Haunted central heating

[r1moose]

I recently moved in to a house with a weird problem.
The hot water (and sometimes my underfloor heating) but not the radiators come on even when my programmer specifically has everything set to off.
The plumber and electrician came and sod's law, it behaved itself. They changed a valve near the cylinder anyway as it did look rather old and tired, and it was OK for a few hours, i.e. the programmer was all OFF and the boiler was quiet.
A few hours later....problem back. The ONLY way to stop it is to switch the mains power off which cuts power to the programmer and the boiler as well I believe.

Any ideas please? Is it worth just trying a new programmer anyway (it's a horstmann h37xl)

Thanks

 

[Dan]

Must be honest, given the thread title I thought this was going to be super interesting lol

I'm not a plumber so won't guess anything here. Somebody will be along shortly

 

[SimonG]

Faulty 2 port valve head with a sticking micro switch.

Need a heating engineer with a set of testers to trace the voltage.

 

[Best]

Motorised valve could be one suspect. They usually have their own live link which switches power to boiler and pump normally when valve opens. Actuator could be faulty. Simple to rule in or out with a heating engineer checking it
Edit, - SimonG beat me to it

 

[r1moose]

Thanks all ... that'll be my next plan of attack.
I'm ruling out supernatural phenomena for the time being anyway!

Cheers

 

[r1moose]

....I'm assuming they would have checked this already mind you but I will check. To their credit I think they tried the quickest/cheapest thing first.

 

[gas tec]

It needs electrical testing, it might not of ever been wired properly for all you know.
I was hoping it was haunted

 

[r1moose]

It needs electrical testing, it might not of ever been wired properly for all you know.
I was hoping it was haunted

It is a bit random (has been OK for a few days) ...sometimes just the hot water, sometimes water and underfloor heating.... Always with the programmer all set to 'off'

If it were wired incorrectly I guess it would be consistently wrong.
I'm not ruling out calling Mulder and Scully just yet!

 

[SimonG]

It's not in a shed or garage with a frost stat?

 

[r1moose]

It's not in a shed or garage with a frost stat?

It's in a garage, in a cupboard..... yes. Not sure about the frost stat to be honest.

 

[SimonG]

That needs checking as well. It would be weird if it was a frost stat and an intermittent problem but needs a look.

 

[Harvest Fields]

I have had Honeywell frost stats do this. Just double check it if it has one to make sure.

 

[zzzjim]

Must be a ghost in the garage , I looked at this thread and the lights dimmed .
Does it respond to peolpe walking about ?
(may be hard to find out if have to walk about to check - if it cut in !)
Assuming heat only boiler and not combi ?
( Just clues for engineer - May want extra for an exorcism )

 

[magicno1]

Programmer!

 

[r1moose]

I think I've sussed it....inspired by you guys here.

The 3 way Horstmann programmer in my bathroom controls radiators, underfloor heating in kitchen and hot water.
The (previously ignored) Heatmiser programmer/timer in the lounge controls underfloor heating in the lounge.

Rads in bathrooms are on bypass so come on by design whenever anything calls for heat.

So......

The Heatmiser in the lounge has some frost protectuinfunction which I think was enabled and set very high (which would explain why my problem 'disappeared' during the recent warm spell and then came back yesterday. I got the manual and disabled this function and now all seems a-ok.
I didn't notice the underfloor heating in the lounge coming on as quickly as I noticed the rads in the bathrooms, so just didn't put two and two together.

Thank you all ! Mystery solved (and I learned a bit about plumbing and heating)

 

[Harvest Fields]

Glad that you are sorted.

 

[turnpin]

I think I've sussed it....inspired by you guys here.

The 3 way Horstmann programmer in my bathroom controls radiators, underfloor heating in kitchen and hot water.
The (previously ignored) Heatmiser programmer/timer in the lounge controls underfloor heating in the lounge.

Rads in bathrooms are on bypass so come on by design whenever anything calls for heat.

So....

The Heatmiser in the lounge has some frost protectuinfunction which I think was enabled and set very high (which would explain why my problem 'disappeared' during the recent warm spell and then came back yesterday. I got the manual and disabled this function and now all seems a-ok.
I didn't notice the underfloor heating in the lounge coming on as quickly as I noticed the rads in the bathrooms, so just didn't put two and two together.

Thank you all ! Mystery solved (and I learned a bit about plumbing and heating)

....Thanks for taking the time to update us....regards Turnpin

 

[oz-plumber]

Thanks all .

I'm ruling out supernatural phenomena for the time being anyway!

Cheers

In that case, I refuse to be of any assistance.

When you require ' Supernatural Phenomena' I will give advice

 

[oz-plumber]

Thanks all .

I'm ruling out supernatural phenomena for the time being anyway!

Cheers

In that case, I refuse to be of any assistance.

When you require ' Supernatural Phenomena' I will give advice and assistance

 

[r1moose]

In that case, I refuse to be of any assistance.

When you require ' Supernatural Phenomena' I will give advice and assistance

Hahaha cheers !

 

[PETE 123]

THATS SPOOKY

 

[zzzjim]

sussed .................

I didn't notice the underfloor heating in the lounge coming on as quickly ....

May be a winter time tweak to consider - or- not depends on if you are happy with other controls.
( Reinstate spooky setting - if you ever feel a cold chill in winter )
Thanks for sharing the outcome !

 

[r1moose]

All still working a-ok. I'm definitely going to leave it be now, because:
a) I'm a bit of a control freak so I'll decide when it warms up.
b) I'm scared of my own bloody shadow, let alone anything scarier.