Valiant 837..... my gas metre is racing

[Foxyuk]

hi guys i got a valiant 837 fitted last week all new pipework and radiators , At the moment the house has no carpets etc and i have it on in the morning ang night for an hour via a siemens wiresless remote.

i went in tonight and turned it on for 5 mins and watched the metre (last 3 digits) spin like a sprinter..... it actualy went up 1/2 a unit with that time

i have the new type metre and its dated 2009.... the house temperature was 12.5 and i turned it to 17.5 its a metric unit 1 metric unit is 11.05 kwh so in 5 mins used about 6kwh


where do i start because somethings not right????

can it be a fauly gas meter?
faulty boiler?

At present im staying at relations until the house is refurbed and my relations use 2 units a day gas and house is roasting ........

help!!!

 

[Foxyuk]

That would be fine if the boiler started off at minimum output and then ramped up if necessary. But it doesn't, it starts at max output and then reduces. If the boiler's max output is considerably more than the radiators can dissipate, it will cycle. In extreme cases, where the boiler's minimum output is more than the rads, the average flow temperature will be very low.

The 837 modulates between 12kW and 28kW so, as the OP has no more than about 14kW of rads, there is a considerable likelihood that the boiler is massively oversized.

The OP needs to use the calculator I gave the link for to verify his heating requirement


It will provide 15l/min IF the incoming main can deliver 15l/min. If not, all you will get is hotter water.

will do calculator tomorrow and post results here.... until i have the benchmark and the commsioned figures from him as well it may shed light.... i know its oversized however its meant to self modulate itself...... its quite frustrating because bum a prev poster says im questioning his work but do i have an option?

 

[Foxyuk]

Hi,

I would let the contractor know I was concerned about what I had seen at the meter and ask him to explain to me in plain language why this was happening.

Honestly I would have had the heat loss / load calculations carried out before I even bought the house to ensure I could afford to heat and maintain it.

It appears to me that you have nothing to worry about because you are looking at readings for a building site where the boiler is set for frost protection and turned up to suit the comfort levels for short term visitors so the system is not getting up to any meaningful long term temperature.

When you move in the house will be sealed against the elements and will / should have a fairly stable temperature maintained for example you will not be trying to heat from 5 degrees even the furniture will be holding some heat for you.

At the moment your boiler is working at full output for long periods every time it is switched on trying to get the temperature up in what from your description is a building site not a home.

at the stage of doors being fitted at moment there is no carpets etc anywhere also so you maybe correct... the joiner has the heating on when they go in additionaly when i do put it on it reaches warm very quickly

 

[peteheat]

at the stage of doors being fitted at moment there is no carpets etc anywhere also so you maybe correct... the joiner has the heating on when they go in additionaly when i do put it on it reaches warm very quickly

Hi,

Sorry to appear so abrupt just that a customer arriving in to me with part information is a pet hate of mine.

That said your contractor might do well to take a few minutes to listen to his customers questions because it is so easy to explain why some things are happening when physically on the job site with the customer.

As a consumer myself I am fully aware how stressful home improvements can be and always make it a point to let my customers know they can ask any question related to the job in fact I tell them the only silly question is the one they don't ask (silly is more diplomatic than stupid).

I hope everything works out for you.

 

[Foxyuk]

hi guys got some data for you..

Ok done the hot water test.
.257 was reading before start
.311 was after 1 minute
.368 was after 2 mins

heating test,.... the heating had been off 30 mins so not total cold.... room temp was 14 degrees so advanced to 20

reading 08370.371
1 min .398
2 min .442
3 min .489
4 min .534
5 min .580

when i went in house the heating was on yet it was outwith the set times, heating guy says that if the boiler gets cold it will kick in. i checked the setting on the boiler and displays shows 33 degrees on front.

i checked the ch output by info button and plus and it shows 28kw . i believe its meant to self regulate however others have mentioned to manually change to 16 approx is this correct ... touched nothing else

 

[GQuigley67]

that has came out as 35kw for me, seems overgassed.

 

[CES]

Your boiler is running at 35kW when on HW, and 22kW when on heating according to your latest readings. All is within spec.

 

[GQuigley67]

sorry just noticed its a 837, seems fine

 

[tamz]

35kw when on for hw and 26kw averaged over the 5 mins for the heating.
Don't have any info on this boiler to hand and i can't be bothered to look it up but if it is a 37kw 3.33m3/hr is slightly low on the water side but your boiler has modulated over the 2 minutes as the readings change so your flow rate might be low. Heating is about right.

Leave it to your gas man to check correctly and stop worrying.

 

[Foxyuk]

hi guys for the record i took reading last night of 8357-921 at 4.30pm at 1pm today it was 8370- 257 the heating was set for an ohur last night and an hour today it seems to kick in when it suits itself also when boiler wants to..... the heating engineer is ecxplaining nothing apart from saying ""relax""

sooner i get the commision report completed etc this will be proof of pudding mind u suppose he could put anything into the book... its good to see that the posters above are local to me....:yes:

 

[Rickster123]

Was it you who asked for the 837 to be fitted? It's massively over sized for your home. The reading sound about right to me. And if that's the case will you be saying sorry to the installer for questioning his ability??

 

[GQuigley67]

im a company based in the south side of Glasgow, but seriously you do need to relax and chill, the boiler has built in frost protection which will kick in if the house drops below 4 degrees

 

[Mbear]

This thread should be re-named "no help reqd,my gas meter is doing nothing wrong"

My calcs work out at 32.2kw net. Which IMO is bob on. Maybe running a bath tap or large shower tap may make the readings slightly higher but that is to be expected.

Nothing to see here !

 

[Foxyuk]

Was it you who asked for the 837 to be fitted? It's massively over sized for your home. The reading sound about right to me. And if that's the case will you be saying sorry to the installer for questioning his ability??

i asked for it as we may extend in the future, however i knew buy buying this you could reduce the ch output, i called valiant and they suggested changing output for heaters to 15 or 16kw based on my house size ( 92 m 2 and a total of 7 radiators 2 of these are in a small bathroom and a kitchen)

i have not touched any setting but checked as per prev quote and its at 28kw at the boiler setting, its meant to regulate however obviously is not... should i ask heat eng to change ot to lower output manually or?

 

[Rickster123]

You can't judge it yet as you have no carpets, furniture etc in the house. It needs to be under normal conditions to judge it. But what I would say is that people are obsessed with getting a huge output combi and then don't understand why it uses so much gas?!:mad2:

 

[stevetheplumber]

as to it cutting in at odd times is there a c in the display window?