Some advice on two different problems please?

[coursemyhorse]

Hi all, first post here. I have a problem in our house which I am getting fed up with because the landlord will not fix. I have had electrician and plumber out already and problem 1 they can't/won't fix and do not care for, problem 2 they moved the thermostat and also replaced it to no avail. It's got to the point where I just wantto pay a plumber to get it fixed for me then I will try to make him pay for it if possible.
Any advice massively appricated. I have a friend who is an ex plumber and he said he might be able to take a look for me.

I apologize in advance about knowing nothing much about this kind of thing and if I use the wrong terms I'm sorry.

1: Pipes in the airing cupboard knock/bang/pop/click and make noise only when the hot water is on on it's own.

When the heating is on as well as hot water, or heating on on it's own, the knocking goes away. It sounds to me very much like there is air in the pipes, as the pump does that stalling noise like when it isn't getting a 100% water feed, and then wooshes off and will be quiet for a bit. In fact, I'm almost certain it's air. When the hot water is on first thing in the morning at 6:30 (we have to have it on then to get hot water for morning) it wakes me up which is annoying.
Been like this for over a year. They have tried stuff before like wiring the pump up differently but it hasn't helped. The pump always comes on in the airing cupboard when the HW is on. I turned it down myself from medium to low which partially helped the noise levels (the pump seems noisy to me anyway personally) but it still knocks and clicks away. It does it whenever the HW is on not just in the morning. There is no radiator in the HW loop like the bathroom one to dry towels - I say this based on the fact no radiators come on when the HW is on even if the rad valves are open.
I spoke to a friend who mentioned that it could be the way it has been wired up.
It is NOT water hammer apparently my friend reckons. The taps do NOT splutter/stutter or knock when you turn them off. HW works ok, but does take a while to come through to the tap when we turn it on, but this might be down to the pump I turned down to low.
My mate also said to try wiring it so that it is purely gravity fed rather than relying on a pump. I don't know how to do that, but we have a reservoir thing in the loft and a boiler in the kitchen. We have the standard HW tank cylinder thing in the airing cupboard.

Any ideas to stop the noise? It isn't a loud massive earthwuake like whack, but more a popping knocking clicking constant. Drives me mad.

Agency/landlord is being rubbish at fixing this. They don't want to know really as say it works.

Another clue (this might not be related at all but thought I would say as well) is that the water comes on by itself regardless of settings on the computer every night for about 10 minutes around 11pm. This also wakes me up. I don't know why it comes on like this even though I haven't set it to.



2: Heating hard to control

The thermostat for the heating I have to turn up to like 26/27c for it to even come on when the room temp is clearly below 20c. Say the room temp is 16c, the stat I will still have to turn to 25c for it to click on. So say I go to the airing cupboard and make sure heating is on on the computer thing (or say it was set to come on) the stat must be up high for it to come on.
The heating then will come on but get really hot. Basically where say at most houses you set the stat to say 18c and it just comes on and off when required to get to that temp. Ours we can't do it like that, coz I would have to set it to like 26c ish and then it comes on really hot and we end up just turning it off. Set it lower and it doesn't come on at all.

Again, I have had the plumber out on this, the electrician. I apparently had the stat replaced and also they moved it from downstairs to upstairs in case it made a difference. Still the same. It's an analogue dial thermostat.

Any ideas all?

 

[justlead1]

Hi. Post an image of the airing cupboard. This will help in getting the problem solved by people on here.

 

[buff]

what area do you live in someone on here may come round to look
bob

 

[PlumbBobBob]

i recon the first problem is just the pipes expanding with the heat when the hot water comes on. the pump only runs to run the water from the boiler through the coil in the tank to heat the water. the pump probably comes on at night because the tank stat is calling for heat to bring the tank temp up to whatever it is set at.

 

[coursemyhorse]

The boiler in the kitchen:

Thermostat on landing to control heating:

Now shots of the airing cupboard to show piping and such:

 

[coursemyhorse]

 

[fuzzy]

the taps have nothing to do with the hot water primary circuit mate, so dont eliminate water hammer straight away. i dont like the fact there is an elbow strasight after the pump, the pipes could have been fitted better but probably not the problem but may be a contributing factor. the issue is probably the 3 port if anything at all, i suspect its just the pressure through the shortest circuit and the initial heat up time. does it happen when it first starts or all the time?

i think your messing about with the stat too much. there is a 3/4degree difference in on and off, set it at 22 and leave it, see what happens, it needs to fall below 20 to kick in but will then heat up to about 24

let us know more if u can

 

[coursemyhorse]

Thanks for the help. It knocks ALL THE TIME, whenever the hot water is on. If the HW AND CH are on together, it goes away. If just the heating is on and NO HW, then it also goes away. Only when it's just hot water on, which is what we use most. I got told that it could be that the pump has nothing to push against as the HW circuit is so quick/short and that adding a rad to the loop could be a cure, or running the HW gravity fed without the pump. I don't know how involved either of these are or what they mean really. I am also confused when someone above said that the cylinder demanded heat to get back up to temp and so thats why it comes on at 11pm for ten minutes. Based on that, it sounds like it would come on and off when it wants regardless of how I have set it on the programmer? I guess what I am asking, is what is the significance of the 60c water temp dial thing on the front of the cylinder and how does it respond to this?
What does the 3 port valve thing do and where is that in the picture? Is it prone to problems? Is this what switches between HW and Heating or both?

If I leave the stat on 22 but then the heating won't come on at all ever.

You say the piping is a bodge job do you think?

 

[coursemyhorse]

Oh and what does that white box thing do, the thing highest up above the pump but back a but with a black wire going into it.
Cheers all. I'm sorry I'm so not clued up in this kind of thing.

 

[diesel_ltd]

is the 15mm ballafix vale open a bit on the by pass, its on the tee below the pump. It should really be a automatic bypass vale and i would have fitted it on the other sisde of the pump

if this ballafix valve is blocked or completely closed you will get banging when your cylinder stat closes the 3way valve once it get to temp

post a pic of the chrome valve if you dont know wot i'm talking about