Hi John - thanks for the reply.

to most of your reply, i will need to check them out tonight at home
should have taken a day off work if i knew i was going to get this many
replies!

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

kiichi i think it was 2 - but will check tonight

Have a look at your hot water cylinder; how many pipes do you see in and
out?

kiichi will check tonight as well


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".

OK - i do have the following settings:
1) room thermostat - set to 25 - its highest. i can only find 1 in the
flat which is what i expect/
2) cylinder thermostat - set it to 70; highest is 90 (or around there)
3) programmer - boiler programmer set to CONSTANT; heather immersion
timer set to ON with the over-ride switch, but this i was told by
Dave(see previous reply) that is a backup - but if so, why is it there?

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.

Kiichi that is exactly what happens - it is actually a towel rail i
think but a big one so i thought it was a heater of some sort. so when
boiler comes on, it gets hot - it eventually stops getting hot and the
boiler also is off at the same time.

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.

Kiichi Hmmm - so how do i check that? when you say "valve", you mean
the valve next to the water pump, right? i will get details tonight

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

kiichi how quickly? i ask because my boiler does turn off after a
while but thats because i'm not using hot water right?

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)

Kiichi will check for this tonight. can i just turn this control
using a screw driver or by hand?


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.

kiichi manual tap - like my tap. i have this opened up all the way.
not an automatic one.

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.

no TRV for me i think - all the radiators looks like my dads place ones
which are old.

if it is control settings, why doesnt having all programmers set to
CONSTANT and thermostat to the highest settings make the CH work then?


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).

kiichiyou mean the programmer/timer underneath the boiler? if so,
YES.

The 7 day immersion timer/programmer is connected to that one - but
doesnt seem to make any difference whatever settings i make it to do.

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.

kiichi
how do i know that i dont have immersion heater? i cant see one in the
flat - so i guess i dont??

if the immersion heater programmer is indeed used as a time switch
facility to the boiler (via the old looking boiler programmer), how
come it doesnt do anything to the boiler when i set it to ON using the
over-ride on the immersion heater timer??

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

kiichi yes. i turn the tap on, go and check the pump and it is
buzzing away.

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".

kiichi
i dont think it is flopping about - just sitting there.
the noise isnt just from the vibration - it is also from the pump
itself (if you know what i mean) but i will try and put some rubber etc
under neath it

if i do that, can i do it without do anything to the pipes coming into
the shower pump?? would that not damage the pipes??

thanks for all your answers!