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Kingspan heating (or lack of) issue


Lynford

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Thanks all. Curiouser and curiouser !

 

I’ll do the TRV checks, and make sure the LS valves are open,  thanks Jeremy. 

 

I did have a thought. Where terminal 3 was broken within the heat pump, and I’ve put a connector block between what went in the two sides - You mentioned that #3 is internally linked to #13. Will I need to recreate that link as I have effectively taken the terminal block out of the loop for that terminal (#3)

 

Thanks again,

Lyndon

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Afternoon gents.....back in Weeting again and may have a (very worrying) breakthrough.

 

I checked all the TRVs to make sure they weren’t stuck, all good. I checked for continuity between terminals 3 & 13, yep it’s there. 

 

I turned on the ASHP and it started running, made sure that the heating was being called for and that HW request was off. Still no heating until I flicked the 3 port valve over to manual and we started getting some heat........could it be that we were stripping out the heat from the HW produced by the immersion heater ? Is that possible ?

 

Anyway - Now for the worrying bit, especially when people place such importance on flow / pressure etc. It turns out that originally the system that was fitted was a 8kw one. This was changed before the in-laws moved in to the current 15kw one, allegedly due to it not being man enough (it’s only a 6 room + hallway bungalow). While reading the manual today I noticed that for 12kw and upwards the pipework should be 28mm, but the pipework we have is 22mm, as would have been fitted for the 8kw version.

 

Very worrying or just me clutching at straws ?

 

Thanks for your help, as ever. 

 

Lyndon

 

 

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Crank the pump up to 3 - 12kw is fine on 22mm, even 24kw gas boilers only use 22mm so you have plenty of headroom although an ASHP needs flow rate too. 

 

Sounds like a new diverter Head needed - not easy to find but some of the bigger places stock them. 

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Thanks Peter, I was hoping that the pipe size might have had some bearing on it.......bugger !

 

Do you mean the 3 port valve, or just the head of it ? I had the head off the other week and it seems to rotate ok when it’s powered up / powered off. What really confused me is that when I put it on manual we started getting heat in the rads, I thought manual on those was to move the system over to HW ?

 

Thanks,

Lyndon

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  • 4 weeks later...

Morning all.

Been off the case for a few weeks while the FIL had someone else look at it but had another go yesterday. It’s not getting anymore straightforward and has made me realise I should have started a lot more basic.

First of all the HW timer was programmed all over the shop, on several days it was on for a total of 13hrs between 4am & 11pm. As this overrides the heating I thought I’d found the issue (plus the heating timer was set up all over the place as well)

I still only seemed to get heat at the rads with the 3 port valve overridden using the lever. Apparently this valve was changed or repositioned when the HW cylinder was changed. It’s difficult to get in there to see but I got my phone in to get a picture.........I think the valve could have been fitted the wrong way round ? The system apparently was working before the HW cylinder was changed. 

 

I thought (think) that B on the valve should go to the HW cylinder ? Whereas it disappears into the floor so I think it goes to the rads. Meanwhile A from the valve goes into ‘Heat pump coil’ in the HW cylinder. 

Is this the wrong way round ? Just seems strange that if I manually move the valve over I get heat at the rads. 

 

If this is the case it’s partly my fault for not checking the very basics (programmer / valve orientation etc). Maybe too trusting that the ‘experts’ who have been around before have checked the right things or done their job properly. 

 

Thanks as as always for any help, always appreciated. 

 

 

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On 08/03/2018 at 19:00, PeterW said:

Is the valve stem stiff..??

 

Head should only go on one way - get someone else to switch the heating on and see if it whirrs when it’s on the valve. 

 

Sorry for taking a while to come back Peter. Yep, I can move the stem easily by hand and can feel it move when I switch the HW on & off. 

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29 minutes ago, Lynford said:

@JSHarris @Nickfromwales

Gentlemen, thank you very much.

 

Now to work out how to spin it around without filling the bungalow with water !

 

The feed to the valve has an isolator underneath the pump, I’m hoping I can knock that off and I won’t get too much of a soaking. 

 

 

Lol. Buy some wellies. You need to isolate the 3 pipes or your going to get very wet. Remember to isolate the electrical supply so you don't get electrocuted as well as drowned :D

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Hugely disappointing but glad I found this in the manual before we tried to switch the valve around !

 

Just confuses me more why we only get heat at the rads when the valve is manually moved over......

 

 

 

 

 

3C0FDDD6-5ABC-49D6-9A12-A7A4B6FCD788.jpeg

Edited by Lynford
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  • 4 months later...

Thank you all for your help......it’s a pity local tradesmen weren’t as much use as you all !

 

Unfortunately we never got to the bottom of whether it was an ASHP issue or a control problem and they have decided to cut their losses and get a replacement system fitted. 

 

Anyone wanna buy a 15kw Kingspan that may or may not work ?

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Heat pumps do seem to throw up some problems. I found the documentation for my (LG) unit appalling and some basic but vital information missing and it took many emails to customer support to finally get it working. Even then I had to diagnose and fix what I believe is a design fault to get it to work reliably.

 

I feel there is some way to go in terms of product development, documentation and support before these will be as universally accepted and usable as a humble boiler.  Which is a shame as when set up properly they are very good.

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Likewise, I spent hours effectively reverse engineering ours to find out how to best control it.  I think much of the problems lie with these often being badge-engineered devices, with the named manufacturer not having in-depth technical knowledge of the product.

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  • 1 month later...
On 24/08/2018 at 18:13, Lynford said:

Thank you all for your help......it’s a pity local tradesmen weren’t as much use as you all !

 

Unfortunately we never got to the bottom of whether it was an ASHP issue or a control problem and they have decided to cut their losses and get a replacement system fitted. 

 

Anyone wanna buy a 15kw Kingspan that may or may not work ?

So having read all the way through this... I need to know the conclusion... what did they replace it with? Did you sell the KIngspand ASHP? 

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  • 2 years later...

Hi my Kingspan air source heat pump is throwing up a fault ( Unit Capacity Mismatch) this has appeared after fitting replacement Flow Switch. I’m having difficulty in contacting anybody that has an idea how to diagnose this issue. I live in Cornwall.

Thank you forum .

Edited by Kb1
Miss spelled
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