House is freezing, no idea how to warm it up!

Le_Kirk

I fear the 24 hour option won't help because, as soon as the HW is up to temperature the boiler will shut down.

ElixiaDragmire

Le_Kirk wrote: »

I fear the 24 hour option won't help because, as soon as the HW is up to temperature the boiler will shut down.

This is something were thinking is happening too due to the continuous on/off cycle the boiler does every few minutes despite if the house is up to temperature or not.

I'm the morning the house is 11° to 13°. When I get home this days, the heating been on 2 hours and is around 16° by the time the timer turns everything off at 10 the house MAY of just hit 20° or failing that 18°

ElixiaDragmire

Hopefully the image uploader worked, this is the boiler.


Tonight I'm lucky and the house isn't cold!


The hot water tank the previous owner installed last summer, immersion element doesnt work and due to the air in the system suspect wasn't installed properly. No installer details written on the side as it should be to enquire who did it.

getmore4less

Trace through the wiring to find out if there is a wiring problem is.

is that a mid position or a 3way valve can't tell from the pic?
Assuming mid, you need that properly for demand for water and heating and both.

No point doing anything else till you get that fixed.


You could take the actuator off the valve and manually move the valve to heating only and test the heating circuits that way

What's the tank stat set to?
There may be a temp option with that to get the heating on more.

Le_Kirk

The manual is still available here and according to page 21 it can be/should be wired as separate control for HW and CH.

Zola.

Turn the gauge up on the boiler?

You do need the thick insulation in your attic though.

rover_blue

Hi there,

I had the same issues in a similar era house, spent 2 years trying all sorts of the fixes mentioned here..carpets, new door, more loft insulation etc.

All of it was a waste of time...the boiler (20 odd year old) finally died and when i got it replaced the difference in the warmth of the house was unbelievable.

Its expensive but in my view is the only thing that will sort the problem. I also had bigger radiators installed in some rooms as the single panel ones weren't up to the job. Putting double panel double fin ones on made a big difference too.

ST1991

Just picking up on the flooring, we have the same (bare concrete) and it is freezing. no amount of heating would make it warm up.

Since putting down new underlay and flooring it has been 100x better. We did it ourselves so cost nothing more than the materials and a few quid for some tools. We got 10mm fiberboard underlay which is doing the job nicely.

For reference - we have a solid stone house with a 30 year old valiant boiler that still works but the house is generally cold, and takes a while to warm up if heating not on in the morning/evening.

lewishardwick

Sounds like it's a bit of a mess and a few too many people have meddled with the system which wont have helped.

Get a decent (recommended if you can) heating engineer round to do a full evaluation of the system. I have never ever heard of a system heating hot water only when central heating is running. Unless it's faulty.

Logically it woulds like would save energy, and I used to have mine come on with the CH in the winter months so I could have a hot shower in the mornings. But what do you do in the summer? Have the heating on to heat the hot water?!

Opening all the return valves is a no no, you can cause issues with the boiler cutting out to stop itsef over-heating and causing all kinds of damage.

It sounds like the local plumber who "apparently most the house he'd worked on the estate were like this" need to be kept well away.

ElixiaDragmire

Thank you for finding that manual! I wasnt sure which one it was. I was trying to find a 'ff40' model!

I strong believe its a 3 way valve, it in there, facing the wall and upside down but i got a picture on my phone
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPauHrP-NClklY-9M2UKzPNKaHHsmixcszJiDAL

we are thinking of new underlay too since the stuff thats down its the original stuff but not sure how much difference it would make.

We had the heating on all day yesterday, i left it at 18 degrees at the house thermostat while at work and came back to a house thats 20 degrees. And as my husband pointed out, if i set the thermostat to 18 degrees why was the house 20? it like the thermostat isnt talking to the boiler correctly. He's had enough now, he just wants shot of the whole bloody thing!

He's called a heating engineer his cousins used in the past for quotes on a new boiler or a re-balancing. And Im trying to chase up homeserve who we should have a free boiler service and CH inspection due to our cover!