Benthejockey Posted December 1, 2021 Report Share Posted December 1, 2021 Weve got a good old fashioned boiler and hot water storage tank. The boiler is a Boulton Bolderus and built like a tank. The thermostat is a salus 310rf I think. Now my limited understanding goes like this the heating and hot water are programmed to come on and off at X o'clock. Once the thermostat detects its Z ⁰c where it is it cuts out the flow to the radiators until it drops below the set temperature then opens the valve again. The thermostat does this by sending a signal to a receiver in the airing cupboard. There's a big red Grundfos pump that whizzes the hot water from the boiler round the system. Hopefully thats right. Anyway before the weekend I'd noticed it getting a bit cold and kept nudging the thermostat up when I thought but finally by Friday night it was 16 degrees upstairs and was bloody cold! Flicked the reciever across to manual mode and the boiler fired and everywhere warmed up but obviously there was no temperature control so it got roasting! Fiddled with the on and off times and tried switching back to auto mode today and were back to cold rads again. A flick back over to manual wasn't enough this time to fire the rads. I turned the hit water off for an hour or so on the control box then turned it back on now and the boiler fires up and the whole system seems to have kicked in (I think, I'm huddled under a duvet so I'm warm anyway). So I'm thinking 1 the thermostat is goosed but it's new ish, less than 6 months old, after the last one fell victim to the toddler. 2 the receiver is goosed. That is older but wouldn't be any older than 2004 at the absolute oldest and I think it's nowhere near that old. 3 the diverter valve is ********. 4 the pump is on the way out. Or a combination of a few. I have a replacement receiver it came with the new thermostat. The pump is about £50 from screwfix. But I'm just curious what the PW plumbers think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted December 1, 2021 Report Share Posted December 1, 2021 Is there enough pressure to make the heating work? I bled the rads last week but then didn't check the pressure later, school boy error and really popular in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Bear Posted December 1, 2021 Report Share Posted December 1, 2021 (edited) My first point of call would be the diverter valve motor in this case. There should be a manual override lever on the side, if correctly wired the boiler pump should start on the end switch. Edited December 1, 2021 by Yellow Bear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benthejockey Posted December 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2021 1 minute ago, Mice! said: Is there enough pressure to make the heating work? I bled the rads last week but then didn't check the pressure later, school boy error and really popular in the morning. Yeah I think so because once it all got going and decided to work it got absolutely roasting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benthejockey Posted December 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2021 Sorry gents it's a conventional system not a combi system so what I'm thinking and called a diverter valve probably isn't actually. It's above the pump and there's a little electrical black box attached with a picture of radiators on the left and a tap on the right and I was interpreting this as a diverter valve but it's probably not called that at all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted December 1, 2021 Report Share Posted December 1, 2021 1 hour ago, Benthejockey said: Sorry gents it's a conventional system not a combi system so what I'm thinking and called a diverter valve probably isn't actually. It's above the pump and there's a little electrical black box attached with a picture of radiators on the left and a tap on the right and I was interpreting this as a diverter valve but it's probably not called that at all! That sounds like water or radiators, maybe a manual override? Stick a picture up then the plumber folk know what there looking at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted December 2, 2021 Report Share Posted December 2, 2021 Is this what you mean Ben? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benthejockey Posted December 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2021 23 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said: Is this what you mean Ben? Pretty similar yep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Bear Posted December 2, 2021 Report Share Posted December 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Benthejockey said: Pretty similar yep. That looks like the possible culprit a Danphos diverter valve- is the hot water working? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benthejockey Posted December 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Yellow Bear said: That looks like the possible culprit a Danphos diverter valve- is the hot water working? Yeah red hot water as usual Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpowder Posted December 2, 2021 Report Share Posted December 2, 2021 Quickest cure might be to replace that valve, or the motor on top the latter would not need the system drained. If it is a conventional system with feed/header tank by blocking the feed and expansion pipes the complete valve could be changed without drain down. Time to call a plumber in? Blackpowder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Bear Posted December 2, 2021 Report Share Posted December 2, 2021 (edited) 2 things then - thermostat or valve. An engineer would short the signal pair on the stat, if the heating came on it is the stat, if not the valve motor. As BP said you can change the motor head without drain down. A competent sparky should be able to do both of these. Edited December 2, 2021 by Yellow Bear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benthejockey Posted December 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2021 I've got a brand spanking new reciever unit for the thermostat that came with the new thermostat when I had to replace the old unit after small hands made it not work any more. It's tempting to swap that over initially as I've got it and won't have to buy a new one! I am leaning more towards it being the valve though. I gave our boiler man a quick ring because I wasn't sure if he was a plumber or a boiler engineer - he only does boilers unfortunately - but he thought it sounded like valve. So when I get home later I'm going to have a look for the manual over ride lever and set the house to HOT for the evening to keep herself happy and then see if I can find a local plumber! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Bear Posted December 2, 2021 Report Share Posted December 2, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Benthejockey said: I've got a brand spanking new reciever unit for the thermostat that came with the new thermostat when I had to replace the old unit after small hands made it not work any more. It's tempting to swap that over initially as I've got it and won't have to buy a new one! I am leaning more towards it being the valve though. I gave our boiler man a quick ring because I wasn't sure if he was a plumber or a boiler engineer - he only does boilers unfortunately - but he thought it sounded like valve. So when I get home later I'm going to have a look for the manual over ride lever and set the house to HOT for the evening to keep herself happy and then see if I can find a local plumber! On side of motor above port B (IIRC "tap" side) Also check switch positions on Salus receiver on/off and auto/manual Edited December 2, 2021 by Yellow Bear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benthejockey Posted December 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2021 4 hours ago, Yellow Bear said: On side of motor above port B (IIRC "tap" side) Also check switch positions on Salus receiver on/off and auto/manual I found a lever! The house is warm! The wife is happier...ish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted December 2, 2021 Report Share Posted December 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Benthejockey said: I found a lever! The house is warm! The wife is happier...ish. Sounds like a win, just remind her that folk in the Lakes have had no power for nearly a week, its like the stone age, I can see sales of generators going up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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