Further to the "no thermostat" thread a few days ago. So my oil boiler (Boulter Camray 2) has a Potterton controller/timer on the wall above it with two sliders for CH and HW that can be on, off, timed or "once". Below the controller on the wall is the master electrical switch which turns off the boiler and controller and the CH pump.
However as far as I can tell all the Potterton controller does is operate the two zone valves. The boiler itself never shuts off nor does the pump even when both sliders are set to "off". The boiler keeps on heating its internal water supply based on its temperature control knob and the CH pump keeps trying to pump it round which can't be very good for pump life methinks.
So is this just a case of unusual / incorrect wiring which could be easily corrected or is there a purpose to this arrangement I can't fathom?
I have managed to date (18 months) by using the electrical switch and the two sliders to turn things on every time I want heating or hot water and then putting them back off before bed or in the summer when I only want hot water just switching it on for an hour until the immersion tank is hot enough. It's not ideal and in the winter I wake up to a cold house but if I leave the CH on "timed" I can hear the damn pump resonating lightly through the rad next to the bed all night which keeps me awake. Also of course every time I switch off the master switch the controller loses its internal clock setting.
I would have thought that both the boiler and the CH pump (as well as the zone valves) should take their signals from the controller and if both switches are either "off" or in an off period of the timed operation then they should both close down and only fire up again if the controller calls for either CH or HW. Or am I just a hopeless romantic?
In the cupboard adjacent to the boiler, screwed to the wall, is a little square junction box (with no bloody cover on it!) the same size as a light switch box into which 6 cables run which are connected in some fashion by those transparent plastic terminal blocks which I associate with temporary wiring but what do I know.
4 circular three core cables run respectively to the boiler, pump and each of the zone valves. Two further flat grey cables disappear under the floor and I suspect then go back up behind the plasterboard to the Potterton controller and the master switch or maybe both just go to the Potterton. I guess each zone valve must need its own feed somehow but surely one cable must be a master to switch everything off in which case where is the third feed for the second zone valve?I'm hoping that by some rearrangement of just the connections inside this junction box I can resolve the matter. No doubt I'm living in cloud cuckoo land.
I feckin hate electrickery and being profoundly colour blind doesn't help so I suspect I'll need outside help even if someone explains it all carefully to me. I'll be grateful for any advice though.
I have a pic of the junction box but it's not really possible to see how the wires connect without pulling them out of it so I'll not post it up unless someone thinks it might help them.