Central Heating Timer .Control Query .

[Stuart B]

Today I had installed an Alpha CD32 C combi boiler and in the short time I have had it I am sure it will suit my needs admirably .

The installer also fitted a SALUS RT500RF wireless programmable thermostat . Mistakenly I thought this could also control the on/off periods of the CH but that seems not to be the case . With my previous old Potterton Boiler of 25 + years vintage I just turned it on and off manually but with the new boiler I would like to have it on before I get up . The boiler does have provision for fitting it's own clock so I suppose thats probably the best option to go for .Alpha also make a stat/timer combined ,also wireless which I think the installer tried to get but it wasn't in stock . Any ideas .?

Stuart

[EricP]

Read the instructions again. The Salus claims to do everything bar walk the dog.

[Dave Liquorice]

Change your mind set. With a programmable stat you set the required temperatures for various times of day rather than a single temperature and on/off periods.

So overnight you set a low temp, say 15C, then up to 18C at 0630, 0830 down to 15C and up again at 1600 to 18 then up to 20 at 1900 and back down to 15C at 0000. You leave the boiler on and the stat calls for heat as required. The boiler should not fire unless there is a demand for heat, that is it should keep itself and/or a bypass loop hot.

I don't know the Salus at all but many of these programmable stats have "optimisation" for the first set point of the day. This means that the actual time the boiler is fired up depends on the difference between the set point and actual temp. The bigger it is the earlier the boiler is powered up so that the set point is attained by the desired time. relative temperatures.

[John]

Surely programming it to a low temperature is the equivalent to turning it off. With our electronic stat I have it set to 17 for the night time - and if it gets really cold outside it may switch on which is fine by me. I just wish mine had a "Holiday Mode" so that I could easily set all time periods to a low level without upsetting the programmes.

[Stuart B]

Eric..I have read the instructions until I am blue in the face . An e-mail to Salus confirms what I say .This is the reply they sent .

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The RT500RF is a programmable thermostat and not what we call in the industry a programmer. So by the programme function you can programme

5 different temperature set points during a day rather than manually doing it with traditional thermostats.

The difference being that with a programmer you have the ON/OFF feature but no control of temperature (In this case you would require a programmer and a thermostat to regulate the temperature).

With a programmable thermostat what you do is set what temperature you would like it to be at certain times of the day i.e Before waking up in the morning you would like it to be 22 C at 6AM when you the go to work at 8AM you require the temperature to drop down to maybe 15 C. So what you are doing is adjusting the temperature during the day not turning your system on or off.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alpha do one called an Easy Stat that does both functions ...time on/off AND temp control .

Stuart .

[Stuart B]

Thx for the reply John . I suppose I could do what you suggest but I just wanted one which I could set to switch the heating off during the night and on again before I get up but having it low during the night is probably the next best thing . I could turn the rad in my bedroom off or further down when I go to bed but that means it doesn't heat up until I get up to turn it on /up again .I'll fiddle around with the settings and make it low during the night to see how it goes . thx again Stuart

[JohnDW]

I have the The Drayton Digistat 3 and it can be set to permanently use the preset Night or Morning temperatures, or revert to normal Timed operation by simply pressing the "Select" button. Use of the Night temperature setting doesn't change any programming for Timed working so setting it to the Night mode is equivalent to your "Holiday Mode"

[John]

Good point on "changing Mindset"

Setting a low temp is the same as "Off" but with the added advantage that if there is a sudden really cold snap you have some protection.

[John]

First thing to do is to get the installer back and change it for the proper Alpha 7-Day Wireless Digital EasyStat

These are designed to work with Alpha boilers and are dead easy to fit - I don't know why the installer didn't go for one of those straight away.

They take a bit of getting used to; for instance, when setting the times of day that you want the heating to come on, you press the minus button for the "off" times and the plus button to set the "on" times so in our case (programming starts at 00:00) we pressed the - button from 00:00 to 06:30 then release that and press the + button to 08:30, then the - button to

17:00 and so on. If you make a mistake, you can't just press the - button to "wind the clock back", you have to go round the clock.

Having said that, the instructions are easy to follow and the thing works brilliantly - and oops, I've just read your post again and found out why the installer didn't get one. Don't min me, I blame it on the tablets :o)

John.

[Roger Mills]

Whereas what they say is true in a literal sense, you can *effectively* make it turn your heating off by programming a low temperature. If you set the night time temperature to (say) 5 degrees, your house won't normally cool down to anything like that with the heating off for a few hours, so the heating won't come on - equivalent to OFF.

However, as others have pointed out, it also acts as a frost stat, so if your house ever DOES cool to below 5 degrees, the heating will come on just enough to stop everything freezing up. So you get the best of both worlds.

Stop worrying about it, and enjoy!

[Stuart B]

Yeah..That sounds sensible .It's just having been used to living with a 25 year old Potterton boiler that must have been costing me a fortune in gas it's hard to get my head round the change .

Stuart .