Glowworm Economy Plus boiler
Discussion
Hi all,
Can any heating engineers/plumbers help answer a query on our Glowworm Economy Plus boiler?
The boiler operates normally up to the point when the boiler thermostat first shuts down the burner because (I assume) the temperature of the water flowing through it is up to the required level. This is after about 20 to 30 minutes from cold when the heating is on.
However, after this initial period, the boiler then repeatedly cycles on and off. I did some rough timings, and it stays off for 30 seconds, then ignites for 30 seconds, off for 30 seconds... and so on, until the room thermostat tells the system to shut down.
So far as I remember, its done this ever since we moved in to the house 4 years ago. In this time, we've had the system serviced annually, and (apart from this) everything seems to function correctly.
I once asked the service engineer about it, and got a reply along the lines of "they all do that sir".
But to me, it seems a bit of an odd way for it to work (surely cycling on and off every 30 seconds must put unnecessary wear and tear on components - shouldn't the thermostat allow a bigger temperature drop between on and off?).
Can anyone offer a second opinion? Is this within the normal operating window of the boiler, or should I be worried that something is wrong?
Cheers,
Steve.
Can any heating engineers/plumbers help answer a query on our Glowworm Economy Plus boiler?
The boiler operates normally up to the point when the boiler thermostat first shuts down the burner because (I assume) the temperature of the water flowing through it is up to the required level. This is after about 20 to 30 minutes from cold when the heating is on.
However, after this initial period, the boiler then repeatedly cycles on and off. I did some rough timings, and it stays off for 30 seconds, then ignites for 30 seconds, off for 30 seconds... and so on, until the room thermostat tells the system to shut down.
So far as I remember, its done this ever since we moved in to the house 4 years ago. In this time, we've had the system serviced annually, and (apart from this) everything seems to function correctly.
I once asked the service engineer about it, and got a reply along the lines of "they all do that sir".
But to me, it seems a bit of an odd way for it to work (surely cycling on and off every 30 seconds must put unnecessary wear and tear on components - shouldn't the thermostat allow a bigger temperature drop between on and off?).
Can anyone offer a second opinion? Is this within the normal operating window of the boiler, or should I be worried that something is wrong?
Cheers,
Steve.
I'm a DIYer, not a pro, but the boiler is "short-cycling".
When it's running, is there much difference in temp between the flow and return pipes? It could be that the rads need balancing so they'll lose more heat. How old is the radiator installation - if it's 1960's then it could be single pipe in 1/2" tube and the water will return very quickly without losing much heat.
You could also try a higher pump speed if it's not already on the highest.
When it's running, is there much difference in temp between the flow and return pipes? It could be that the rads need balancing so they'll lose more heat. How old is the radiator installation - if it's 1960's then it could be single pipe in 1/2" tube and the water will return very quickly without losing much heat.
You could also try a higher pump speed if it's not already on the highest.
Deva Link said:
When it's running, is there much difference in temp between the flow and return pipes? It could be that the rads need balancing so they'll lose more heat. How old is the radiator installation - if it's 1960's then it could be single pipe in 1/2" tube and the water will return very quickly without losing much heat.
You could also try a higher pump speed if it's not already on the highest.
Thanks for your reply. Pump is already on the highest speed.You could also try a higher pump speed if it's not already on the highest.
Boiler flow/return back to the airing cupboard is using 22mm copper pipe. Haven't checked the temperature across the two, but will do.
We have a mix of 12 radiators and heated towel rails (some of the radiators are double panel). There are 4 older style radiators which I suspect) are from the early 1980s, and a couple of these downstairs are connected to the system using micro-bore pipework. The other radiators on the system are more recent additions - but it may well be they've not been balanced properly.
Is this a DIY job, or is it best to have a heating engineer out?
The same cycling seems to occur when just heating up the hot water cylinder, although of course not for as long.
Thank you.
Steve.
That's quite a lot of rads - are they all getting pretty hot? Which model boiler have you got - 40, 50, 60 or 80? Has it been serviced recently - it could be that the burner rate is too high.
You could have sludge which is slowing up the circulation. Would need power flushing, which isn't a DIY job.
You can do balancing yourself - http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/plumbing/rad-balance.html but really it's more about avoiding some rads not getting hot properly. If they're all getting fairly evenly hot then I'd be minded to leave them alone.
Your boiler is pretty old - more modern ones won't restart for a few minutes once they've shutdown.
You could have sludge which is slowing up the circulation. Would need power flushing, which isn't a DIY job.
You can do balancing yourself - http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/plumbing/rad-balance.html but really it's more about avoiding some rads not getting hot properly. If they're all getting fairly evenly hot then I'd be minded to leave them alone.
Your boiler is pretty old - more modern ones won't restart for a few minutes once they've shutdown.
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