Information on Central Heating
Discussion
Hi all,
looking for some insider knowledge here,
just bought my first house and have had it 4 weeks all bar one night i have been away working, my father has checked the house and saw that 5 quid of electricty is being used per week with no one in the house!
now everything is switched off apart from running all the time is the central heating pump! should it be running all the time? no boiler on... am think mabye it stops stagnat water? but i have a feeling its not economical for it to be running 24/7 esp as i work away for 5- 6 weeks at a time!!
anyone know if it should?
Cheers all
looking for some insider knowledge here,
just bought my first house and have had it 4 weeks all bar one night i have been away working, my father has checked the house and saw that 5 quid of electricty is being used per week with no one in the house!
now everything is switched off apart from running all the time is the central heating pump! should it be running all the time? no boiler on... am think mabye it stops stagnat water? but i have a feeling its not economical for it to be running 24/7 esp as i work away for 5- 6 weeks at a time!!
anyone know if it should?
Cheers all
No, there's no reason for the pump to run when there isn't a call for heat. It sounds as though it's been wired up incorrectly.
Is it definitely the heating pump? It could be a hot water circulation pump, designed to keep water circulating to the outlets, minimising the time it takes waiting for hot water to appear when you open a tap.
Is it definitely the heating pump? It could be a hot water circulation pump, designed to keep water circulating to the outlets, minimising the time it takes waiting for hot water to appear when you open a tap.
It could be wired incorrectly or, if zone valves are fitted, its quite common for the microswitch to fail and 'weld' itself closed, causing the pump to run.
Also, some boilers require the pump to overrun for a period after the system has switched off.
Get yourself a plumber/sparky to have a look.
Also, some boilers require the pump to overrun for a period after the system has switched off.
Get yourself a plumber/sparky to have a look.
You need to find out how it's wired. It will either be wired in parallel with the boiler, which is unlikely as the boiler would be firing, or FROM the boiler as a pump-overrun.
Depending on the boiler it may be wired via a stat (which isn't opening to stop it) or via a time-base on the circuit board (which will most likely mean a new board).
However, SOME boilers run software which can do this sort of thing in odd circumstances. Low voltage, high voltage, reverse polarity... we had one on a project that ran the pump constantly and the boiler had 258V supplied to it.
Depending on the boiler it may be wired via a stat (which isn't opening to stop it) or via a time-base on the circuit board (which will most likely mean a new board).
However, SOME boilers run software which can do this sort of thing in odd circumstances. Low voltage, high voltage, reverse polarity... we had one on a project that ran the pump constantly and the boiler had 258V supplied to it.
Are you sure it is a central heating pump? How big is the house?
It could be a pump for the secondary return on the hot water.
Alternatively, as others have said its not uncommon for boilers with pump over run to be fubared.
Switch the boiler off by the on/off switch on the boiler (if it has one). If the pump stops with the boiler turned off, but the rest of the controls still live. Chances are its a boiler fault rather than an external control.
If it carries on running, one of the zone valves/three port valve is probably knackered or it has been wired up by a monkey!
It could be a pump for the secondary return on the hot water.
Alternatively, as others have said its not uncommon for boilers with pump over run to be fubared.
Switch the boiler off by the on/off switch on the boiler (if it has one). If the pump stops with the boiler turned off, but the rest of the controls still live. Chances are its a boiler fault rather than an external control.
If it carries on running, one of the zone valves/three port valve is probably knackered or it has been wired up by a monkey!
no chance of anything else being on in the house as i havent really moved in yet so nothing connected! i switched frezzer off before i came back to work.
i dont think house has a hot water circ pump hotwater fed from tank via gravity, its not a high tech system or anything fancy, no room thermostats etc
normal boiler in kitchen and bolier control beside it, i switched off the bolier on the control before i came away, no heat in raditators (electric immersion back up is off too), then when old man checked he can here the pump running pretty sure thats the bolier pump but its been running for 3 weeks now so a bit too long to be a run on i think.
so most likely a fault as the guy who installed the system is pretty well known for doing a decent job but it was installed a while ago 2006 i think.
cheers lads all advice is very much appricated! being first house my experince of central heating is limited to my rented flat before!!
i dont think house has a hot water circ pump hotwater fed from tank via gravity, its not a high tech system or anything fancy, no room thermostats etc
normal boiler in kitchen and bolier control beside it, i switched off the bolier on the control before i came away, no heat in raditators (electric immersion back up is off too), then when old man checked he can here the pump running pretty sure thats the bolier pump but its been running for 3 weeks now so a bit too long to be a run on i think.
so most likely a fault as the guy who installed the system is pretty well known for doing a decent job but it was installed a while ago 2006 i think.
cheers lads all advice is very much appricated! being first house my experince of central heating is limited to my rented flat before!!
engineer21 said:
i dont think house has a hot water circ pump hotwater fed from tank via gravity, its not a high tech system or anything fancy, no room thermostats etc
A vented system might still have a domestic circulator. Have a good look for pipes returning to the cylinder. A domestic circulator is likely to be yellowish in colour.Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff