Should my combi boiler be making noise while no hot water is demanded?

[RipGroove]

And these are the two dials:

 

[parkesy_plumb]

is your shower or bath mixer dripping?

 

[RipGroove]

is your shower or bath mixer dripping?

Just checked and no definitely not, one of the toilets cisterns is leaking into the bowl but that shouldn't affect the boiler I believe.

 

[SilentMike]

ok so if i have got this right

you are leaving the boiler in frost mode and think the boiler should not be firing up because it is not cold enough?

my understanding is that frost mode is a safety for when boiler is set to off, you have the boiler on a timer and set to on so the boiler is treating it as lowest temp which is 25C according to the manual

 

[RipGroove]

ok so if i have got this right

you are leaving the boiler in frost mode and think the boiler should not be firing up because it is not cold enough?

my understanding is that frost mode is a safety for when boiler is set to off, you have the boiler on a timer and set to on so the boiler is treating it as lowest temp which is 25C according to the manual

Yes and no, the boiler is also making noise when I have the CH set to any given temp even though all the rad TRVs are set to frost. In fact the only time the boiler is silent is when it's either set to off or summer on the dial, any other setting including a temp range has the boiler making noise. Which is fine but I don't want a huge heating bill for no reason if all I'm doing is using a bit of hot water each day.

Assuming your right, give me some idea of how I should have it all set so that without going in to the garage and touching the boiler I get hot water when needed and can turn the rads up on the TRVs to get them to come on whilst also having the boiler sat silent unless being used when I turn a tap on on a rad up?

As said I'm a combi boiler noob as my last house just had a regular boiler and tank.

 

[SilentMike]

if the boiler is calling for heat it is going to fire weather TRV's are on or not. it will circulate round parts of the system that are not isolated.
Better to have the timer set to the times you want heat and control how you want the different rooms with the TRVs.
Or get a room stat instead of the timer

 

[RipGroove]

if the boiler is calling for heat it is going to fire weather TRV's are on or not. it will circulate round parts of the system that are not isolated.
Better to have the timer set to the times you want heat and control how you want the different rooms with the TRVs.
Or get a room stat instead of the timer

OK so say it's warm outside and I have set all TRVs to "1" and set the CH temp on the boiler down quite low I'm still going to have the boiler sat there heating water for no real reason? And the rad in the hallway that has no TRV will always be somewhat warm?

I'm all for getting a room stat so if I do do that if I have that set very low will that actually stop the boiler from constantly heating water? And only make the boiler fire when I turn it up? And if I do fit one how do I tell the boiler to use that instead of the timer?

Me and my wife both work odd hours so it's impossible to predict when we'll need the CH on.

 

[SilentMike]

So at the moment you have the boiler timer set for 7 til 20:00
and in auto mode which tells the boiler to come on at them times.

If you have TRVs at 1 they will turn your rads off when they sense that temp in the room.

The dial tells the boiler how hot to heat the water and the boiler will keep it at that temp between the hours of 7 and 8

If TRVs are off then thats less water to heat less gas used to heat it,but the hall way rad will never turn off and the boiler will try to keep it at temp for the hours set.

If you got a room stat you would put it in the hall, not in a room with a TRV then it would shut down the boiler when that room was up to temp set on room stat

So you can either change the hours better to suit you.Use manual mode on the boiler and turn it on and of as you want it, you can set this for a certain amount of time also and will not come on when done till you turn it on again or get a room stat.

 

[RipGroove]

so at the moment you have the boiler timer set for 7 til 20:00
and in auto mode which tells the boiler to come on at them times
if you have TRVs at 1 they will turn you rads of when they sense that temp in the room
the dial tells the boiler how hot to heat the water and the boiler will keep it at that temp between the hour of 7 and 8
if TRVs are off then thats less water to heat less gas used to heat it,but the hall way rad will never turn off and the boiler will try to keep it at temp for the hours set.
If you got a room stat you would put it in the hall, not in a room with a TRV then it would shut down the boiler when that room was up to temp set on room stat
So you can either change the hours better to suit you.Use manual mode on the boiler and turn it on and of as you want it, you can set this for a certain amount of hour also and will not come on when done till you turn it on again or get a room stat

Thanks for that. If a room stat like the Honeywell CM927 for example will actually turn my CH to OFF when the temp is set low and automatically turn the boiler ON when I set the temp higher then I'll get one as I think that's what I'm missing that will give me what I need.

If that is the case how do I install it so the boiler knows to use that instead of the timer?

 

[SilentMike]

not familiar with that stat you posted but any digital room sat will be fine you want a simple one that you just turn the temp up and down on not a programmable one

as for the boiler set it to constant which is timer mode then ~h and on. then temp dial for the temp you want it to heat the water at the higher you set it the hotter the rads will be the faster it will get to temp. so the boiler will always be calling for heat but will not fire unless stat is aswell

on a side note the idea behind a stat is that they cycle and gradually try to keep the temp rather blast the house for an hour or so, same with TRV they don't keep the rad from getting too hot but rather turn them on and off according to room temp

 

[RipGroove]

not familiar with that stat you posted but any digital room sat will be fine you want a simple one that you just turn the temp up and down on not a programmable one

as for the boiler set it to constant which is timer mode then ~h and on. then temp dial for the temp you want it to heat the water at the higher you set it the hotter the rads will be the faster it will get to temp. so the boiler will always be calling for heat but will not fire unless stat is aswell

OK thanks, didn't quite understand the bit about "timer mode then ~h and on" but I'm sure my manual will explain that. So why do you recommend a non programmable stay, simplicity?

And just to confirm the stat will override the timer and actually switch the CH side of the boiler OFF completely when the stat is set very low?

 

[SilentMike]

yea there a pain to set and plus you said you where never sure when you want it on. best thing to do is set temp for minimum temp you want the house to be then just bump it up as an when you want it

 

[RipGroove]

yea there a pain to set and plus you said you where never sure when you want it on. best thing to do is set temp for minimum temp you want the house to be then just bump it up as an when you want it

Perfect thanks again, so I'll get a simple non programmable wireless room stat and hopefully that'll keep the boiler off until someone walks in and cranks it up.

 

[SilentMike]

yea just put heating on constant mode heating is just a link on the wiring that stat will just make and brake that link when wired in

 

[RipGroove]

yea just put heating on constant mode heating is just a link on the wiring that stat will just make and brake that link when wired in

Perfect thanks, I expect I'll be back with more questions after I've fitted it and it's all gone wrong! I'm a CNC machinist/engineer so great with anything mechanical but not so great with plumbing or electrics sadly.

 

[RipGroove]

Something like this? http://m.NoLinkingToThis/p/drayton-digistat-room-thermostat/83251?filtered=true

 

[SilentMike]

never fitted one but looks fine, it dose need to be wired in but so dose the wireless receiver for a wireless stat

 

[RipGroove]

never fitted one but looks fine, it dose need to be wired in but so dose the wireless receiver for a wireless stat

My bad I thought that was a wireless one for some reason (long day). Will have a look around and see what I can find.

 

[SilentMike]

you still going to have to have it wired in wireless or not. It just depends on how hard it would be to get the wire from your hall to the boiler which will be the deciding factor wired stat would be my preferance

 

[RipGroove]

you still going to have to have it wired in wireless or not. It just depends on how hard it would be to get the wire from your hall to the boiler which will be the deciding factor wired stat would be my preferance

It would be a bit of a pain tbh as the whole house has just been professionally redecorated before we moved in so a wireless receiver wired to the boiler and a wireless stat would be better for me in this instance I think.

 

[Ermintrude]

I think u should be getting a gas safe engineer to fit it for you and perform annual service.

Only qualified and competent persons should be working on boiler.

 

[Dotty]

Agreed. OP, you've had more info on this subject than would usually be permitted.

Please read the forum rules pertaining to gas appliances.

Thread closed.