Not so sure about this heating engineer...

TheOne

I currently have a heating engineer at my house who I haven't used before. The job is to change the motor on the 3 way valve in the airing cupboard. The heating has not been working. He fitted a new motor, wired it up, a bit bodged, but probably safe. (not sure if he done it right first time). Now he had to get a new thermostat as it seemed that had stopped working. He fitted new thermostat, still no heating. So far the parts he's provided is the motor and the thermostat. It should be less than an hours work, but been here 1hr 20m so far, and still no heating.
What do I do if he can't get it working? I'm not keen on paying him for the time if he can't get it fixed. What about the parts though?
Motor is about £50 and thermostat is £14.

Jono111

If the 3 port motor was faulty it could have blown the fuse on the pcb.

TheOne

Pretty sure it's not the rcd as the controller is working.

ajbell

Sticky valve, quite common.

Talldave

In what way has the heating not been working? Did the boiler fire up but no radiators got warm? Or did the boiler not fire up at all?


Why would you change the thermostat if the boiler was firing up? And if it wasn't why would you change the motor in the 3 way valve when (as ajbell has suggested) it's most likely a sticking valve (which might result in the microswitch not closing to send the "call for heat" signal on to the boiler?


Intrigued to hear the update!

TheOne

Update: so to clarify the original issue, there was a problem with the motor on the 3 way valve. It made unusual noises when the heating was switched on from the controller. The boiler works fine as it has been heating hot water. The thermostat was working as the heating did "switch on" when requested (but wouldn't send hot water to radiators due to the valve motor problem. This happened before, a few years ago, but the heating engineer I used before has now retired, so I contacted someone through some recommendations.
I thought it would be a simple job, but now I still have no heating. He is coming back Saturday with a colleague. Nothing paid by myself so far.

Talldave

So why was the thermostat changed? If the boiler's firing up that kind of suggests the thermostat is working. I'm not a heating engineer but my money's on the whole valve needing replacement.

The_Fat_Controller

Agree with Talldave, sounds like a seized 3-way valve.

molerat

He has changed the "easy bits", changing the valve is a PITA. Sounds like he really hasn't got a clue. Simple fault diagnosis not being carried out, the modern way, keep replacing likely bits until the problem goes away. In my son's house BG virtually changed the whole boiler bit by bit as well as the pump for the previous owner to fix an overheat problem. I fixed it by changing the motorised valve, the gland was leaking into the motor head and shorting the microswitch to open position meaning the boiler did not shut down when the valve closed causing the boiler to overheat and trip.

Talldave

molerat wrote: »

He has changed the "easy bits", changing the valve is a PITA. Sounds like he really hasn't got a clue. Simple fault diagnosis not being carried out, the modern way, keep replacing likely bits until the problem goes away. In my son's house BG virtually changed the whole boiler bit by bit as well as the pump for the previous owner to fix an overheat problem. I fixed it by changing the motorised valve, the gland was leaking into the motor head and shorting the microswitch to open position meaning the boiler did not shut down when the valve closed causing the boiler to overheat and trip.

A good example of the sort of problem that could have been diagnosed with one of those neon mains testers - tracing the "live" call for heat through the thermostat and motorised valve.


In the OP's case, I cannot see why the thermostat was changed if the boiler was coming on in response to the thermostat. It's clearly the valve and until it's changed the problem won't go away!!!

TheOne

So basically what I told the guy was "my heating isn't working, I think it's the 3 way valve in the airing cupboard". I did not say to him anything like: can you just change the motor and see what happens.. When he arrived, I switched the heating on, and it was clear the motor was making unusual noises. I left it to him to diagnose.
After he fitted the new motor things still didn't work. The thermostat didn't "click" when turned up above the room temperature. (ie, to tell the heating to come on). Maybe that's why he changed it, I don't really know! Still same issue with new thermostat.
He's coming back tomorrow morning with "a colleague"
He left saying he would not charge me for anything yet as he had not fixed the issue.