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My Nightmare Heating System


newhome

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2 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

I think I mentioned about 19 pages ago that we were going to need to talk about your evils of insulation etc, which will affect how much you run it.

 

Has that time arrived?

 

Frost setting in the wings of the house you do not use, and perhaps even draughtbproofing those doors sounds like an option.

 

It’s not fixed yet so might not quite be time. The heating doesn’t work in most of the house anyway although I am ‘losing’ hot water to the manifolds that doesn’t make it into the rooms but hopefully that will get sorted when it’s fixed. Every room is on frost apart from 2 currently.  

 

 

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Having said that the back door doesn't seem that well insulated (as in I can feel a draft) and the heating is always on in that room so I should probably do something about that. 

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9 hours ago, newhome said:

I'm not entirely convinced by the economics of having to run the boiler all the time (I know the output drops back as needed mind) to keep the TS up to temperature. In the summer I only need to switch on a tap, get a bit of hot water and switch off again. Not liking the sound of the boiler being on all the time just for that. 

Edited 7 hours ago by newhome

It won't be ;). When set up properly it'll just be coming on, topping up the top of the TS, and then knocking back off until needed again. That would be 'summer mode' where you don't want to run heating. 

If you want heating then the boiler must be allowed to run to offset whatever heat is being lost from the house. It will still only heat what is necessary, it's just set up terribly at the moment, and when it's doing things it's the wrong things. 

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2 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

It won't be ;). When set up properly it'll just be coming on, topping up the top of the TS, and then knocking back off until needed again. That would be 'summer mode' where you don't want to run heating. 

 

 

Ah, well that's not so bad then. I had visions of £300 heating bills in the summer! 

 

Finally got it to heat enough water for a bath tonight. Whacked the boiler up to 85, that heated the TS to just over 60 and that gave enough hot water to fill the smaller bath. Beats boiling up kettles to top up which is what I was doing! So I'll be doing that when I want to shower etc. in the evening and then turning it down afterwards. Won't be happening in the morning as no time to faff around with temperatures before work and I assume I shouldn't leave the boiler at 85 all the time? :S Those pumps (the up, down, and upside down) stay the same temp as they were before the TS was hotter (if that makes a difference). 

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Cranking it up to get a good chunk of hot water is the only thing you can do at the moment because the boiler can't shift heat into the TS quick enough at the moment, because of that PHE and the TMV on the TS return ( prob ) being set wrong or failed altogether. If that has failed or is set wrong then even to get DHW the whole TS will be trying to heat up, rather than just the top 1/3rd. 

Pointless fretting as it'll only get better with an overhaul. :ph34r:

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7 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Check with the neighbours as they may affect them. ;) 

:D

 

 

Most of them round here work at the nuclear power station so they live with that risk every day ;)

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Just thought of another (fairly minor) irritation. DHW seems to take quite a while to arrive upstairs, especially to the taps / showers furthest away from the TS. Is that just due to the distance and something to live with? I have to warn visitors that hot water won’t arrive instantly. 

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Do you know how far away it it.  If you can estimate it reasonably well, and you can easily measure the flow rate (jug and stopwatch), you can work out if it is a real problem or just something you have to live with.

Are the pipes lagged?

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14 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Do you know how far away it it.  If you can estimate it reasonably well, and you can easily measure the flow rate (jug and stopwatch), you can work out if it is a real problem or just something you have to live with.

Are the pipes lagged?

 

I don’t know re the pipes. I didn’t really take much notice when that stuff was going on sadly as I had a flat in Edinburgh in the early stages. Here are the only photos I can find so I imagine the answer to the insulation question is no. 

 

Adding up the distance directly round the walls (is that where the pipes are likely to be?). It’s circa 35 metres to the furthest shower. 

 

So re the flow rate I time how long hot hot water takes to arrive once the tap is turned on? 

 

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Flow rate is how many litres per minute comes out the tap.

Then you work out the volume of the pipe and that should give you the time.

If you compare it to other other taps around the place, you should be able to see if it is that bathroom has a particular problem, or it is just a general lack of flow and pressure.

All a bit of a faff I know.  But I will get you measuring everything eventually.

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Sounds like a couple of cold dead legs - not much you can do now as the method of fixing is either to use a hot return loop or use smaller bore pipe to the taps.

 

Not sure with how yours is set up anyway if you could use a hot return anyway as there is a flow switch in the cold feed to trigger the Heat Exchanger loop pump. 

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6 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

If you compare it to other other taps around the place, you should be able to see if it is that bathroom has a particular problem, or it is just a general lack of flow and pressure.

All a bit of a faff I know.  But I will get you measuring everything eventually.

 

Lol re the measuring! It’s not just that bathroom, it’s all of the taps upstairs in my view. I know I’m impatient though ;). Will time how long the hot water takes and you can tell me if I need to chill out more :D  

 

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7 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Sounds like a couple of cold dead legs - not much you can do now as the method of fixing is either to use a hot return loop or use smaller bore pipe to the taps.

 

I will work on being more patient! :D:ph34r:

 

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So it’s circa 30 seconds to feel any sign of warmth at all and just over a minute to get it up to the full temperature. That’s a minute of my life I will never get back when I shower :D 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

A minute don't sound too bad, but then I live in Cornwall and everything is 20 years behind, except Norfolk.

 

Cornwall sounds lovely though. My aunt lives in Looe somewhere but I haven’t seen her since I was a kid. My brother’s been looking to buy a holiday cottage in Port Issac but I think it’s crazy expensive. I should encourage him really and get somewhere to go on holiday :D.

 

 

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There are cheaper and better places than Port Isaac (or Portwenn as some know it).

Some even have loads of unrestricted parking.

Ask him how much he wants to spend and what sort of summer income he fancies.

Edited by SteamyTea
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Just now, SteamyTea said:

There are cheaper and better places than Port Isaac (or Port Wen as some know it).

Some even have loads of unrestricted parking.

Ask him how much he wants to spend and what sort of summer income he fancies.

 

From memory the places he looked at were circa 350k - 400k for a fairly small 2 bed with a single parking space (which was the main issue with buying a house there, ie most didn't have one). Not sure about the rental income he was looking for TBH but occupancy levels were a major factor. He didn't want to buy somewhere further out and then have trouble renting it. He said that they had rejected Polzeath but not sure why. He was looking for somewhere right near the coast and looked at this one I think (but it needed a ton of work). He looked at it when it first came on the market but interestingly it's still on the market 7 months later. 

 

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49929834.html

 

 

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Sounds to me like he does not know Cornwall too well and is sticking to the places nearest Devon.

He should look at places like Perranporth (one of the best beaches in the world), Porthtowan (if he likes surfing), Portreath (if he likes cheap), Hayles (if he fancies odd, but near St. Ives).  St. Just (if he wants isolated and where the ice aged ended and made a beach), Lamorna, if he fancies being washed away with the harbour wall), Mousehole (no parking, but nice lights), Newlyn (for history and cheapness), Penzance (for just about everything, and still cheap), Marazion (for cosiness and one of the best views in the world), Praa and Breage (still decent and underdeveloped, though I see that R&J Supplies are selling up), Porthleven (get in quick, it is the new Padstien), Cury, Mullion, or just about anywhere on the Lizard Peninsular (no mobile signal).

Then you are around to Falmouth, which for some reason thinks it is a lot better than it is.  Penryn if you like sailing and students.

Then you can cross the estuary and join royalty at St. Mawes.

Around St. Austell is still reasonably priced and close to Devon, but avoid the town, it is just dire.

There are a few places inland, but generally it is very deprived, I know, I live in one of the most deprived areas of Europe, 50 quid makes you feel wealthy, but a few pills and a bit of blow takes the pain away for most around here >:(  then they rob my house, or set fire to a neighbours (4 house sin the last decade within 500 yards of me).

I took the below picture earlier today, it is where they are developing some new flats where the price starts from £216,950, and if you want an extra bedroom (so that will be 2) add an extra £94,000.

I hope the owners of the sleeping bags find somewhere warmer tonight, and with less dogshit around them.

Oh, and not on the noisy main road either.

 

Flats.jpg

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Thanks - I will pass the info on. He and his wife met through diving and they used to dive a lot round Cornwall but since the kids arrived they have given it up and they all run now instead. I think he's looking for quaint rather than modern box. I'm not into quaint personally - give me light and airy every day over quaint. The cottage next door is listed, circa 200 years old, and they are always having people in to maintain bits and pieces. Bet their heating works though ;):ph34r:

 

It's sleepyville here. Most crime we get relates to kids hanging round the village being mildly annoying, and the sheepdog being stolen off the farm at the back (it was returned after the people who stole it found out it wasn't happy to live in a house and do nothing all day ;)). Oh and there have been oil thefts and thefts of some ducks. No drugs, murders, arsons! 

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For quaint it is parts of Penzance, all of St. Just, Marazion (which is nothing to do with religion), all of the Lizard, and oddly enough, on the outskirts of Redruth and Cambourne.  @JSHarris Mother lives in an interesting part and only a few minutes drive from either coast.

If they like running, then try Helston, largest lake in Cornwall, if not he SW is there.  I walk around it and it takes 2 hours, other run around it and take 2 hours, same as the bicycleists.

Edited by SteamyTea
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