Boiler advice

brooklyn07

Hi all


Looking for a bit of advice regarding operating my boiler/central heating.


I have just moved into a property that has a valiant ecotec boiler. I have read the instructions but I think I'm missing something....


I have thermostatic radiator valves on all the radiators and have a maximum radiator temperature control on the boiler but no thermostat as such that I can see? So as I understand it I can set the temperature of the radiators not to exceed say 60 degrees.

So my question is how do I instruct the heating to come on when the temperature falls below say 15 degrees? I can only see that I can turn the heating on permanently or timed but no minimum temperature before it kicks in??

Ectophile

The thermostats on radiator valves aren't calibrated to any particular temperature. It's just a number from 0 to 6, plus a star setting for frost protection. you have to play with the valves a bit to see what suits you. Given that the valve is placed right next to the radiator, it wouldn't correctly read the room temperature anyway.

If you don't have a room thermostat on the wall anywhere, there's no way you can set it to come on at any particular temperature. The boiler may well have frost protection, but that won't kick in until the temperature's down to about 5C.

daveyjp

Sounds like there is no timer or thermostat. Many of these are now wireless so it is possible a previous occupier could have removed it.

Is there any box near the boiler which is wired into it?

An example is this.

http://www.plumbarena.co.uk/product/honeywell-cmt927-wireless-7-day-programmable-room-thermostat/?gclid=CKORqPWcgMMCFWSWtAodaU8AtQ#.VKxIFYGQGrU

The small box in the background is wired into the boiler, the programmer is portable.

jennifernil

This is similar to our system, which is about 26 years old, we have no wall thermostat.

You decide when you want the heating on, you set the timer appropriately.

The TRVs control the temperature in each room individually, experiment with the settings, we find 3-4 good for the lounge and bathrooms, less in most other rooms, some we don't heat at all.

The boiler stat controls the temperature of the water circulating in the radiators. As the rooms heat up, the TRVs shut down, and the temperature of the return water increases so the boiler shuts down.

The pump will continue to circulate the water, when it cools enough, the boiler fires up again.

brooklyn07

daveyjp wrote: »

Sounds like there is no timer or thermostat. Many of these are now wireless so it is possible a previous occupier could have removed it.

Is there any box near the boiler which is wired into it?

An example is this.

http://www.plumbarena.co.uk/product/honeywell-cmt927-wireless-7-day-programmable-room-thermostat/?gclid=CKORqPWcgMMCFWSWtAodaU8AtQ#.VKxIFYGQGrU

The small box in the background is wired into the boiler, the programmer is portable.

no it doesn't have anything like that, that I can see anyway...


would I be able to just buy one of these and programme it to my boiler?

jennifernil

It sounds to me like you already have some type of timer, so it should be straightforward to replace that with a programmable thermostat. Certainly it would be on our system. If the timer is on the boiler itself, it may still be possible.

However, you need to think carefully about what you are trying to achieve. And remember that whatever you go for, YOU still need to make some decisions on how warm you want the house, and for how long.

Where a simple time clock and room stat are fitted, as I understand it, the timer takes precedence in so far as the boiler can only operate when it is set to do so (other than for frost protection). Then, within that time, the room stat will turn the boiler off/on to maintain the temperature set for the area it is in.

The boiler stat will also operate to control the temperature of the circulating water.

In other rooms, the TRVs will shut down the radiators once they reach the set temperature, but when those rooms cool down they will only receive more heat if the room stat is also calling for heat.

A programmable thermostat will work similarly in so far as only the area in which the sensor sits will be maintained at the temperature set for the times set. So you would normally have the sensor in the lounge other areas would just have to take their chances.

To my mind, this is not 100% satisfactory in use, but on the other hand should probably reduce gas consumption.