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masopa

Grr… second time at this post after computer wiped the first one!

Right, I’ve just moved into a new house – the house is not new (30y/o) but it is to us, as of last weekend. I’ll be honest and say I know little/nothing about heating as I’ve always treated as a gas system (leave alone) rather than a water system (flood or electrocute yourself)… I am more scared of blowing other people up than the other risks!

The heating system has left me a bit daunted to be honest. I tried to post a picture but as a new user I’m not sure I’m allowed to. The image is saved at “i.*********/” and then “VY6B5Gn.jpg” (edit: pictures now attached in subsequent post) if anyone wants to look at it – if I can post a follow-up message which allows me to insert an image I will do so. What I’ve worked out as an “idiot” end user is the following:

1. 2 boilers (one Netaheat Potterton 16-22 and one Worcester 19/24CBi) which seem to work in parallel
2. 4 boiler controllers – one for each level of the house (3 floors) and one for hot water, so a simple zoned setup
3. No zone/whole house thermostat/temperature controller(s) that I can find anywhere. The only temperature control I’ve found is the frost thermostat in the garage next to the boiler controllers (which appears to be stuck!)
4. Every rad has a TRV (basic 0-5 analogue twist-type) and rad count is as follows: bottom floor 3, middle floor 9, top floor 8. A number of the middle floor and a couple of the top floor rads are double width. Hot water needs standard for two adults and two young kids I guess. 3 showers and 3 baths on top floor, a couple of further WCs (sinks) and kitchen hot water (sink+dishwasher). Washing machine is cold feed only
5. Changing the timings of the zones and water is all I can really do, as well as switch them between off/once/twice/constant. Obviously being able to do each floor independently is good, but switching from winter to summer etc. will be a pain as I have to do it four times (and for each day on each controller!)

The system appears to work, but I have a few questions for the assembled experts on here:

1. Is this a reasonable setup for this sort of house? We are two adults, two young kids with variable times at home/out… a few days a week when someone’s in all day, some days when it’ll be empty between 9am and 5pm, but generally pretty “random”
2. I don’t particular want to spend lots of money on changing something which works but an efficient heating system can save £££s pretty quickly
3. Is a maintenance/care plan a good idea for us, given I won’t be able to do any maintenance myself? Daft question I guess, to which the only answer is “yes!”
4. Is it worth having a local plumber come out and take a look at the system or just have the initial survey/service as part of the new maintenance care plan?

Any advice or thoughts very welcome! Sorry about the lack of pictures – will try to rectify asap. And sorry for the thick questions above... I'll try to listen and learn quickly.

Cheers
 
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CH overview.jpg
Heating controls.jpg
Boilers (pair).jpg

Huzzah... pictures seem to be attaching now. Thanks for looking.
 
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The best plumber to get would be the Local Plumber who installed it. Go with his guidance, maintenance, warranties, etc. Some thought has been put into the installation understand the concept before letting salesmen sell you a," more efficient boiler".
 
Thanks Joni... Although I don't have his name/company it's a small(ish) village so I should be able to track him down if he's still about.

We've moved into this area so we need to build our network of local tradesmen anyway.

Cheers!
 
you have quite a good start for an efficient system there but you could do with at least one room stat and idealy three room stats adding to ensure the boiler turns of when the heating is satisfied, these can be done wirelessly you could change the timeclock you have for two channel programmers or one three channel and keep one of those you have(and have three spares) ive not seen a four channel programmer which is idealy what you need
im an old plumber and im sure there is a more hi tech solution out there with internet access etc personally im still not sure anyone really needs the ability to switch on and of from the train home
depending on the layout of your house do you need seperate time controll of each floor you could easily incorporate to of the zones into one
 
It sounds like a pretty well thought out set up. If you're concerned about heating water/house whilst you're not there then you may want to look at some of the cleverer and intuitive thermostats or wifi/internet controls such as the hive or similar. Other than that I would steer well clear of a contract offered by a big company (no names mentioned). Many will use any excuse to get out of repairs and maintenance. As was said previously if you can get original installer in to talk you through it then brilliant, failing that get a local engineer in to take a look and walk you through it
 
Thanks Joni... Although I don't have his name/company it's a small(ish) village so I should be able to track him down if he's still about.

We've moved into this area so we need to build our network of local tradesmen anyway.

Cheers!


If he's registered it properly his details should be in the back of the instructions on the benchmark
 
you have quite a good start for an efficient system there but you could do with at least one room stat and idealy three room stats adding to ensure the boiler turns of when the heating is satisfied, these can be done wirelessly you could change the timeclock you have for two channel programmers or one three channel and keep one of those you have(and have three spares) ive not seen a four channel programmer which is idealy what you need

One of these Steve
[DLMURL]http://www.horstmann.co.uk/products/heating-and-hot-water-controls/time-switches-programmers/channelplus[/DLMURL]
 
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Thanks Steve and Riley!

Good to know the system is pretty much there from a heating perspective. The controllers I can look to get someone in to advise on specifically - whether that's a simple replacement or something a bit more techy/"smart".

Thanks for the tips re: the big companies' maintenance plans... will shop around for something more local. Will see if I can find his details on the benchmark.

Edited to add: still puzzled what's happened to the room thermostats?! I can't imagine the system would have been installed without any... which leads me to wonder why the previous owners might have removed them?! Odd!
 
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:) dont think a domestic plumber has done that, but never mind looks like a good setup and re stats do you have any blanked single sockets about 1-1.5m off the floor?

and where are you located?
 
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