CH problem

[Andy Morrison]

Newborn arrived home yesterday. First time we have used central heating since last winter was yesterday, heating comes on at set times & all radiators heat ok, problem is that they seem to cut out quite quickly & don't come back on when room cools. All rads have own thermostats & I have set them all at the number 4 position. System is a Ferroli Optima 1001 combi boiler. C.H./D.H.W. selector switch is set toward the higher range. When rads cut out & I use the advance option on the programmer to advance to next heating on segment but nothing happens, if I switch the programmer to off & then switch on after a little while rads do heat again. It is quite worrying that I can't keep a constant temperature with the baby at home.

All suggestions most welcome.

Andy.

[Peter Andrews]

Not familiar with your boiler but you don't say anything about a room thermostat - is there one and, if so, has it been turned down during the summer? What happens if you put the heating on with the continuous setting?

Peter

[Andy Morrison]

Hi Peter, thanks for the reply, no room thermostat but all rads have their own fitted. When switched to the continuous setting the rads heat up & cut out again. Even when room cools it doesn't auto switch on again.

Andy.

[stuart noble]

And does the boiler stop running at that point? You don't have a room thermostat somewhere as well I suppose? If the boiler carries on running, try turning the rad thermostats up. Sorry, not very technical, but sometimes it's the obvious things that get overlooked. Good luck with new babe.

&

[Chewbacca]

The rad stats will just control the flow of water through the rads. If the boiler is not firing then it does not matter what the rads are set to as the water will be cold. So is the timer or some room stat controlling the boiler. Something must be telling the boiler when to burn and when not.

Is there a thermostat on the boiler? is that high enough? If the circulating water is cold the problem must be with the boiler. If hot it must be the rads. Sorry I'm not really helping at all.

Good luck with the baby, oh and many years ago our health visitor said most babies suffered from over heated rather than underheated rooms.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I would start by turning all the rad valves to max, to rule them out of the problem. Also, get a room thermometer, position it away from the radiator (but not on the opposite wall either), and tell us what it reports when the heating is first switched on, when the boiler cuts off, and when it cuts back on again.

[Muddymike]

Have you re pressurised the system lately? Is the boiler providing hot water OK? Check the pump is running by listening to it. Try turning up the boiler stat. Have you turned up other rads in the system? Check these and come back with the results.

Mike

[John]

Could the boiler be overheating - if all the thermostatic valves close and there isn't a room stat - and maybe no proper by-pass then it could overheat and trip.

[Mat C]

When you say All reds have a TRV, do you mean All? I was under the impression you left one without so that the system could continue to pump if needed. Usually the bathroom rad? Maybe the pumps cutting out due to this? I'd try putting one rad to max and seeing if the problem goes away..

Mat

[Anon E Mouse]

There is usually a bypass in the combi boiler. A few things spring to mind. One is that the pressure switch for the hot water could be faulty and diverting the water from the radiators through the hot water heat exchange. The other possibility is the thermostat on the boiler is faulty. It could be that the boiler needs repressurising as mentioned earlier or that the boiler is over heating and needs to be reset. Do you have any trouble with the hot water system?

[Tim Downie]

Can't help with the CH but babies aren't that fragile. They've been around a lot longer than CH.

Tim

[John]

The Advance Option ain't going to open the Rad Thermostats is it? Is there a fully open setting on them?

[Andy Champ]

I missed that.

The best way to control a baby's temperature is to cuddle it. A sling, inside your coat if out in the cold, will do the trick, and give you _some_ freedom of movement. I suppose it was the nearest I'll ever get to being pregnant though, 10Kg of baby on my chest!

But where in the UK are you that it's cold in July?

Andy