Hot water

Ken68

I have hot water all time dispite the controls for HW being OFF.
The central heating is working normal. All rads get hot , most have radiator valves.
Room thermostat is set at 20. HW cylinder set at 60.
Consumption seems normal if anything less than normal.
The boiler is a Classic RS250 and controls are Honeywell.
The heating is never on for more than 1.5hrs at a time.
6 to 7.30 am and then 6 to 7 PM and 8 til 9.30pm.
Can someone tell me if I have a problem. ?
I have never used the immersion heater, and the silver box thingy is still warm from the system shutting off at 7.30AM.

cbrpaul

could be the 3 port vavle not shutting completely therefore boiler still heating hot water storage tank !

My old back boiler you could not have the heating on without it heating the HW storage tank also !!

i am no expert though , lets hope one pops along soon ok !!

Ken68

Thank you paul, only recently started doing this, just wondered if it was safe to use with a stuck valve.
Anyway am having it on 1 hr on and 1hr off. Have both heating and hot water but pump and motorised valve thingy hot.

Chunks

Agree re motorised valve. IF it is the motorised value, some have a manual overide which allows you to switch between HW and CH (er) manually. Should be located at the base of the plastic housing covering the motorised valve electrics. You could try moving that betweeen its two extremes (both HW and CH stats should be calling for heat so you can see what effect you are having). The valves get stuck with gunk (manual overide can be wiggled about to free) and/or the motor gives up the ghost. I am no expert either but have had valve issues in the past... which I fixed. Unlikely that a sticking valve would cause a safety issue. Might cause the motor to burn out mind you. Incidentally, can you hear your valve switching over between HW and CH incidentally? Do you get a constant clicking sound?

Ken68

Thank you Chunks...no clicking sound. House warm enough, good insulation. Will take off housing tomorrow and wiggle. Can you tell me what the lever does.... positioned at the end of the motorised valve box.?

ormus

its just a manual lever to turn the valve on and off.
are you sure the boiler is actually switching off when you tell it to?

ps
your boiler is very old now and very very inefficient.
a modern condensing boiler will save you approx 30% in gas.

Ken68

Yes Ormus, boiler installed 1997. Seems to be working OK switches on and off normal and on and off according to set times, and it responds to the buttons.
Only me here and don't need this much hot water so guess that if I want the central heating on for longer in this cold snap, will have to run off the HW. occasionally until I can fix it.
Thanks for the replies.

keystone

Do you mean that the heating coil for the cylinder remains hot (top and bottom) with water flowing through it even though the programmer is set to DHW off or do you mean there is always hot water coming out of your taps even though the DHW isn't switched on at the time?

Yes there is a difference? The latter is totally normal as you have stored hot water and the low usage you indicate means that the cylinder will always have hot water in it until the next cycle when DHW kicks in again.

Cheers

Ken68

The HW on the central heating controls is turned OFF. The heating is ON. Yet getting hot water.
Don't normally use HW controls. Have cold fill washing machine, electric shower and kettle.
Fill kettle to full to wash up (half for teamaking) and ditto for wash and shave. Helps to keep gas consumption down (currently) 7782kwh p.a.
Have no need for god knows how many gallons of hot water.
Can guess that the heating engineers are busy (expensive) during this cold snap.

pinkteapot

Get a few guys in to have a look and quote. I don't think the prices will be up much at the moment. More people have problems when they first turn their heating on for the winter and we're well past that stage.

We recently had our three-way valve replaced as it was ancient and no longer working. We noticed that in the summer, when had HW on only, the upstairs radiators got hot.

We ended up getting the pump done at the same time as that was similarly worn out. Both that and the valve were running exceptionally hot. We found a plumber who was also Part P qualified so he installed everything and did the wiring for the valve. Also tidied up some other very bodged wiring from a previous owner in the airing cupboard!

We had him do the three-way motorized valve, the pump, and the programmer for our boiler and paid about £300 all in if I remember rightly. I seem to remember that in terms of parts, the pump (a Grundfos one) was around £80 and the valve was about the same, but only because I asked for a Honeywell one. He did tell me I could have had a cheaper valve.

keystone

Thanks but is hot water actually passing through the heating coil in the cylinder as already asked. It would be wrong to blame the valve if all other possibilities have yet to be excluded.

Whether you use the Immersion Heater or not doesn't matter if its failed in the on state or is just on anyway but you don't know because you never go near it. Have you checked that yet?

BTW electricity is far more expensive than gas. The average UK annual consumption for gas is 10k kWh for a single bed property, 25,000 for a three bed. If you are heating all your hot water needs by electricity then its costing you more than it would to keep the cylinder topped up at the same time as the CH is on. Whats your annual electricity consumption? I think you need to do yourself an energy audit as part of this process.

Cheers