Help understanding my heating system

raxx99

Hello.
So I have just recently moved property. I went from a new build to an older house (80s I believe). Now im having trouble understanding how the heating works here. There's a vailant boiler in garage (single dial), a control panel drayton lp241 that has advance heating and advance water controls. Each has options 'off', 'timed', 'once", and 'on'. I have an old dial thermostat in the hall way. And i have a cylinder tank in the airing cupboard upstairs. My first question is, is this an on demand boiler system like it is in new builds? If so what is the the point in all the options on the control panel? Secondly, I have switched of the upstairs cylinder tank at the switch where the wire is connected to, however the tank is still hot all the time. Im worried that this immersion heater is on 24/7 and explains why my usage was so high. I will post a pic of my airing cupboard if it helps. Thanks.

raxx99

So red circle is switch that attached to the top of the cylinder. The blue scribble is just the alarm switch so not relevant. However im not sure what the other 3 switches do. I think the bottom one turns off that black box where the green arrow points to a shower pressure thing. Any help would be great. And I apologise if these are dumb questions.

Hasbeen

raxx99 said:

Hello.
So I have just recently moved property. I went from a new build to an older house (80s I believe). Now im having trouble understanding how the heating works here. There's a vailant boiler in garage (single dial), a control panel drayton lp241 that has advance heating and advance water controls. Each has options 'off', 'timed', 'once", and 'on'. I have an old dial thermostat in the hall way. And i have a cylinder tank in the airing cupboard upstairs. My first question is, is this an on demand boiler system like it is in new builds? If so what is the the point in all the options on the control panel? Secondly, I have switched of the upstairs cylinder tank at the switch where the wire is connected to, however the tank is still hot all the time. Im worried that this immersion heater is on 24/7 and explains why my usage was so high. I will post a pic of my airing cupboard if it helps. Thanks.

It is not on demand "like a combi" as it has hot water cylinder. Separate controls/timings for heating and hot water to be set on your Drayton programmer.

The top cable you have switched of would be connected to an immersion heater. There should be a switch easier accessible usually in kitchen to turn on/off as required.

As you have turned off and water is still hot is the boiler still heating the water?


My Immersion heater is turned off all the time and only used if any problems with boiler.

There is an instruction guide available in the link below.

www.directheatingsupplies.co.uk › drayton-lp241-prog...

www.directheatingsupplies.co.uk › drayton-lp241-prog...

Paula_Smith

The boiler heats the water in the hot water tank - it stays hot in the tank due to the insulation surrounding it and will refill it with hot water when the timer tells it to.
You only need the immersion heater to heat water if, for example, you fill the bath up with hot when the hot water timer on the boiler is off and you need more hot water before the timer sets to on again.

raxx99

Thanks for your replies.

Yes so I think my immersion heater switch is turned off from the airing cupboard and off on the switch in the kitchen and I don't plan on switching it back on either. So, on the programmer, I have set the hot water advance to 'ON'. Does this mean the boiler will continuously heat the water up in the tank until I select the 'OFF' option on the programmer? At my previous (new build) property the water would only heat once I turned the taps on. The radiators would only come on once the temp on the thermostat dropped below the set threshold. Does this not apply the same way with my current heating/water system? If not, do you guys have any recommendations on how I should set the water/heating system up? The instruction guide isn't very helpful about the heating strategy to use, but more so just the technical settings. What I'm after is as close to a combi boiler system as possible, so only heat water/radiators when required.

Thanks

FreeBear

If you set the hot water to ON, the boiler will fire up and keep running until the thermostat (that litlle white chunk on the side of the tank about half way up) on the tank says the water is hot enough. Check the setting of that thermostat - It wants to be between 50°C and 60°C. Ideally, you want to set the programmer up for hot water either once or twice a day.

A couple of comments on tank & thermostat - The thermostat is fixed a little on the low side. Normally, it is about half way up the tank. The insulated jacket needs repositioning so that it covers the tank properly. If you have the space, try squeezing a second jacket over the top. It will reduce the heat loss and save on gas.

I have a similar set up, but use an ancient Baxi back boiler. Got rid of the old Drayton timer and have replaced it with a "smart" control that allows me to set when heating comes on and also what temperature. Hot water is set for 50°C during the week and 60°C for an hour at the weekend - Early days, but it looks like I'll save 15% or more on gas over the course of a year.

raxx99

FreeBear said:

If you set the hot water to ON, the boiler will fire up and keep running until the thermostat (that litlle white chunk on the side of the tank about half way up) on the tank says the water is hot enough. Check the setting of that thermostat - It wants to be between 50°C and 60°C. Ideally, you want to set the programmer up for hot water either once or twice a day.

A couple of comments on tank & thermostat - The thermostat is fixed a little on the low side. Normally, it is about half way up the tank. The insulated jacket needs repositioning so that it covers the tank properly. If you have the space, try squeezing a second jacket over the top. It will reduce the heat loss and save on gas.

I have a similar set up, but use an ancient Baxi back boiler. Got rid of the old Drayton timer and have replaced it with a "smart" control that allows me to set when heating comes on and also what temperature. Hot water is set for 50°C during the week and 60°C for an hour at the weekend - Early days, but it looks like I'll save 15% or more on gas over the course of a year.

Thanks FreeBear for the tips. 
What happens if you have a shower and the hot water in the tank is all used up, halfway through your shower? Will the boiler fire up and try to compensate by heating the water at the current time? Does this work the same way with central heating? I only need the central heating on once the temp drops below, say 19C. The temperature dial (which I thought was a thermostat) in the hallway should control this I believe. But why have the controls on the programmer?
I think I may go down the smart control route myself. This manual stuff is too confusing lol.

FreeBear

If you are having a shower, trust me, you will not use a full tank. But as soon as the water in the tank starts to cool down, the boiler will kick in to heat it up again - Would take about an hour to heat a full tank. If you are using the central heating, it will take a little longer for the HW tank to get back up to temperature.

The dial in the hallway will also be a thermostat - Set it to the temperature you want the house at, and the programmer will decide what times to fire up the boiler to get to that temp. So if you want a warm house in the morning and evening (out at work all day), set the timer for (say) 06:00 to 08:30 and 17:00 to 22:00. Thermostat at 19°C.

Crude, but the house will be warm when you get up and when you get home in the evening.

If you find basic time control confusing, a smart control will probably send you over the edge.

EssexExile

FreeBear said:

If you are having a shower, trust me, you will not use a full tank.

My wife can get through a full tank with a pumped shower! It just gets gradually cooler, the boiler won't heat it up fast enough to keep up.

Slinky

Do not get a vaillant smart controller. We had one in our previous home. My OH does rocket science, but programming that blasted thing was a nightmare! We never really got the hang of it and I will certainly not allow another to be installed when we replace our ancient boiler in our now home.

Hasbeen

Op Just keep it simple for yourself and get a Combi boiler installed. Probably more energy efficient and user friendly to what you currently have.