the timer is unlikely to be the problem. the frost stat overides that. the frost stat is not to make your house warm , just to stop your boiler and pipe work freezing. because the frost stat is in your garage where there is no radiators , when it is cold the garage will struggle to get above the setting on the frost stat (about 4 degrees). when it is cold the frost stat will call for heat . the heating will come on pumping hot water around your system. when hot water has gone all the way round the system it returns to the boiler. fitted to the return pipe just above the boiler there should be fitted a pipe stat. this senses when the pipes are warm enough to avoid freezing and turns the heating off. it does not take long for the pipes to get warm so the boiler should just come on occasionaly for short bursts.
your problem sounds like the pipe stat is fitted wrongly or not at all. the frost stat will probably look like the room stat in your house except with a lower range and will be screwed to the wall ideally just above your boiler. it will probably have a grey cable running on the wall going into it. there should also be a flex coming out of it running to a pipe stat which will be clipped to the return pipe very close to the boiler.

123oleary

just want to ask , is your house noticeably warm as if the heating is on or have you just noticed that the rads are warm . when the frost stat activates the rads might become warm for a short while but not long enough to warm the house up

dursley.donkey

I had this exact problem. I fitted a pipe thermostat exactly as moneysavingplumber and 123oleary have described and it fixed it. You have to go to a plumbers merchant as the diy stores don't stock them, and you're probably not supposed to fit it these days unless you're a qualified electrician.
Odd that the room stat overrides the frost stat. It should be the other way round. Are you sure it wasn't a milder night when you turned it down?

moneysavingplumber

There may be an issue with the way the frost stat's been wired, as well as the fact the pipe stat may have been left out, which isn't unusual.

Don't call the same guy back if he just told you to turn down the room stat in order to solve the problem, you're better off calling an electrician that is central heating savvy, as most plumbers will call their sparks in anyway.

x_emma_x

hank you for all your suggestions, will get an electrician round in the week to have a look at it

x_emma_x

Ooops missed the T off the thank haha