"kiich" wrote:

Hi riccip

By which programmer though? the programmer underneath the boiler OR the
7 day immersion heater one? or both?

The boiler programmer (CH & HW).

kiichi ok - so if the boiler programmer controls the valve, what
exactly is the "7 day immersion heater timer programmer" used for?
to heat up the cylinder??

See below...

so if my understanding is correct,

1) the boiler programmer controls when the BOILER should come on for
both HW and CH and also the valve to let water cycle through from the
hot water cylinder to the house for CH

2) the 7 day immersion heater timer controls when to heat up water in
the cylinder tank - so that the water in there can be used to heat up
the CH

so from above, am i right in thinking that both timers settings needs
to be the same?? why not have just 1 controller to do both??

Your copper cylinder has two ways of heating your HW to the tap.
It has an electrical immersion heater controlled by the 7-day
immersion timer AND a coiled pipe to/from your boiler. The two
are independent of each other.

Normally you would only use the electrical immersion heater to
boost the water heating early in the morning or before filling a
bath. It's expensive to use unless you have cheaper night-time
electricity, in which case you'd set the timer to heat it at
night. Also during the summer when you don't use your CH it can
be cheaper to turn the boiler off and just heat the water by
electricity.

If that doesn't explain it please feel free to ask more
questions.

assuming that the valve is electrically controlled (motorised).
You said above there is a wire going to it. It should look
something like the one at this URL:
http://tinyurl.com/bb7d2

Kiichi
i will check tonight but yes i think thats how it looked - different
make of valve though.

It doesn't matter about the make coz they're all basically the
same. Yours is probably more like the first image he
http://tinyurl.com/8gn9k

kiichi i will check for the slide - can i just slide the lever by
force?

Yes. Look at the second picture and you can see the lever. It
will feel quite stiff because as you slide it along it manually
spins a small motor inside. Pull it all the way as far as it can
go then push it up and it will hook into a small recess to hold
it open, otherwise it will slowly spring back. If your boiler is
on then you should get both CH and HW.

if that does work (god please let it work! ;-)) then why would i need
to manually do that?

To test the valve and help find the problem. It's possible the
small motor has gone inside the valve. Unlikely though.

Kiichi
so you think cold water is NOT being pumped by the motor?? why would
the cold water in en-suite make the pump to come on then? i thought
that was ok as my cold water pressure is v. low when i turn off the
shower pump.

I really don't know. Perhaps someone else has a suggestion?

Highly unlikely. There should be more than enogh flexibility to
slide something under there. I was thinking something like a
J-sponge, about a quarter-inch thick.

kiichi ok - i will try that this weekend. where can i get j-sponge?
b&q?

Anywhere that sells dishcloths and that sort of thing. It's just
a flat, square dishwashing sponge. Try a piece of corrugated
cardboard first. If that reduces the noise replace it with the
sponge.

riccip