Discuss Strange situation with central heating/hot water ... what could be causing this? in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

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Hello,
I have had a weird situation going on with my boiler/central heating now for quite a while and I've really become curious as to what could be causing this!
About 9 months ago I needed another diverter valve fitted for my central heating system ... the heatsink radiator in the hall was on all the time. We also had the heatsink radiator replaced at this time, the new one was a lot smaller than the old 1980s/90s style one it replaced and the plumber had to "re-jig" the pipes around it a little bit.

Ever since then, we have constant hot water from the taps, whereas before we would have to put the "hot water" sliding switch on for an hour or so every so often. We have a Potterton Suprima i.e. NOT a combi boiler!
The strangest thing of all is that one certain radiator seems to be acting as the controller for the whole central heating system for the house ... we can't turn the central heating on via the thermostat/sliding switch near the tank anymore. The other radiators only come on if this particular one is on.
Of the 4 radiators upstairs I would say the "controller"one is the second-nearest to the tank ... it certainly is neither the nearest nor the furthest.
I don't think it is dangerous since the boiler only seems to "fire up" every so many minutes, and fairly briefly ... it certainly isn't running 24/7. I should also mention that one of the radiators downstairs has been isolated for quite a while, so the whole "circuit" of radiators is not complete. Ultimately I hope to get all the radiators replaced but this is not a financial consideration for at least a couple of years!

I do think the plumber who fitted the diverter valve is very competent, and he has done a lot of work on my house and friends/neighbours over the years. Financially we won't be able to get a lot of work done for a couple of years at least here, and I don't feel like this is a dangerous situation. We do get our boiler serviced every year no matter what.

Can anyone shed some light on what might be going on here?
Thanks in advance :)
 
Hello,
I have had a weird situation going on with my boiler/central heating now for quite a while and I've really become curious as to what could be causing this!
About 9 months ago I needed another diverter valve fitted for my central heating system . the heatsink radiator in the hall was on all the time. We also had the heatsink radiator replaced at this time, the new one was a lot smaller than the old 1980s/90s style one it replaced and the plumber had to "re-jig" the pipes around it a little bit.

Ever since then, we have constant hot water from the taps, whereas before we would have to put the "hot water" sliding switch on for an hour or so every so often. We have a Potterton Suprima i.e. NOT a combi boiler!
The strangest thing of all is that one certain radiator seems to be acting as the controller for the whole central heating system for the house . we can't turn the central heating on via the thermostat/sliding switch near the tank anymore. The other radiators only come on if this particular one is on.
Of the 4 radiators upstairs I would say the "controller"one is the second-nearest to the tank . it certainly is neither the nearest nor the furthest.
I don't think it is dangerous since the boiler only seems to "fire up" every so many minutes, and fairly briefly . it certainly isn't running 24/7. I should also mention that one of the radiators downstairs has been isolated for quite a while, so the whole "circuit" of radiators is not complete. Ultimately I hope to get all the radiators replaced but this is not a financial consideration for at least a couple of years!

I do think the plumber who fitted the diverter valve is very competent, and he has done a lot of work on my house and friends/neighbours over the years. Financially we won't be able to get a lot of work done for a couple of years at least here, and I don't feel like this is a dangerous situation. We do get our boiler serviced every year no matter what.

Can anyone shed some light on what might be going on here?
Thanks in advance :)
In all honesty, I would get that 'very competent Plumber' back to look over it all. If it did change after he installed the Valve and altered pipework.
 
He is certainly one of the most competent and diligent workers I have known, both through work and at home. None of the other (many) jobs he has done for us/people we know has had any issues, and to be fair to him, our system has probably needed upgrading for quite a while now and isn't exactly easy to work on (older model radiators, one isolated which I forget to tell him about until he came to do the job, etc.)
I might mention it to him when we have our annual boiler service in a few months.
I just posted out of curiosity more than anything else, since I couldn't find any similar issues via google.
Thank you to everyone who replied to this post, or even just took the time to read it to try and help. :)
 
He is certainly one of the most competent and diligent workers I have known, both through work and at home. None of the other (many) jobs he has done for us/people we know has had any issues, and to be fair to him, our system has probably needed upgrading for quite a while now and isn't exactly easy to work on (older model radiators, one isolated which I forget to tell him about until he came to do the job, etc.)
I might mention it to him when we have our annual boiler service in a few months.
I just posted out of curiosity more than anything else, since I couldn't find any similar issues via google.
Thank you to everyone who replied to this post, or even just took the time to read it to try and help. :)
At least ask him to come back and check his work to make sure he has not done something silly.
 

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