Gas Boiler not heating water correctly

Adam

Hi all, hope you can help me out here. We had someone call out to repair the gas boiler just the other day, haven't used it at all in this place previously. Following the repair the heating is working fine, and we have separate buttons for turning on the central heating and water heating.

I noticed on the first day that after about an hour of heating the water the shower ran cold very quickly. Last night we tested just heating the water for almost 2 hours and got half a bath out of it. The actual temperature of the water is good, the boiler is set to about 65 degrees. As you can see from the photos, it's a fairly complex setup, which is why I'm afraid to tinker before knowing more. From reading around though I think adjusting the balancing valve might be a solution??

Thanks for your time!

Billy Bunting

Pictures not working.

celticcrash

The same problem here. You just got in there before me:D

Adam

Ah, sorry, here's links, and a little bit more info:

Just tested again, running the hot water only for 1 hour. Turned it off and ran the bath (an awful waste, I know!). Took some measurements and calculated that I got roughly 55 litres of hot water. Obviously there's give and take in that as the bath isn't perfectly rectangular. I don't know what capacity that tank is?

Billy Bunting

When your hot water is stored in the cylinder it stores it from the top to the bottom, the cylinder thermostat sensors when its hot, your stat is set too high on the cylinder lower it down and you'll get more hot water.

celticcrash

nice runners:P

Adam

Billy Bunting wrote: »

When your hot water is stored in the cylinder it stores it from the top to the bottom, the cylinder thermostat sensors when its hot, your stat is set too high on the cylinder lower it down and you'll get more hot water.

Does the thermostat come in to play when the gas is heating the water? I thought it was solely for the immersion?

Billy Bunting

Your immersion stat is within the unit, the one on the tank is from your heating system.

Adam

Billy Bunting wrote: »

Your immersion stat is within the unit, the one on the tank is from your heating system.

Ah, thanks a million for clearing that up. And suggestions for cutting the insulation to place it lower? And how low would you recommend?

Billy Bunting

It should be 1/3 of the way up from the bottom, you may need to move it around to the side to clear the pipework.
Cut out the insulation using a stanley knife *CAREFULLY* and place the cut out into the existing hole.

Adam

Ok, here's how it looks now, what do ya think?

Billy Bunting

Maybe slightly low, give it a go. :pac:

Adam

Ha, I was thinking you might say that, getting it higher around the side will be a pain in the tits, my knees are already complaining! Any danger in trying it at that?

Billy Bunting

I would give it a go, you may need to reduce the setting but give it a go.

delly

As said, you should give it a go at this point, but if you still have no joy you could leave it off entirely to make sure the issue is with the stat. If by leaving it off just for a test and you still don't get more hot water, then the issue resides elsewhere or within the stat itself.

Adam

Thanks guys. Testing it this morning, the water only has been on for half an hour and the tank is only luke-warm to the touch at the point where the thermostat used to be. Does that seem slow after 35 minutes?

Billy Bunting

It maybe slow but you should still get more hot water, if you want to try and heat it faster you could crack open the balancing valve (gate valve above the trainers) but just a quarter to half a turn, too much and you'll rob the flow from the rads.

Adam

Open would be clockwise with that?

Billy Bunting

Righty righty is tighty tighty, lefty lefty is loosy loosy

To open its anti-clockwise.

pigeon 1982

Billy Bunting wrote: »

When your hot water is stored in the cylinder it stores it from the top to the bottom, the cylinder thermostat sensors when its hot, your stat is set too high on the cylinder lower it down and you'll get more hot water.

correct me if im wrong but lowering down ANY stat means your LOWERING temp! correct so why would you want to lower down the stat, the problem is your balance valve!

Billy Bunting

pigeon 1982 wrote: »

correct me if im wrong but lowering down ANY stat means your LOWERING temp! correct so why would you want to lower down the stat, the problem is your balance valve!

We are actually talking about moving the location of the stat not lowering the temp of the stat.