Motorised valve

jimmyw

Hi, my motorised valve for the rads seems to be making a racket so I assume its fecked.There is a lever on it with manual/auto writen on the cover.Is this to manually open the valve or close it? Can the valve be "unstuck"? I would guess not, but just checking.Vid below.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/59682227@N03/11342469334/

Sparkpea

when heating is off and valve set to auto the valve is closed, when working properly

when set to manual and heating is either on or off the valve is open

jimmyw

So manual means the valve is permanently open irrespective of whether the boiler is on or off.Cheers.

K.Flyer

Yes... but depending on how your motorised valve has been wired into the system, by pushing the lever into the manual position it may bring in the switched live on the boiler which will keep the boiler powered on and override your time clock settings.
With your timers in OFF positions move the lever into the manual position and check if your boiler starts up.

jimmyw

Got ya, I'll check tomorrow, thanks.

Incidentally, are they any way handy to change, or does the system have to be emptied or is it like the pump for instance where you can close off two valves either side of the pump to change it? What kind of a price are we talking about I wonder?

Sparkpea

its probably just the head that needs replaced so its more electrical, 3 or 4 wires to change probably, what make is it? looks like a glavanised head so could be tower.... u can get away with changing the synchronous motor sometimes but with that noise I think you might be better doing the whole head. A sauter motorised valve head should be compatible but you'd need to check what exactly is on currently.

shane0007

Looks like a Danfoss.

Sparkpea

on 2nd look it doesn't look galvanised, is it same as the other? whats the label say on the other? should give some sort of info as to what they are

jimmyw

shane0007 wrote: »

Looks like a Danfoss.

The vid is not very clear because its behind the fridge..:( and its a bit dark in there but the control panel etc says "Danfoss" as shane said and I think thats whats on the plastic cover.The pipework is a bit convoluted to me anyway trying to see in there...:p

freddyuk

Sounds like the motor is slipping on the toothed quadrant which may mean the actual valve is damaged or stiff. Manual actuation will reveal if it is stiff to move the lever. If it moves easily against spring pressure then valve is probably ok but if you have trouble moving the lever smoothly I would suspect the valve body and this will require a drain down. Get the actuator off if it can be removed (screws or spring clips) and see if the peg moves round in the body freely. Worth knowing before you buy anything.
Have you had any work done on the system recently?

jimmyw

K.Flyer wrote: »

Yes... but depending on how your motorised valve has been wired into the system, by pushing the lever into the manual position it may bring in the switched live on the boiler which will keep the boiler powered on and override your time clock settings.
With your timers in OFF positions move the lever into the manual position and check if your boiler starts up.

You were spot on I am afraid..Pushed the lever and the boiler/pump came on but I didn't realise for a minute because the light did not come on the panel thats over the valves as I wrongly assumed it would.

The lever is not hard to push and I can hear the "whirring" sound as I push it.At one point the lever went totally free whereby moving it had no effect on whether the boiler came on or not.


I manually moved the temperature button on the control panel on the wall for the downstairs zone (the faulty one) and the valve clicked and reset itself again.So, now I move the lever to manual,pump/boiler come on, and move the lever to auto, and both switch off.

So must be faulty valve? There was no work done on it lately.

By the way, the other two valves (water/upstairs zones) are working fine.

K.Flyer

It sounds like a faulty valve alright.
It may only need a new actuator, but if the valve is reasonably accessable I would change the complete unit as its not much more expensive to do.