How to set central heating to work off thermostat

chriz1

We have quite a new house and the central heating is good, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to set the central heating to work off the thermostat in the hallway. Set temperature on thermostat and heating will knock on and off to suit the setting
The controller is a Siemens rwb29 and the settings it has in central heating are

Manual off
Manual on
Auto
Once

Anyone have any ideas which it may be ?

Biggles

It's auto. Manual on is if you want to turn it on manually. Manual off is, well, you get the idea.

benjus

The RWB29 is a timer. So it sets the times when the heating is on or off. Or if you choose "Manual On", the heating will be on all the time. But even when the heating is on, it's still going to be regulated by a thermostat of some sort. This could be a room thermostat or a thermostat inside the boiler regulating the temperature of the water going to and returning from the radiators.

It sounds like your room thermostat is either broken or not connected to the boiler at all. The rwb29 looks fairly modern - is it possible that a new boiler was installed that doesn't use the room thermostat, but the thermostat was never physically removed? If you're comfortable working with electrics, you could try removing the thermostat from the wall and disconnecting it (turn the power to the boiler off first!). If the heating still comes on, then it's likely that the thermostat was never connected to the boiler.

Personally I much prefer having the thermostat and timer in a single unit, so you can specify a nice warm setting for getting up, then dropping back to a lower daytime temperature, then increasing again in the evening, and going to a much lower setting for the night.

SuzieSue

Biggles wrote: »

It's auto. Manual on is if you want to turn it on manually. Manual off is, well, you get the idea.

On mine, auto means that it goes on and off on the times set, so I think the OP should have it on manual on so that it is on all the time and they can turn it off and on with the thermostat.

chriz1

Yes that's right auto means it goes on and off with the times I just found the manual here
I'm very confident that it is all wired up correctly the house is only 5 years old persimmon home
But which setting its meant to be on to work with the thermostat in the hallway is still a little mystery doesn't say anything in this manual

http://www.knh.org.uk/publications/pdf/centralheating/RWB29Daily.pdf

SuzieSue

chriz1 wrote: »

Yes that's right auto means it goes on and off with the times I just found the manual here
I'm very confident that it is all wired up correctly the house is only 5 years old persimmon home
But which setting its meant to be on to work with the thermostat in the hallway is still a little mystery doesn't say anything in this manual

http://www.knh.org.uk/publications/pdf/centralheating/RWB29Daily.pdf

You need to keep it on manual on so that it is on all the time and you can adjust the thermostat.

That is what I do (or used to do as I now have a programmable thermostat).

SuzieSue

benjus wrote: »

Personally I much prefer having the thermostat and timer in a single unit, so you can specify a nice warm setting for getting up, then dropping back to a lower daytime temperature, then increasing again in the evening, and going to a much lower setting for the night.

Yes, this is what I have had for the last few years and it is excellent.

chriz1

Ok thanks I will give it a try today and let you know how I get on

Le_Kirk

Simple test. Set the programmer to Manual on, turn thermostat to maximum, ensure that the boiler fires and the pump runs, gradually turn thermostat down until you hear a click, check that the boiler stops firing and the pump stops. Note it might take a couple of minutes for the pump to stop as it will allow the water already in the system to cool. If, when the thermostat clicks, the boiler does not stop firing, the thermostat is either not connected (as suggested above), has failed in the electrically closed state or is incorrectly wired. As you say you have quite a new house it is unlikely to be a failure but could be incorrectly wired or not connected at all. It is possible there is a link in the boiler circuitry which has not been removed. This will require the use of an electrician to find and remove

Biggles

chriz1 wrote: »

But which setting its meant to be on to work with the thermostat in the hallway is still a little mystery doesn't say anything in this manual

The settings determine when the thermostat controls the heating. 'Manual' means the heating will always run until it reaches the temperature on the thermostat. 'Auto' means the heating will only do that during the times you have set it to be 'on'. That prevents it running throughout the night, for example.

macman

If you have a mechanical timeclock on the boiler itself, remember to set that to 'always on' as well.