Heating timer replacement

[MartinC]

Hello folks,

Apologies in advance, I wouldn't be overly read on this!

I have a simple oil fired home heating system with a basic on / off dial timer and TRVS on the radiators. The timer is broken, in that it's turning about 1/4 that it should thus timing very difficult.

Ideally I'd like to upgrade to thermostats, separate water controls etc but I understand that isn't possible without a separate pipe going to the boiler.

I was hoping to replace the timer with one I could control remotely. In short, what I have is this.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hour-Socket-Box-Mounted-Timer/dp/B001XQ5ZMS

And I'd like to replace it with this.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Optimum-OP-SBWF01-Enabled-Socket-Switch/dp/B07843J914

Is this possible or is there a better solution?

Many thanks.

 

[Murdoch]

If this is DIY I would recommend a like for like replacement ..............

 

[MartinC]

I'll probably ask someone else to do it. I'm just wondering is the theory sound?

 

[Last Plumber]

It sounds like you have a Pumped Heating, Gravity hot water system.
I would advise you to get a Heating Engineer to call and give you some suggestions of what is possible with your set up.

 

[MartinC]

Hello,

Many thanks for the reply. Yeah I done that some time ago, to have the separate hot water controls he advised that we'd need another pipe from the boiler to the tank which isn't really an option at the moment.

I'm really interested as to whether the broken timer could be replaced with the digital timer option above.

Cheers.

 

[Best]

You might have an all pumped system and with rads and cylinder all piped together. Very common on older systems here.
Problem with it is often the cylinder is far from the boiler and some of the rads are piped first, therefore that is why your heating engineer said it needs extra pipe.
Your simplest solution without achieving separate hot water, is to have most rads and the cylinder thermostatic controlled by thermostatic valves.
The time clock can be whatever you want, providing it is single channel, - only one output.
You need a heating engineer to see how any thermostatic upgrades are possible

 

[MartinC]

You might have all all pumped system and with rads and cylinder all piped together. Very common on older systems here.
Problem with it is often the cylinder is far from the boiler and some of the rads are piped first, therefore that is why your heating engineer said it needs extra pipe.
Your simplest solution without achieving separate hot water, is to have most rads and the cylinder thermostatic controlled by thermostatic valves.
The time clock can be whatever you want, providing it is single channel, - only one output.
You need a heating engineer to see how any thermostatic upgrades are possible

Many thanks,

Yes my system is as you describe. We have TRV'S on the radiators and something similar on the hot water tank in the hot press. I'm happy enough with that particular element at the moment but I need to replace this faulty timer.

I know it may seem like an easy question / answer but would the WiFi socket box timer above be a suitable replacement?

Many thanks.

Martin.

 

[Best]

Yes, I think that Wifi timer should be ok, judging by the details on that link

 

[MartinC]

Many thanks!