LMSC They definitely could, particularly since they “insist” that you install smart meters or provide them with very regular readings… 😁
Energy Prices
It always irritates me they can’t render a bill and then take the correct amount by dd on payment day. What they euphemistically call direct debit, is what BT called in the olden days, a budget account. Usually enforced on customers who were bad payers.
I also find it odd that with all their modern computers they can’t work out the right amount. I am £760 in credit, I never heard of people even 100 in debit.
DavecUK FWIW, for my first 18 months with PurePlanet I was ‘under’ - at most by £1800. They also went bust… which may or may not be correlated.
CoyoteOldMan It was the shock of finding a customer in debit which probably sent them under.
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Update re-boiler
The engineer dropped in last week and found the valve holding the zone-valve actuator was a little sticky. A bit of oil was all required. He said the boiler is ok and so are the settings. It no longer runs continuously.
But, the hot water is playing up for the last few days. My daughter said on the week end the water wasn’t hot enough, despite it ran for an hour. My MIL said the same yesterday and my wife this morning.
Any idea what the issue could be? I am thinking if the gas engineer did his job properly, though we ended up paying £70 for the call out/service.
It’s a medium-sized tank.
Thx
LMSC If the boiler is heating the supply water to the tank correctly then I would be looking at the thermostat on the tank. Is the thermostat switching off to early. If you check what temperature the tank thermostat is set at and you can adjust the thermostat a bit higher and see if that helps. It would help if you had a thermometer to check the actual water temperature coming out of the taps before and after adjusting the thermostat. Hope this helps
I agree with @ Meldrew, either the boiler DHW stat or the cylinder stat.
The boiler DHW stat is inside the boiler lower L/H side= cost about £12. I think the boiler needs to be partially drained.
Check the cylinder stat first as Meldrew said.
Thanks folks. I will check as advised starting with the thermostat of the tank. We never changed the setting. It’s set at 55C and the engineer said the other day this is perfect for hot water. It does heat the tank as the water is neither cold nor luke warm. Normally, the water from the tap is hot 15-20 mins after the boiler comes alive. After 30 mins, it is very hot and good for 3 × 4 mins shower.
I will do the before and after test as Meldrew advised and go from there. Will call out the engineer otherwise.
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.LMSC it’s also worth checking timings, if you changed HW to come on with heating (more efficient, but will take a bit longer. Applies to heat only system or system boiler, with single flow temp for HW and CH. Not sure what you have from looking at boiler. Looks like a system boiler where you can set independent flow temps.
They are independent settings and as LMSC has them set they should be just right.
One other thing not connected.👍🏻 It is worth closing the two gate valves and then reopening, they are very prone to seizing which can cause a big problem if you do need to shut them off. Fully open then back ½ a turn👍🏻
Elcarajillo It is worth closing the two gate valves and then reopening, they are very prone to seizing which can cause a big problem if you do need to shut them off. Fully open then back ½ a turn
What’s this two-gate valve please? Where is it located? 🤔
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LMSC These (the red-and-brass bits):
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Worth mentioning that old gate valves have a tendency for the spindle connection to the gate to fracture when reopening.
So be very careful when reopening, do it gently and if it feels stiff, turn it a little in the other direction and try reopening again.
I had to close one to isolate something, and it snapped inside when opening. Fortunately i had a spare ready just in case and had to fit that. Even more fortunately, the upstream valve worked fine which made fitting easier.
Thanks both. I have been trying to keeping them as smooth as possible. But, the 2 and 3 won’t budge. The gas engineers told us a few times all these pipes are bizzare, happens only in very old properties and rarely in those built from 1980. Ours’ were built in 1980.
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You could try backing off the small nut between the red hand wheel and the valve body,this compresses the gland seal onto the shaft, dribble a little WD 40 or penetrating oil onto the shaft and allow to soak. Then try rotating H/W back and forth (just gently). Return small nut afterwards. Could save you trouble in the future.
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Elcarajillo Will do. Those two haven’t budged despite best (careful) efforts. Will keep trying. I think the boiler, water tank and the pipes need sorting out.
One of the engineers already said we need to simplify and update, while another said mega flow as it is a big property. We don’t need a mega flow for a family of 3, do we?
Btw, the hot water ran again for 30 mins. This normally gives hot water, where we can’t set it at max at the shower. With nothing changed, the Gran at home said at noon that she had to keep the tap at max to give herself a hot shower. I running tap hot water temp was about 41C-42C.
Don’t know what had changed. I thought the engineer didn’t check properly and gave us all good test certificate. Perhaps, he won’t know unless we tell him this is an issue now. Shouldn’t the issue, if it is, with that boiler pop up when a routine service is done?
LMSC They won’t be checking motorised valves etc in a boiler service. Perhaps motorised valve is faulty…are any rads apart from towel rails heating when you run the hot water. Is the pipe going to the boiler hx nice n hot e.g 50C
DavecUK …are any rads apart from towel rails heating when you run the hot water. Is the pipe going to the boiler hx nice n hot e.g 50C
We have enabled the living room to come up with moderate rad settings when the temp < 16.5C. Can check this tmrw.
I think the middle pipe is the connection goes into the boiler; the left is the drain and the right is the fill. This is a good point. I will check tmrw morning! Thanks Dave.
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LMSC Sorry my fault, coffee machines on the brain by boiler I mean the hot tank and by HX i mean the long spiral pipe inside it that heats the water. So you have to be in the airing cupboard near the 3 way valve and checked the pipe going into the hot tank is hot enough, or hot as it should be, which would be almost 50C if your boiler is set to output hot water at 55.
I see you have more than 1 motorised valve and something that looks suspiciously like a 3rd on the right of the tank on the floor. I don’t really understand why you would have so many on a simple vented system with a simple system boiler? But hey, what do I know, I’m not a plumber.
Usually though you have a heat source, a pump (which will all be in your boiler), pumping up to a single 3 way valve for HW and Rads. The HW will often run the towel rails and heat the HW tank) the CH position may, or may not heat the towel rails as well….and shared, the third position will send hot water to both. I can only think for some reason they have your hot water on a separate 3 way valve, to try and do something clever with the towel radiators.
If you set the boiler for hot water only, track which valve moves and then source the pipe from there to the HW tank that the boiler is feeding. The upper pipe should be the hot into the tank and the lower one the return to the boiler. You won’t have a feed and expansion tank of course, that will all be inside the boiler and some of them can even have the 3 way valve fitted in the boiler.
