motorised valve

jas47

hi just wondering if i can fit a motorised valve to the supply pipe on my upstairs heating?,i then want to put a switch in the utility room to open and close this rather than using thermstats.if this would work i might do the same for my hot water cyclinder and just leave the rads on downstairs.

aujopimur

Go ahead, just make sure you don't block the exp. pipe if you have an open vented system.

Pete67

No reason why not - domestic zone valves are power to open and spring return close so it would work. The heating system would need to have been designed with zoning in mind though, in other words there needs to be a separate heating circuit feeding the upstairs rads only.

If you are going to the trouble of adding the zone valve, why not put a programmable thermostat in the master bedroom to control it - then you can automate heating of the bedrooms to maintain various different temps as required throughout a typical 24 hour period. Most allow a different heating regime for weekends v's weekdays.

For the hot water cylinder, again assuming the plumbing is suitable to allow installation of a zone valve, I would just use a cylinder stat set at 60C to control the HW zone valve - that prevents over heating of the stored hot water with risk of scalding and wasted energy, and can be combined with a time switch if necessary to limit water heating to certain times of the day only. Why would you want to control this manually with a switch?

jas47

thanks for the help,for the time being i think i'll try and fit the motorised valve for rads upstairs and investigate the clylinder suggestion further,thks.

A room stat is still just a switch, just one that makes and breaks at a given temperature, so the only difference is the level of control you have, if you don't want to wire a zone valve properly why don't you fit a lever valve, it's easy to fit and will give you the same level of control as you wanted, agreeing with Pete you have to be careful with changes you make, if you zone everything you would have to look at a bypass, i would seek advise from a plumber first, but for a bit of info have a look at: http://www.servecommunity.ie/download.ashx?f=EST_CE51_CHeSS_WEB_FINAL_JULY_08.pdf . Gary

Rev. BlueJeans

I've been thinking about this too, but have decided to go down a different road, as the heating system here is over a decade old, and not designed for zoning. Had the HALO guy in recently which focused my attentions on this again.

I'm doing the following;

1. Fitting a condenser boiler-grant available. (I only tossed the original Grant piece of crap a couple of years ago!)

2. New insulated cylinder and solar panel kit (again grant aided).

3. Two primary zones, one for rads, and one for hot water-wired from existing controller (a two channel digital controller-house is timber frame so running cables is possible, not easy, but eminently do-able)

4. Each rad to be controlled by powered TRV and digital room stat. I'm going down this road as all of my rads are, or will be hidden behind rad covers.

http://europe.hbc.honeywell.com/products/pdf/en1h0183-ge51r0403.pdf

I'd be running a 3v supply rail around the house to avoid mucking about with batteries every two years, though.

davelerave

Sounds good.I think i'd look for a 24v system if i was fitting powered rvs/stats and not bothering with the included batteries.The stats are programmable ,i think they have a contact(HAC30) for integration with boiler call loop.
They have a power supply available but i think it powers 1 stat?
http://83.137.173.103/historic_products/2007_2/pdf/en2h0170-ge51r0699.pdf

Rev. BlueJeans

With around a 50mA output I'd say definitely.

I'll probably make one myself.

I saw a 24v system somewhere online, but couldn't find it again afterward.

davelerave

http://www.mysoninc.com/store.asp?pid=19837
These are 24volt ac.You would home- run a twin back from each rad valve and home-run a 5-core or whatever from each 24volt stat for maximum flexibility.(a lot of stats come with 24/230v ac input)
Not keen on the 3v system with each stat hardwired to the room valve.Although i've never worked with electric rad valves

Rev. BlueJeans

Thanks Dave, appreciate that advice.