Heating Issue Help

sok2005

Hi All,

I have an unusual issue with my heating system and im just wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction as im unsure if i need an electrician or a heating specialist!?

We bought our house last year, it was a new house. Since we moved in the heating system has acted up. Its like the upstairs heating is not connected to the main because everytime we switch it on downstairs the rads upstairs do not heat up until we flip a switch in the hot press manually. When we flip this switch the heating is on full blast constantly upstairs, the theromostat doesnt appear to be wired in at all.

Anyone know what this could be and how I can fix it or who I can contract to fix it?

Diggerdunne

It is possible the thermostat is not connected or it could be stuck in the on position. In terms of the upstairs heating it's on a motorised valve but the electrician didn't use the auxiliary cables to open and close the valve automatically but he ran it thru a switch so you have to always turn the switch on or off to turn on the heating upstairs. It's handy to be able to control upstairs and downstairs separately but it would be better if it was fully automated. It's quiet easy to do initially but now I would not be 100% sure seen as the house is finished... Hope this helps...

sok2005

Thanks a million for your quick helpful response. I'd say that could be it alright.

Could be a huge job so

yoshytoshy

It's not a big job at all to connect up a thermostat instead of the switch.
Would take about an hour and the materials would be around €35.

aujopimur

It's possible you only have a single channel timer, it may be possble to replace this wlth 2/3 channel programmer to give you better use of your system.

sok2005

Thanks All.

There are 3 switches dowstairs, one to turn the boiler on i think then one for upstairs and one for downstairs. Also we have one thermo upstairs and one downstairs. Everything downstairs seems to work perfect.And everything upstairs doesn't.

When the switch for the upstairs is switched on a light appears on the box in the hot press but the actual valve itself doesnt open and you need to manually push it across and click it into place. Its then on completely, 100% heat with no thermostat control.

Excuse my ignorant terminology but as you can probably guess this is not my field of expertise at all!:o

Diggerdunne

Well if all three valves are upstairs and the wiring back to the boiler is upstairs it may not be too difficult to change the valve wiring so that it automatically opens when u turn on the upstairs heating from the time clock. You will need the wiring to be there otherwise it can be a big job getting cables back to the boiler. From what I remember you need a permanent live and a switched live from the time clock at the valve and then overturn off the valve to the boiler which is common to the other 2 valves... I.e downstairs and hot water valves. Normally I think the grey is permanentsnd the brown is switched live and the orange is your common return, but I could be wrong as been a while since I wired up a valve...

aujopimur

From what you descibe it appears that the actuater(box with orange light) is faulty,this can be replaced with basic electrical knowledge and tools.

sok2005

Thanks for all your help.

I contacted a crowd to take a look at it and they sent a guy out to look at the wiring.

I asked what price it would be but they said they couldnt say until they took a look.

Guy arrives, took a look at the system and said I needed a new valve head? He pottered around for for an hour, it seems like he rewired a selector switch and checked the existing wiring with the help of my husband.

The following day I got an invoice for 120 Euro for a call out charge for the previous day and a quotation for 360 to fit the valve and an outdoor tap fitted in the next few days.

My husband rang them and asked why he was being charged 120 when not one of our issues had been rectified. The receptionist said it was for rewiring the selector switch and checking the existing wiring, she said the most she could do was drop the call out charge to 100 Euro!

We're getting ripped off right??

yoshytoshy

If you're getting a tap and a valve head replaced for €360 ,I wouldn't be worried about paying the €100 too much.

Maybe they are charging you for their time ,in case you get someone else to do the rest of the work.