kiich wrote:

question 1) We have a boiler, hot water tank, water pump (next to the
boiler), what looks like a valve next to the water pump and a shower
pump

How many pipes connect to this valve? (two or three would be the common
options).

Now my understanding was the water pump gets used to circulate hot
water around the house for central heating, correct?

It pumps water round a heating circuit that runs from the boiler,
through something and then back to the boiler. The something will
usually be some combination of your heating circuit (i.e. the
radiators), and/or your hot water circuit.

Have a look at your hot water cylinder; how many pipes do you see in and
out? There will usually be a cold feed into the bottom of it (typically
coming from a cold water tank in the loft), and a hot water feed out of
the very top of it. You would also expect to see a couple of pipes that
connect to the side of the cylinder. These will usually be the flow and
return from the heating circuit. The connect to a heat exchanger coil in
the tank, so they have no direct connection to the water in the tank -
but by pushing hot water through them you in turn cause the water in the
tank to heat up.

Well we have no central heating! the only heating we have is a heater
in the bathroom (both main and ensuite) but i was told they may be
connected differently to the radiators and hence why they work. But
even they stop going hot after sometime.

Typically a complete system will be "zoned" in some way. A very simple
system is what they call a "Y Plan" configuration. Here the hot water
generated by the boiler is fed first to a three port valve, and from
there it can go either to the radiators via one outlet, or to the hot
water cylinder via the other. Sometimes half and half if it is the right
kind of valve (known as a mid position valve). Which output is selected
on the valve will usually be controlled by the the room thermostat, the
cylinder thermostat, and typically a programmer of some sort. So to get
the heating to run you may need to set the programmer to allow it, and
also have the room thermostat set high enough so that it is "calling for
heat".

The reason that your bathroom radiators work may be that they have been
installed on the non zoned part of the heating circuit. In this way they
will get hot whenecer the boiler is running - be it for heating the
radiators or the hot water cylinder. This is ofen done in bathrooms to
ensure that heated towel rails etc. remain heated even during the summer
when most people have the heating turned off.

So no central heating - so after reading the DIY books i have, i
checked:
a) the boiler - which comes on when i switch everything on and i can
see the pilot light and i DO get ho****er so that looks ok

OK. Depending on the type of vales used on your system, and the
programmer you may or may not be able to have hot water heating at the
same time as heating. It is not unusual to have the hot water heating
take priority. So once it is up to temperature the system will revet to
heating assuming the room stat and the programmer are allowing it.

b) the water pump - it has 2 settings, high pressure and low pressure.
i think the pump is working but i cant tell for sure since when i touch
it, because its next to the boiler, the vibration is THERE but i cant
tell if its from the boiler or the pump. anyhow, if i change the
settings to low pressure, the water pump seems to quiet down in
vibration a bit so i think its working.

If it were not working the boiler would very quickly shut down with an
overheat fault detected.

c) valve - i havent checked yet and read that there may be a switch
that only enables HW only and no CH - this could be the cause which i
will check tonight

Again depends on the type of valve. Many have controls that enable them
to be manually set in the absense of any external control (or a failure
of the electronics/motor in the valve)

d) raditors themselves - haven't checked but the pipes to the radiators
itself is cold so i think no water is coming in.

What type of valves are on the radiators? One end will be a lockshield
valve (i.e. one that may need a tool to adjust and will often have a
blanking cap over it). The other may be a manual valve that works just
like a tap, or it may be an automatic thermostatic valve. Again in warm
weather the thermostatic valve may refuse to operate if it thinks the
room is already warm enough.

So afterall of the above, i can only think it is either the water pump
or valve.

More likely to be down to control settings I would guess - the
thermostats and the controller. Possibly the thermostatic rad valves
(TRVs) if you have them.

The boiler does have a timer and a separate 7 day heat immersion timer
(presumbely for CH only?) - both constantly set to ON.

Is this timer connected to the boiler? Does your cylinder have a
immersion heater? (the top of which would normally be visible sticking
out the cylinder - it would also have to have wires connecting to it).

If it turns out that you don't actually have an immersion heater, it is
possible that someone used a time switch designed for controlling one
just as a way of providing a time switch facility to the boiler.

Question 2) In the ensuite - the shower pressure is ok - since that is
coming from the SHOWER PUMP in the airing cupboard and i can hear the
pump working when i turn on the cold tap and hot tap on the basin sink
in the en-suite.

OK...

However, in the MAIN bathroom, the cold water tap pressure is LOW - and
i can not hear the pump. its only when i turn the hot water tap on, the
pump seems to kick in and pressure is ok.

Same when i use the taps/shower in the bath of MAIN bathroom

so it looks like the pump is only coming on for HOT water ONLY in the
main bathroom - why is this?

Are you sure it is the same pump being used for both bathrooms? You may
have another somewhere else.

Also, when people talk about shower pump, i thought it only boosts the
shower - but in ou flat, it does for taps as well - is this ok?

You can actually use them to supply taps as well if you want.

question 3)
Shower pump (showermate 1.4bar twin max - working pressure 3.5bar) is
way too noisey in the airing cupboard.

how can i reduce this noise? i read that i can have a box and some
insulating stuff around it - but also read this is not good because the
pump may overheat?

the pump is just sitting on a shelf inside the airing cupboard

Mounting and baffling are the things to look at - if it is rigidly fixed
then changing to a slightly flexible mount may help reduce noise
transmission through the structure of the building (but may make it
worse through the pipes). If it is flopping about loose then fixing it
down may help! It can be a case of "suck it and see".

Hot water cylinder also has thermostat - which i have it set to 70??

Should be OK... what about a room thermostat?


--
Cheers,

John.

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