This could be a really stupid, obvious question, but.....

I have currently got the heating drained down to remove a couple of rads.

Can the combi still be used (safely) for hot water?

Or does draining the heating drain the primary circuit which heats the hot
water?

It's an Ocean Style FF, btw. (Destined for replacement as soon as I can
get around to it....)


thanks
Richard


--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

RichardS wrote:
This could be a really stupid, obvious question, but.....

I have currently got the heating drained down to remove a couple of
rads.

Can the combi still be used (safely) for hot water?

Or does draining the heating drain the primary circuit which heats
the hot water?

It most likely will not even run in this mode... so it will be safe :-)

"BillR" wrote in message
...
RichardS wrote:
This could be a really stupid, obvious question, but.....

I have currently got the heating drained down to remove a couple of
rads.

Can the combi still be used (safely) for hot water?

Or does draining the heating drain the primary circuit which heats
the hot water?

It most likely will not even run in this mode... so it will be safe :-)



Hmmm. it fired up when the missus marched in and promptly turned the
kitchen hot tap on 30 seconds after being told that the heating was drained
down and that we shouldn't use the hot water until I got a definitive answer
or finished the job....

--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

RichardS wrote:
"BillR" wrote in message
...
RichardS wrote:
This could be a really stupid, obvious question, but.....

I have currently got the heating drained down to remove a couple of
rads.

Can the combi still be used (safely) for hot water?

Or does draining the heating drain the primary circuit which heats
the hot water?

It most likely will not even run in this mode... so it will be safe
:-)



Hmmm. it fired up when the missus marched in and promptly turned the
kitchen hot tap on 30 seconds after being told that the heating was
drained down and that we shouldn't use the hot water until I got a
definitive answer or finished the job....

The two combis that I've fitted specifically said in the instructions that
they would not run if there was no pressure in the CH circuit...
To test a combi boiler without rad a loop of a few metres of pipe is often
used.

In message , RichardS
writes


This could be a really stupid, obvious question, but.....

I have currently got the heating drained down to remove a couple of rads.

Can the combi still be used (safely) for hot water?

Or does draining the heating drain the primary circuit which heats the hot
water?

Yes, and there is normally a water pressure switch which won't allow the
boiler to fire up if the pressure is too low


It's an Ocean Style FF, btw. (Destined for replacement as soon as I can
get around to it....)

If you tell me exactly what boiler, I can go and check the manual

email me offlist, I have the manuals on a computer here at home
--
geoff

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 20:25:01 +0000, BillR wrote:

RichardS wrote:
"BillR" wrote in message
...
RichardS wrote:
This could be a really stupid, obvious question, but.....

I have currently got the heating drained down to remove a couple of
rads.

Can the combi still be used (safely) for hot water?

Or does draining the heating drain the primary circuit which heats
the hot water?

It most likely will not even run in this mode... so it will be safe
:-)



Hmmm. it fired up when the missus marched in and promptly turned the
kitchen hot tap on 30 seconds after being told that the heating was
drained down and that we shouldn't use the hot water until I got a
definitive answer or finished the job....

The two combis that I've fitted specifically said in the instructions that
they would not run if there was no pressure in the CH circuit...
To test a combi boiler without rad a loop of a few metres of pipe is often
used.

If the boiler has isolating valves on the primary connections you may well
get away with it provided the boiler is still filled and pressured.
If the loop is external it will be difficult to fill it.
Also the manufacturers may rely on the promary circuit being connected to
dump excess heat into after DHW mode.


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

"RichardS" noaccess@invalid wrote in message
. ..


This could be a really stupid, obvious question, but.....

I have currently got the heating drained down to remove a couple of rads.

Can the combi still be used (safely) for hot water?

Or does draining the heating drain the primary circuit which heats the hot
water?

It's an Ocean Style FF, btw. (Destined for replacement as soon as I can
get around to it....)


Thanks, Bill, Ed, Geoff

All back and working now, so the question of DHW doesn't arise tomorrow
morning....

It seems that the boiler firing up when SWMBO turned the hot tap on might
have been a momentary fluke due to some wierd pressurisation in the vicinity
of the pressure switch. It didn't do it again (I was curious).

At 11:30 PM when I have just managed to dislodge the compression joint on
one of the lockshields, I find myself very glad that I stopped, scratched my
head, and thought "yes, better get some just in case" when passing the 15mm
olive section of wherever I was 3 years ago!

The room ought to be a little warmer now that there is some skirting board
on the radiator wall - there were 2 air bricks that were 1/3rd above floor
level and venting straight into the room....

--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk