Problem with Drayton MA1 mid-position actuator

[crispy235]

Hi all - we recently had a problem with the above item causing an extremely loud vibration noise in the pipes which was waking the whole house (but otherwise working fine) and I was told we needed to replace it. I "went cheapskate" and bought one off ebay which had supposedly been sitting on a broken heating system for a year but was otherwise unused and wired it into the thermostat.

Now it seems that even with only the hot water set to come on the heating is coming on as well! The lever on the side is positioned underneath the "m" (on the "w m h" indicator). I really don't have a clue about how these things work but I'm guessing that this isn't a lever at all and is just supposed to move automatically depending on what the valve is doing?? Presumably it should be on "w" at the moment? At what point does the lever move into position? Is there anything you're supposed to do to reset it (or something) when you first install it? Or is it basically broken and I need to cough up for a properly "new" one...?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[gasmanrob]

It's sitting in mid position.

Assuming you replaced wire for wire then it is possible your valve is locked in the manual position.

W m H we will call the "side" of your valve at either the face or the butt of your valve head you will find an actual lever.

If it moves freely then I'd suggest a wiring fault.

If there isn't movement and it appears recessed then it's locked and can be released by pressing in and forward at the same time placing a fingernail underneath to lift it away from the face. Your valve should then spring return to the W position

 

[Unregistered]

Thanks a lot for the reply Rob - I tried fiddling around with the other lever as you said - it didn't feel like I had even done anything but suddenly the indicator moved to the H position. I then turned the valve to match the position of the "socket" underneath and replaced it. Turned on the hot water (only) and it has now moved across to W. Is that it now? Job done?!

 

[gasmanrob]

Seems to be.

With hot water only it will reside in w
In heating only it will sit at h
And with heating and hot water it will sit in m

So long as it's doing that all should be well

 

[Unregistered]

Thanks again Rob. Unfortunately though the dreaded pipe noise just started then went away after a minute or so. Looks like I was given bad advice and it wasn't the actuator at all..... unless coincidentally this one also happens to have the same problem. Even with the old one though, if I removed it while the noise was going on it stopped immediately so don't really see how it can be anything else. Any suggestions??

 

[gasmanrob]

Depends on the type of noise being produced. It could be a number of things as always prevention is better then cure have you tried turning the pump speed down? I cannot guarantee it won't effect the heating of the house but it may reduce your noise.

Perhaps a description of the noise may help but you could be sent on a wild goose chase as it's such a wide scope to pin point without hearing it first hand

 

[crispy235]

Hi Rob - I have managed to get a decent recording of the sound and have uploaded it here if you get a sec:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6vf74k6ckscffzq/ZOOM0039.WAV?dl=0

I have now removed the actuator and there is no noise - so same story for both the old and new?! Can't believe I have manged to end up with 2 with the same problem!

Thanks again.

 

[gasmanrob]

That certainly sounds like system noise rather then actuator head noise. Have you replaced the valve body to?

If you are able to add a picture to the drop box of the valve and associated pipe work to boot as clear as practically possible then that may help