Help me understand my Hot Water!
Discussion
I can't seem to get my head around what's going on here.
New/old house, though I've lived in it for a few months now and haven't tinkered much in here.
As this pic shows, there's a boiler (Worcester Bosch Greenstar 30CDI) which, from the model number, I assume to be a combi boiler.
In the cupboard above, there's a hot water cylinder, labelled MHS Gemini - and the controls look a little like this one: https://manualzz.com/doc/1160551/mhs-boilers-ef500...
The central heading is controlled by a Honeywell Lyric WiFi thermostat, which I can work
It is even integrated into Home Assistant...
But the Hot Water - I've absolutely no idea.
As this next pic shows, the boiler cupboard has some more controls. On the left is this. Presumably the far left white box is the heat link to the Honeywell Lyric, whereas the LCD-screen panel is (I think) only there to control the Hot Water... The danfoss box is, I've Googled, just a wiring box.
There are also what appear to be Aqualisa controls in here for the showers (1 in this room, 1 in an ensuite).
On the right hand side of the cupboard there's this:
Which appears to be a switch for an electric immersion heater, with a handwritten note stuck to it, presumably by the previous owners (who I can't reach to ask, btw)...
Now, I think I saw on the MHS Gemini a switch between 'Summer' and 'Winter' but I've never toggled it, nor can I see from this photo whether it is in 'Summer' or 'Winter' mode.
Anyway... given all of this:
1. Comments from knowledgeable folks - is this a normal / OK setup, or should I be looking at changes?
2. I've recently switched to Octopus energy (and Agile for electricity / Tracker for gas), wondering what's the most efficient way to work with a water cylinder / boiler combo
3. Particularly on the above, is it worth adding any 'smart' tech to make sure my water heats up at the cheapest times
4. What settings should I have that Honeywell LCD on
5. Should I really have the immersion switched to 'On' - and if so, when should I toggle between summer / winter?
New/old house, though I've lived in it for a few months now and haven't tinkered much in here.
As this pic shows, there's a boiler (Worcester Bosch Greenstar 30CDI) which, from the model number, I assume to be a combi boiler.
In the cupboard above, there's a hot water cylinder, labelled MHS Gemini - and the controls look a little like this one: https://manualzz.com/doc/1160551/mhs-boilers-ef500...
The central heading is controlled by a Honeywell Lyric WiFi thermostat, which I can work
It is even integrated into Home Assistant...But the Hot Water - I've absolutely no idea.
As this next pic shows, the boiler cupboard has some more controls. On the left is this. Presumably the far left white box is the heat link to the Honeywell Lyric, whereas the LCD-screen panel is (I think) only there to control the Hot Water... The danfoss box is, I've Googled, just a wiring box.
There are also what appear to be Aqualisa controls in here for the showers (1 in this room, 1 in an ensuite).
On the right hand side of the cupboard there's this:
Which appears to be a switch for an electric immersion heater, with a handwritten note stuck to it, presumably by the previous owners (who I can't reach to ask, btw)...
Now, I think I saw on the MHS Gemini a switch between 'Summer' and 'Winter' but I've never toggled it, nor can I see from this photo whether it is in 'Summer' or 'Winter' mode.
Anyway... given all of this:
1. Comments from knowledgeable folks - is this a normal / OK setup, or should I be looking at changes?
2. I've recently switched to Octopus energy (and Agile for electricity / Tracker for gas), wondering what's the most efficient way to work with a water cylinder / boiler combo
3. Particularly on the above, is it worth adding any 'smart' tech to make sure my water heats up at the cheapest times
4. What settings should I have that Honeywell LCD on
5. Should I really have the immersion switched to 'On' - and if so, when should I toggle between summer / winter?
Oh, and the Aqualisa showers - they both have dark grey control boxes in here. The showers are 'digital' ones as far as I can make out - they have controls outside the shower enclosure as well as inside. Outside is on/off via a simple button, inside has temperature dial and a boost button.
They look like this, but probably a previous version as the bathrooms were fitted out a few years ago:
https://www.tapnshower.com/aqualisa-quartz-classic...
Is there any way to get better flow through them easily? Even the 'boost' button doesn't seem to give much 'oomph'.
They look like this, but probably a previous version as the bathrooms were fitted out a few years ago:
https://www.tapnshower.com/aqualisa-quartz-classic...
Is there any way to get better flow through them easily? Even the 'boost' button doesn't seem to give much 'oomph'.
Intriguing. If you truly have a combi boiler (and I think you do given the expansion tank in the corner?) then was it not a replacement for a system boiler and hot water tank? The previous owners decided they wanted the combi to be the boiler that saw them out and therefore decided to power it down in summer and use immersion heaters in the tank to heat water rather than remove the hot water tank and create more cupboard space (which would be the sane decision)?
I would guess a "summer/winter" switch is actually an "off/on" switch for the boiler. When the combi is heating the water, the immersion elements won't do anything because they're thermostatically controlled. In summer mode, you won't be able to use the CH.
You will want to get to the bottom of this because if I'm right, the previous occupants were probably on an economy 7 style tariff and you might see your electricity costs rocketing.
Am I close?
I would guess a "summer/winter" switch is actually an "off/on" switch for the boiler. When the combi is heating the water, the immersion elements won't do anything because they're thermostatically controlled. In summer mode, you won't be able to use the CH.
You will want to get to the bottom of this because if I'm right, the previous occupants were probably on an economy 7 style tariff and you might see your electricity costs rocketing.
Am I close?
timetex said:
I can't seem to get my head around what's going on here.
New/old house, though I've lived in it for a few months now and haven't tinkered much in here.
As this pic shows, there's a boiler (Worcester Bosch Greenstar 30CDI) which, from the model number, I assume to be a combi boiler.
In the cupboard above, there's a hot water cylinder, labelled MHS Gemini - and the controls look a little like this one: https://manualzz.com/doc/1160551/mhs-boilers-ef500...
The central heading is controlled by a Honeywell Lyric WiFi thermostat, which I can work It is even integrated into Home Assistant...
But the Hot Water - I've absolutely no idea.
As this next pic shows, the boiler cupboard has some more controls. On the left is this. Presumably the far left white box is the heat link to the Honeywell Lyric, whereas the LCD-screen panel is (I think) only there to control the Hot Water... The danfoss box is, I've Googled, just a wiring box.
There are also what appear to be Aqualisa controls in here for the showers (1 in this room, 1 in an ensuite).
On the right hand side of the cupboard there's this:
Which appears to be a switch for an electric immersion heater, with a handwritten note stuck to it, presumably by the previous owners (who I can't reach to ask, btw)...
Now, I think I saw on the MHS Gemini a switch between 'Summer' and 'Winter' but I've never toggled it, nor can I see from this photo whether it is in 'Summer' or 'Winter' mode.
Anyway... given all of this:
1. Comments from knowledgeable folks - is this a normal / OK setup, or should I be looking at changes?
2. I've recently switched to Octopus energy (and Agile for electricity / Tracker for gas), wondering what's the most efficient way to work with a water cylinder / boiler combo
3. Particularly on the above, is it worth adding any 'smart' tech to make sure my water heats up at the cheapest times
4. What settings should I have that Honeywell LCD on
5. Should I really have the immersion switched to 'On' - and if so, when should I toggle between summer / winter?
The pic is pretty poor but the pipes at the bottom of the boiler left to right are : flow with the zone valves on it, gas, return with the mag filter and filling loop attached from cold mains…. Appears to be a system boiler or at least it’s configured as one with no cold main in and no hot water out…. Sometimes combis get used as system boilers for various reasons ie if they’re on offer or out of stock on the install day.New/old house, though I've lived in it for a few months now and haven't tinkered much in here.
As this pic shows, there's a boiler (Worcester Bosch Greenstar 30CDI) which, from the model number, I assume to be a combi boiler.
In the cupboard above, there's a hot water cylinder, labelled MHS Gemini - and the controls look a little like this one: https://manualzz.com/doc/1160551/mhs-boilers-ef500...
The central heading is controlled by a Honeywell Lyric WiFi thermostat, which I can work
It is even integrated into Home Assistant...But the Hot Water - I've absolutely no idea.
As this next pic shows, the boiler cupboard has some more controls. On the left is this. Presumably the far left white box is the heat link to the Honeywell Lyric, whereas the LCD-screen panel is (I think) only there to control the Hot Water... The danfoss box is, I've Googled, just a wiring box.
There are also what appear to be Aqualisa controls in here for the showers (1 in this room, 1 in an ensuite).
On the right hand side of the cupboard there's this:
Which appears to be a switch for an electric immersion heater, with a handwritten note stuck to it, presumably by the previous owners (who I can't reach to ask, btw)...
Now, I think I saw on the MHS Gemini a switch between 'Summer' and 'Winter' but I've never toggled it, nor can I see from this photo whether it is in 'Summer' or 'Winter' mode.
Anyway... given all of this:
1. Comments from knowledgeable folks - is this a normal / OK setup, or should I be looking at changes?
2. I've recently switched to Octopus energy (and Agile for electricity / Tracker for gas), wondering what's the most efficient way to work with a water cylinder / boiler combo
3. Particularly on the above, is it worth adding any 'smart' tech to make sure my water heats up at the cheapest times
4. What settings should I have that Honeywell LCD on
5. Should I really have the immersion switched to 'On' - and if so, when should I toggle between summer / winter?
Above is an unvented cylinder with its white expansion vessel below next to the boiler…. There’s a zone valve so you should have timing controls for the cylinder to be heating via the boiler which will be cheaper than immersion, so keep that off.
ETA re the controls the one with the lcd screen is like you say probably just doing the timing for the hot water (even though it has the functionality for heating this probably isn’t wired in) while the newer Smart Control box will have a WiFi programmer/stat somewhere in the house.
Edited by Black_S3 on Wednesday 1st May 14:58
Ah ok - thanks... so it sounds like "use the Honeywell controls (the LCD) to configure when the H/W in the tank is heated / available, and switch off that immersion switch (which is currently set to be 'on')?
For best efficiency (there's only 2 of us that live here, assume 1 reasonable length shower sometime before 9am daily) what would you usually set the H/W timings to be?
For best efficiency (there's only 2 of us that live here, assume 1 reasonable length shower sometime before 9am daily) what would you usually set the H/W timings to be?
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