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Alastair Rainsbury January 4th 04 08:35 PM

problem with a combi boiler
 
I've just moved into a new house, and it has a combi boiler. The central
heating from it works fine both upstairs and downstairs - all the
radiators heat up.

The problem is with the hot water. The hot water tap in the kitchen next
to the boiler works fine, but there is no hot water in the bathroom
upstairs. The radiator in the bathroom (and other upstairs rooms) work
fine, but no hot water comes out of either the shower, or the bathroom
sink.

Can anyone give me a few pointers on what the problem might be, where to
start looking, etc.

It seems weird that it's only the ho****er upstairs that's not working -
if it was all the hot water, or if everything upstairs (i.e. radiators
included) that didn't work it would make more sense to me.

--

Alastair Rainsbury "CTID" )

If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

http://www.ignis-fatuus.org

Lee Blaver January 4th 04 08:44 PM

problem with a combi boiler
 
Alastair Rainsbury wrote:

I've just moved into a new house, and it has a combi boiler. The central
heating from it works fine both upstairs and downstairs - all the
radiators heat up.

The problem is with the hot water. The hot water tap in the kitchen next
to the boiler works fine, but there is no hot water in the bathroom
upstairs. The radiator in the bathroom (and other upstairs rooms) work
fine, but no hot water comes out of either the shower, or the bathroom
sink.

Can anyone give me a few pointers on what the problem might be, where to
start looking, etc.

It seems weird that it's only the ho****er upstairs that's not working -
if it was all the hot water, or if everything upstairs (i.e. radiators
included) that didn't work it would make more sense to me.


If you mean no water comes out at all, have you checked for a closed
stopcock?
If however, you get cold water out of the taps, have you checked there
is no hot water cylinder or thermal store installed? ... :)

Lee
--
To reply use lee.blaver and ntlworld.com


Ewan MacIntyre January 4th 04 08:44 PM

problem with a combi boiler
 
Alastair Rainsbury wrote:
It seems weird that it's only the ho****er upstairs that's not working -
if it was all the hot water, or if everything upstairs (i.e. radiators
included) that didn't work it would make more sense to me.


Alastair,

Can you hear water flowing through the combi when the upstairs taps run?
This is just a basic sanity check to ensure they are actually plumbed in
as you'd expect.

If they are, then I'd suspect that the flow control valve on the boiler
is set too low. You need to check the manual to know precisely, but on
the combi I used to have, it was on the cold inlet to the boiler, and
needed just a flat-bladed screwdriver to adjust.

The commissioning guide to combis usually advises adjusting this valve
so that turning on a tap to maximum will provide very hot water.
However, if the mains pressure changes, this setting can be wrong. I
used to just open the flow valve fully, knowing that if I turned on the
tap too much, the water would actually be cooler than if the tap were on
less.

All of this assumes that your combi is supplied with cold water from the
mains. If it is supplied from a cold tank in the loft, then you might
not have enough head to trigger the flow switch. Also, even with the
mains I suppose the pressure could simply be too upstairs?

Ewan


BigWallop January 4th 04 09:45 PM

problem with a combi boiler
 

"Alastair Rainsbury" wrote in message ...
I've just moved into a new house, and it has a combi boiler. The central
heating from it works fine both upstairs and downstairs - all the
radiators heat up.

The problem is with the hot water. The hot water tap in the kitchen next
to the boiler works fine, but there is no hot water in the bathroom
upstairs. The radiator in the bathroom (and other upstairs rooms) work
fine, but no hot water comes out of either the shower, or the bathroom
sink.

Can anyone give me a few pointers on what the problem might be, where to
start looking, etc.

It seems weird that it's only the ho****er upstairs that's not working -
if it was all the hot water, or if everything upstairs (i.e. radiators
included) that didn't work it would make more sense to me.

Alastair Rainsbury "CTID" )



If all the hot water is produced by the boiler, then it might be that the pipe run (length) is to much for
the boiler and you're losing all the heat from the pipes before it reaches the taps upstairs. You might
also have a cylinder that stores hot water produced from the heating circuit of the boiler, so check that
valves are fully open, and that the heating circuit doesn't have a zone valve (electrically operated
valve) fitted to the system and is stopping the hot water cylinder from heating.


---
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Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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Andrew January 4th 04 10:39 PM

problem with a combi boiler
 
In article , Ewan MacIntyre
writes
Alastair Rainsbury wrote:
It seems weird that it's only the ho****er upstairs that's not working -
if it was all the hot water, or if everything upstairs (i.e. radiators
included) that didn't work it would make more sense to me.


Alastair,

Can you hear water flowing through the combi when the upstairs taps run?
This is just a basic sanity check to ensure they are actually plumbed in
as you'd expect.

If they are, then I'd suspect that the flow control valve on the boiler
is set too low. You need to check the manual to know precisely, but on
the combi I used to have, it was on the cold inlet to the boiler, and
needed just a flat-bladed screwdriver to adjust.

The commissioning guide to combis usually advises adjusting this valve
so that turning on a tap to maximum will provide very hot water.
However, if the mains pressure changes, this setting can be wrong. I
used to just open the flow valve fully, knowing that if I turned on the
tap too much, the water would actually be cooler than if the tap were on
less.

All of this assumes that your combi is supplied with cold water from the
mains. If it is supplied from a cold tank in the loft, then you might
not have enough head to trigger the flow switch. Also, even with the
mains I suppose the pressure could simply be too upstairs?

Ewan

Do you have a hot tank ?. If you *do* then it will be treated as a
'heating zone', in which case only the kitchen sink may be on the DHW
circuit. If this is the case a 2-way or 3-way valve is stuck preventing
the hot tank primary coil from getting any hot water even though the
rads (on another heating zone) are working fine.
--
Andrew

Christian McArdle January 5th 04 10:55 AM

problem with a combi boiler
 
and that the heating circuit doesn't have a zone valve (electrically
operated valve) fitted to the system and is stopping the hot water
cylinder from heating.


Of course, the previous occupant may have turned off the hot water at the
programmer when they moved out.

Christian.




Alastair Rainsbury January 5th 04 01:31 PM

problem with a combi boiler
 
In message , Christian
McArdle writes
and that the heating circuit doesn't have a zone valve (electrically
operated valve) fitted to the system and is stopping the hot water
cylinder from heating.


Of course, the previous occupant may have turned off the hot water at the
programmer when they moved out.

Christian.



I've checked that already, the switch points to hot water & central
heating

--

Alastair Rainsbury "CTID" )

Amazingly, it is illegal in all 48 US states for a railway train to be equipped
with brakes.

http://www.ignis-fatuus.org

Alastair Rainsbury January 5th 04 01:33 PM

problem with a combi boiler
 
In message , Ewan MacIntyre
writes
Alastair Rainsbury wrote:
It seems weird that it's only the ho****er upstairs that's not
working - if it was all the hot water, or if everything upstairs (i.e.
radiators included) that didn't work it would make more sense to me.


Alastair,

Can you hear water flowing through the combi when the upstairs taps
run? This is just a basic sanity check to ensure they are actually
plumbed in as you'd expect.

If they are, then I'd suspect that the flow control valve on the boiler
is set too low. You need to check the manual to know precisely, but on
the combi I used to have, it was on the cold inlet to the boiler, and
needed just a flat-bladed screwdriver to adjust.

The commissioning guide to combis usually advises adjusting this valve
so that turning on a tap to maximum will provide very hot water.
However, if the mains pressure changes, this setting can be wrong. I
used to just open the flow valve fully, knowing that if I turned on the
tap too much, the water would actually be cooler than if the tap were
on less.

All of this assumes that your combi is supplied with cold water from
the mains. If it is supplied from a cold tank in the loft, then you
might not have enough head to trigger the flow switch. Also, even with
the mains I suppose the pressure could simply be too upstairs?

Ewan



Hmmm, that sounds like the best bet so far. I'm now off to start
twiddling knobs/valves.

--

Alastair Rainsbury "CTID" )

Amazingly, it is illegal in all 48 US states for a railway train to be equipped
with brakes.

http://www.ignis-fatuus.org

John Stumbles January 5th 04 08:22 PM

US train brakes (was problem with a combi boiler
 
"Alastair Rainsbury" wrote in message
...
Alastair Rainsbury "CTID" )

Amazingly, it is illegal in all 48 US states for a railway train to be

equipped
with brakes.

http://www.ignis-fatuus.org


go on - tell us!

(The site crashes my IE (5.5, sp2))


--
John Stumbles
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S Viemeister January 5th 04 09:13 PM

problem with a combi boiler
 
Alastair Rainsbury wrote:

Alastair Rainsbury "CTID" )

Amazingly, it is illegal in all 48 US states for a railway train to be equipped
with brakes.

http://www.ignis-fatuus.org


I haven't looked at the above site, but if it can't even get the number of
US states correct, why should the rest be believed? (There are 50 states,
since, IIRC, the 60s.)



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