I have scanned through the numerous queries regarding problems with
Central Heating when the Hot Water part of the system is working fine
(the problem I also have) and noticed that the majority of times
replacing the motor sorts the problem.

I had a heating engineer out for 2 1/2 hours on Friday trying to find
the cause of the problem and needless to say he thought the motor
needed replacing but it is fine.

The question I had was what triggers the boiler to start up if the
microswitch wire on the central heating motorised valve unit is
deliberately capped off with a junction box?

The engineer and myself both looked for a stray wire to attach to the
other side of the junction box to no avail.

Seems every issue I ever have with houses I own is a 'non-standard'
setup.

Thanks in advance,

John

On 12 Jan 2004 02:51:06 -0800, (John Pearson)
wrote:

I have scanned through the numerous queries regarding problems with
Central Heating when the Hot Water part of the system is working fine
(the problem I also have) and noticed that the majority of times
replacing the motor sorts the problem.

I had a heating engineer out for 2 1/2 hours on Friday trying to find
the cause of the problem and needless to say he thought the motor
needed replacing but it is fine.

The question I had was what triggers the boiler to start up if the
microswitch wire on the central heating motorised valve unit is
deliberately capped off with a junction box?

The engineer and myself both looked for a stray wire to attach to the
other side of the junction box to no avail.

Seems every issue I ever have with houses I own is a 'non-standard'
setup.

Thanks in advance,

John

In some instances the boiler is wired to come on with the valve, so in
your case it could be that the brown, (motor live), could be connected
with the boiler switch wire in the junction box.
What type of system do you have, Y plan, S plan. When you say motor I
assume you mean motorised valve motor, do you?
It is unlikely that the wiring would just fall out with no trace of
where it came from but some more info would help to diagnose a littlke
further.

SJW

Not sure whether my system is Y or S plan but based on what the
engineer said I would think it is Y plan.

The motor I mentioned is indeed the motorised valve motor.

I have a Potterton EP2002 control panel.

Really ought to know what make my boiler is but I can't remember.

Hopefully there is an engineer at home working on the problem as we
speak, with some knowledge of the electrical side of central heating.

The engineer who came round on Friday said the on-call guy for the
weekend wasn't qualified to work on gas systems (not Corgi registered)
which I thought was particularly useful, not.

Thanks for your prompt response,

John

On 12 Jan 2004 07:46:29 -0800, (John Pearson)
wrote:

Not sure whether my system is Y or S plan but based on what the
engineer said I would think it is Y plan.

The motor I mentioned is indeed the motorised valve motor.

I have a Potterton EP2002 control panel.

Really ought to know what make my boiler is but I can't remember.

Hopefully there is an engineer at home working on the problem as we
speak, with some knowledge of the electrical side of central heating.

The engineer who came round on Friday said the on-call guy for the
weekend wasn't qualified to work on gas systems (not Corgi registered)
which I thought was particularly useful, not.

Thanks for your prompt response,

John

Quite often it is the valve but I have come across instances of it
being the cylinder stat.
If you want to test it yourself try this. I could go into detail with
the wiring I know people who do this all the time getting confused
from time to time!
Assuming you have a mid-position valve .
Turn the cylinder stat down to minimum and turn the room stat up to
call for heat. With CH on only on the programmer, the boiler and pump
should fire and the pipe below the valve should become warm, the pipe
off of port 'A' should be warm also. Feel about 6-8 inches back from
the valve.
Now turn the room stat down to minimum and turn HW on at the
programmer, the boiler and pump should run and the pipe off of ports
'B' should become warm.
Now turn the room stat up to call for heat, pipes at ports 'A' and 'B'
should be warm.

If it's not doing this let us know what it's not doing, hopefully
it'll be a "regular" fault and not something totally obscure!
SJW

"Lurch" wrote in message
...
On 12 Jan 2004 07:46:29 -0800, (John Pearson)
wrote:

Not sure whether my system is Y or S plan but based on what the
engineer said I would think it is Y plan.

The motor I mentioned is indeed the motorised valve motor.

I have a Potterton EP2002 control panel.

Really ought to know what make my boiler is but I can't remember.

Hopefully there is an engineer at home working on the problem as we
speak, with some knowledge of the electrical side of central heating.

The engineer who came round on Friday said the on-call guy for the
weekend wasn't qualified to work on gas systems (not Corgi registered)
which I thought was particularly useful, not.

Thanks for your prompt response,

John

Quite often it is the valve but I have come across instances of it
being the cylinder stat.

A failed stat / a stat turned up to the max temp /or stat not connected
correctly to the tank cylinder stat may cause this fault. Is the boiler
firing when your programmer is not calling for either HW or CH?

--
Adam

Mystery solved.

Turns out that my heating system has 1 valve for water heating and 2
valves for central heating.

The central heating valves are located under a hatch in the
understairs cupboard and upstairs in the front bedroom cupboard
underneath the built in shelves (convenient I don't think).

The upstairs CH valve had a faulty motor (the cause behind 90% of CH
problems where you get water heating but no room heating it seems to
me) and once swapped every thing is now working correctly.

I'll have to leave some instructions as to where all these valves are
for the next people who live in this bizarre house.

Thanks for all the advice,

John

Turns out that my heating system has 1 valve for water heating and 2
valves for central heating.

Then it is probably S Plan Plus. The best system. Ensure you have
programmable room thermostats in each zone. Then you can set different
timings for the bedrooms vs the reception rooms. There's no need to heat the
bedrooms during the day.

Christian.