Any heating engineer to reset my Underfloor Heating?

Wilde_37

Hi,
I moved into a 16 year old bungalow last year which is about 2,000sq/ft and has underfloor heating.  I have never gotten it to work correctly and need someone to visit and recalibrate / service / repair it.

There are pine floors aver a 2" slab with the coils underneath and then about 2" of insulation board below that.  The heating is from HEATLINK.  There are two manifolds an 8 and a 4.  Both manifolds have been replaced with new stainless steel ones, as have the 12 actuators.  There are a total of 6 zones with individual thermostats.  The thermostats are the original Heatlink ones.  The boiler is a Stanley oil burning stove, which has recently been completely serviced.  The hot press has a new hot water tank and a red "control" box for the UFH.  I have absolutley no idea what anything in the box does.  I downloaded a manual but it is too technical for me.  It is showing an Error for the outdoor sensor.  There are two pumps in the hot press.  One seems newer than the other - not sure how strong they are or even if they are working properly.

The problem is that I could easily use 35 litres of oil if I had the heating on for 6/7 hours.  I went through the first 1,100 litre tank in about 5 weeks when I first moved in.  I tried running it for 2 hours a day just to try to keep the slab warm - but it still drinks about 10 litres and doesn't do anything for the overall heat.

I've tried running it for 24/48 hours straight with the thermostats up at 25 degrees.  Some floors get warm, others are cold, but the room temperatures never get anywhere close to 25 degrees (maybe 17/18 in some, while others are 13/14).  The thermostats will close/open the actuators but I have no idea how accurate they are or if they need to be replaced.

I've had 3 plumbers come out to the house and they say that from a "plumbing" perspective everything seems ok. There are no leaks etc.  But when I ask them about the little "red box" and the flow rates etc they are just lost and say that they are not familiar with underfloor heating.

I've tried contacting the only HEATLINK supplier I know - in Tullamore.  But they keep saying that they will come and service it - but then won't give me a date - I am in Co. Waterford.  I've spoken with them several times and even drove up to chat to them - but they don't seem interested unless I am looking to put in a whole new system!

Does anyone know a qualified underfloor heating engineer who can come to my house and service, review and correct the system.  I'm open to any suggestions.  I'm particularly looking for someone who can tell me about the control box and what each of the readings means, and how to reset and rebalance the system.  As I said, I can get loads of ordinary plumbers and while they are great at the mechanics, they are not familiar with how a Heatlink system works.

Thank!

TPM

Hi
you are a bit far for me to travel down to.
a few questions about your heating and house

there is a lot in your post so my reply could be long, sorry.

Wilde_37 wrote: »

There are pine floors aver a 2" slab with the coils underneath and then about 2" of insulation board below that.

Is the flooring solid pine? do you know the thickness of it, wood is an insulator and any wooden flooring will slow/reduce the effectiveness of underfloor heating, 3/4" (19mm) is about the maximum you can get away with.
Is there underlay under the flooring?
is it mounted on batons, fixed directly to the floor or floating.

Wilde_37 wrote: »

Hi,
I moved into a 16 year old bungalow last year which is about 2,000sq/ft

Wilde_37 wrote: »

 There are two manifolds an 8 and a 4.  Both manifolds have been replaced with new stainless steel ones, as have the 12 actuators.  There are a total of 6 zones with individual thermostats.  

How many rooms in the house have underfloor heating?
the number of loops and zones seems a bit low for the size of the house.

Wilde_37 wrote: »

 The boiler is a Stanley oil burning stove, which has recently been completely serviced.

is it a stanley cooker? what model is it so we can check its actual heat output to the water( i dont think a stove would be enough for a house that size)

Wilde_37 wrote: »

The hot press has a new hot water tank and a red "control" box for the UFH.  

does the hot water cylinder have its own timeclock, thermostat and motorised valve.

there could be a balance valve on the coil, if it doesnt have a timeclock, stat, motorised valve and or a balance valve is open too much it could prevent enough heat going to the underfloor heating.

Do you have much hot water?

Wilde_37 wrote: »

The hot press has a new hot water tank and a red "control" box for the UFH.  I have absolutley no idea what anything in the box does.  I downloaded a manual but it is too technical for me.  It is showing an Error for the outdoor sensor.

i dont recall the what the system defaults to with a faulty outdoor sensor, but the outdoor sensor is used to calcuate the heat sent to the loops so could cause the rooms not to heat properly. (the fault could be a faulty sensor, wiring or control box)

Wilde_37 wrote: »

There are two pumps in the hot press.  One seems newer than the other - not sure how strong they are or even if they are working properly.

two pumps would be standard enough, 1 circulates the hot water from the boiler to the cylinder and through a temperature control valve to the underfloor heating circuit, the 2nd pump circulates the heat through the underfloor loops
a problem with either pump could cause heating problems

Wilde_37 wrote: »

I'm particularly looking for someone who can tell me about the control box and what each of the readings means, and how to reset and rebalance the system.  

the red box can be a bit of a head wrecker, and not something that is easy to talk through but settings of the control box are irrelevant untill everything else is checked and proved to be ok. there are a lot of things that can be checked and fault finding that can be done with out going near the red box.

what type of insulation and windows does the house have, how high are the ceilings in the rooms.

Wilde_37

Hi TPM

I'll try to answer the questions:

The floor is solid pine and about 3/4" in thickness. It is not on batons. I cannot tell if it is on a membrane or directly on the slab.

All the rooms have underfloor heating. There are 3 bedrooms with individual thermostats, 1 sitting room with a thermostat. The kitchen/dining room have a thermostat and lounge area has a thermostat. (The kitchen/dining/lounge are open plan).

I have a Stanley Brandon cooker not stove - 100,000 BTU's Oil fired. I don't use it as a cooker, just for heating the water and underfloor. I have enough hot water when it is on - I don't think it heats the entire tank as I could run off the hot water in a short while. The tank does not have it's own clock. There does appear to be a type of Actuator near one of the pumps - connected by wire to the red box. That looks very old and may need to be replaced. I think someone told me in the past that it acts as a type of open/close valve.

With regard to the outdoor sensor fault- I just noticed that it is now also showing a "Floor ERR" as well as the "Outdoor ERR" and "Outdoor SHRT" .

I will try to post some photos of the control system and what the red box is showing.

To be honest, I don't understand plumbing so my hope is to get someone to visit !

Wilde_37

Here are some photos of the set up. I will also post photos of the readings from the control box.

Wilde_37

Some of the control readings

Wilde_37

Last of the readings from the control box. I have no idea what they mean. I have never touched the settings other than to read these.

andymacomments

Heatlink did the same with us. I rang them for about 6 months. They just have really bad after service. It is very difficult to get the right person to fix underfloor . We are on our third plumber