What's Yellow?

[PlumbersMate]

Took a Cover Plate off today to see how a 3 port valve was wired in and there were 3 different cables run in all consisting of the following colours, Red, Blue, Yellow and Green/Yellow. What are the Yellow wires? Here's a pic. Cheers

 

[hammers4spanner]

signal wires??

 

[dancinplumba]

usually return live, should be sleeved with brown. tut tut sparkies eh?

 

[Blake]

Have a look through here, you can then trace each wire off the valve which should tell you what each wire on the other side of the connector block is doing

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...=Abv_FacGed6pE8JLKYTw0w&bvm=bv.42261806,d.d2k

 

[PlumbersMate]

Have a look through here, you can then trace each wire off the valve which should tell you what each wire on the other side of the connector block is doing

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CEUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.honeywelluk.com%2FDocuments%2FFull-Install%2Fpdf%2F1083.pdf&ei=F9AbUfvnH-Sa0QXs4YDQBA&usg=AFQjCNGpxW7HHIfSo_cTt284EEwRQHn5Hw&sig2=Abv_FacGed6pE8JLKYTw0w&bvm=bv.42261806,d.d2k

I had that with me mate but tbh all the wires just confused me. I reckon I could have worked it all out if there was one cable in there that was just blue brown and green/yellow as I assume that would be the boiler but there wasn't anything like that? Was well beyond me tbh so recommended a sparky. Need to get on the Honeywell Wiring course sharpish!

 

[PlumbersMate]

I'm guessing it would have been a lot easier if it was a wiring centre rather than just connector blocks. For instance 2, 1 & 3 from the Room Stat means nothing to me tbh haven't got any experience of system wiring

 

[R1CKY]

I would say:

The yellow connected to the orange is the switched live to the boiler. The yellow connected to the white is the "Normally open" or "Demand" from the room stat.

The yellow connected to the blue and grey wires is the "HW OFF" wire from the timer.

 

[tamz]

The only wires you can be sure of are the earths and if all blues go together they are probably neutrals. Everything else is in the head of the guy who wired it (probably a spark) and are just switch wires.
Easy enough to follow if you think about it.
Starting from the bottom.
1. Hw on from cyl stat, pump and boiler switch lives and the orange to the valve
2. Hw off from clock, hw sat from cyl stat and grey to valve.
3. Heating on from room stat and white on valve
4. Probably boiler switch live linking to 1
5. Possibly a permanent live.

Neutrals and earths are below the other connectors.

Test them to confirm.

 

[hammers4spanner]

think honeywell do an app which tells you how to wire different systems

 

[PlumbersMate]

The only wires you can be sure of are the earths and if all blues go together they are probably neutrals. Everything else is in the head of the guy who wired it (probably a spark) and are just switch wires.
Easy enough to follow if you think about it.
Starting from the bottom.
1. Hw on from cyl stat, pump and boiler switch lives and the orange to the valve
2. Hw off from clock, hw sat from cyl stat and grey to valve.
3. Heating on from room stat and white on valve
4. Probably boiler switch live linking to 1
5. Possibly a permanent live.

Neutrals and earths are below the other connectors.

Test them to confirm.

The bloke who owns the house was a sparky so to him was probably piece off piddle

 

[tamz]

In the real world very few are wired to a honeywell drawing. Just learn what switches what. Colours are irrelevant.

 

[PlumbersMate]

The only wires you can be sure of are the earths and if all blues go together they are probably neutrals. Everything else is in the head of the guy who wired it (probably a spark) and are just switch wires.
Easy enough to follow if you think about it.
Starting from the bottom.
1. Hw on from cyl stat, pump and boiler switch lives and the orange to the valve
2. Hw off from clock, hw sat from cyl stat and grey to valve.
3. Heating on from room stat and white on valve
4. Probably boiler switch live linking to 1
5. Possibly a permanent live.

Neutrals and earths are below the other connectors.

Test them to confirm.

So is Black on Cylinder Stat cable the HW on? And the blue from Cylinder Stat the Sat?

 

[PlumbersMate]

In the real world very few are wired to a honeywell drawing. Just learn what switches what. Colours are irrelevant.

Where is best place to learn this mate. Any tips?

 

[Nostrum]

Best get used to it, most are like this! The reason they are yellow is because they have used 3 core cable. Yellow is a phase colour so treat as live although heating wiring sees to break all the rules so colour is ignored, like tamz said treat everything as live. I think R1CKY is right.

Unless your familiar with heating wiring, your best to leave alone.

 

[PlumbersMate]

Best get used to it, most are like this! The reason they are yellow is because they have used 3 core cable. Yellow is a phase colour so treat as live although heating wiring sees to break all the rules so colour is ignored, like tamz said treat everything as live. I think R1CKY is right.

Unless your familiar with heating wiring, your best to leave alone.

Really not familiar with Heating Wiring at all, would love to learn though. Going to do few courses then go from there

 

[tamz]

So is Black on Cylinder Stat cable the HW on? And the blue from Cylinder Stat the Sat?

Open it and have a look.

Where is best place to learn this mate. Any tips?

Just something you learn. Start with a wiring diagram, a multi meter and a packet of 3 amp fuses.

 

[tamz]

Btw there is either another junction box somewhere or an EP2000.

 

[Nostrum]

Really not familiar with Heating Wiring at all, would love to learn though. Going to do few courses then go from there

Its fairly logical really once you understand it, and electricians tend to cock it up more than heating engineers as you can understand what is doing what and why, whereas sparks learn what wire goes where from a diagram and then struggle to put right when it doesn't work.

The key is the motorised valves, the rest is common sense.

 

[PlumbersMate]

Its fairly logical really once you understand it, and electricians tend to cock it up more than heating engineers as you can understand what is doing what and why, whereas sparks learn what wire goes where from a diagram and then struggle to put right when it doesn't work.

The key is the motorised valves, the rest is common sense.

Have you done any of the courses or you talking purely from experience?

 

[Nostrum]

Only done electrical courses, not honeywell or similar. I learnt it by wiring them up, and finding out what's wrong when they don't work.

google how does a 3 port valve work and get stuck in. If you haven't already, get some basic electrical training so you are familiar and more importantly, working safe.

 

[dave1]

Sometimes you just have to sit there and go through and work out what wire is what, I start with the 3 port and go from there. It's not do bad once your used to it.

 

[R1CKY]

Have you done any of the courses or you talking purely from experience?

As others have said, once you understand how each component works and granted you have a basic understanding of domestic wiring it is very simple.

I taught myself as an apprentice, my mentor couldn't do the wiring and relied on the foreman to wire up after us on jobs, so I just studied the inside of a drayton wiring center and figured it out from there.

2 ports are simple, 3 ports are a little more complex.

 

[stevetheplumber]

unfortunately going on courses will still not teach you much about a situation like this its a process of educated guess work to work out what goes where orange is the wire that fires boiler or boiler and pump so that leaves just 2 cables to sort out i used to sit down and write what was going where and mark each cable with tape to differentiate between them but now a picture or two on your phone does it take a look in the roomstat will often allow you to match it to one of the remaining cables by putting a meter across the wires you think and switching the stat on and of to confirm this is where the buzzer on the meter comes in handy
actually thats quite a good junction box as often there in a single box and covered in three rolls of insulation tape

 

[stevetheplumber]

sorry ment to add take no notice of colors on heating systems you'll often find blues used as switch wires

 

[PlumbersMate]

Only done electrical courses, not honeywell or similar. I learnt it by wiring them up, and finding out what's wrong when they don't work.

google how does a 3 port valve work and get stuck in. If you haven't already, get some basic electrical training so you are familiar and more importantly, working safe.

Been looking at the Baxi Basic Electrical Appreciation Course just want something to give me a foundation knowledge then I know it will make things alot easier. Thanks for your advice