Central Heating Q

[Terry Fields]

Myself and MBH have just moved house, and the property we're now in has a Gledhill Boilermate 2000 thermal store system. The question relates to the how the CH system is supposed to work.

There are 12 radiators, a towel rail, and a wall-mounted thermostat. The house was built in 2003.

The radiators in the lounge and the four bedrooms are fitted with Myson 'two-way' TRVs. The lounge also has a living-flame gas fire. The thermostat is in the hall, the radiator of which does not have a TRV.

The question is, how is one supposed to set up and run the system?

For the TRVs to be effective, they would need to be set to shut off at a lower temperature than the thermostat, otherwise the system would operate under the control of the thermostat, making them redundant. But one normally runs the lounge at a higher temperature than the hall, yet with this system this can't happen.

Although the living-flame gas fire could be lit, which would shut off the TRVs due to the temperature rise in the lounge, this still leaves the issue of the bedrooms, where the TRVs would only function if set to a lower temperature than the hall.

Any comments or advice gratefully received...

TIA

TF

[The Natural Philosopher]

yes it can.

If you keep the door to the living room shut ;-)

what makes you think that teh hall temperature is the same as the bedrooms?

[Bob Minchin]

All you have to do is to match the output of the hall radiator to the heat loss in that area. Pinching off the water flow to the hall radiator could mean that the hall rarely meets its target temperature set by the stat allowing plenty of heat for the rest of the rooms according to their individual TRVs Experimentation needed.

Bob

[John Rumm]

Well if you ignore the thermal store bit of the equation for the moment, then you essentially have what can be thought of as a fairy standard system. Set the main stat to a reasonable temp for the hall etc. and then control the room temps by setting the TRVs as appropriate. The hall being one of the slowest rooms to heat[1] (most air changes, doors being opened etc) should come up to temperature last - so you can have the lounge etc warmer if you want.

[1] You can balance the system so that the hall rad is partially starved of flow until the other TRVs start to shut down if needs be.

Once could argue that with a perfectly balanced system there are mostly redundant - they just allow fine tuning and take account of other heat sources to stop a room getting overheated.

See comments above...

[geoff]

In message , Terry Fields writes

Are boilermate currently trading?

I know that they went down and heard that they had started up again.

I would check on their current status. Their pcbs contain an obsolete chip which has a habit of blowing up (literally - blows the top off the chip)

If they are not currently able to supply you with this very overpriced pcb (over £200), if it goes down, you are knackered

A bit of a bugger a week before xmas ...

[Terry Fields]

So it would seem.

From the web site:

"Boilermate has been around for quite some time. The system has been widely used throughout the UK within the 'new-build' market and by discerning householders how have recognised the superior performance and advantages of the system over others - previous generations include Boilermate 2000 and Boilermate A Class ranges.

If you are looking to upgrade your system (which can be done with consummate ease) or you wish to replace an earlier version with the new Boilermate BP you might like to call our office to learn more."

A new boilermate is £659 - £750 for the middle sizes, apparently.

The gas valve for my old back boiler was £lots as well.

Quite, and it could happen to any of us...

TF

[geoff]

In message , Terry Fields writes

I know that a lot of fitters don't like them

Maybe, but I know that the pcb is well overpriced

But better if it doesn't happen to some kit you can't replace

[Terry Fields]

What looks like a complete list of parts is available here, including the pcb at £226.31 inc VAT:

by the model numbers, the original XB255 board has been replaced by the GT155 29i. When I get the time I'll take off the front of the heat store and see which model of pcb is fitted.

TF