Problem with zonal heating.

nigeldinho

Here's a real ******** of a situation for anyone that's capable of helping me out here. It's completely screwed my head up anyway.

Forgive any language problems here or incorrect terms used, I haven't the most in-depth knowledge on the subject of heating.

I have a three tier or at least dual system heating in my house, one switch for hot water, one for upstairs, one downstairs. Works off standard oil heating. EPH Controls digital yoke works the whole thing. Upstairs and downstairs have their own separate thermostats on the wall, they've been set both to around 19 degrees and I don't dare touch them in case I'd end up with a problem, but, obviously, something has gone wrong somewhere.

Basically, downstairs heats fine, upstairs does not. You'd think a simple problem, bleed radiators, pump, what have you..but I'm not so sure.

When I want to heat downstairs, I switch on the downstairs heat and it works perfectly fine, not a problem. Likewise with heating water via the water switch.

When I go to switch on upstairs, nothing happens. Boiler fires up, heat comes through the pipes, but the circulating pump sits still, no life whatsoever..radiators stay cold, but I'm obviously wasting oil since it's burning outside no problem.

Here's the ******** though, if I switch on downstairs AND upstairs at the same time, upstairs heats up grand, pump comes on, whole house is warm, everyones happy.

This wouldn't be a problem normally you'd think, I'd just heat upstairs and downstairs like a normal person and you'd be grand. But it's just a bit annoying if you want a bit of extra heat at night and you have to waste more energy by switching on downstairs heating, when there's nobody downstairs but the dog.

Any help on this, or trying to figure out what the hell is going on, would be very much appreciated. Feel free to ask more questions and I'm happy to give any extra information needed.

Nigel

K.Flyer

Going to need a little bit more info.
Do you have a separate pump for each zone or just a single pump for the whole lot?
Do you have motorised zone valves, or a system-link set up?
Try turning the upstairs thermostat up to full to see if that helps anything.

nigeldinho

There's one pump for the whole thing and separate valves for each of the upstairs, downstairs and water.

Will try turning up the upstairs thermostat.

Dtp1979

nigeldinho wrote: »

There's one pump for the whole thing and separate valves for each of the upstairs, downstairs and water.

Will try turning up the upstairs thermostat.

If the pump isn't working when the upstairs is calling for heat then it's wired arseways.

swampgas

Sounds like a wiring issue.

Basically, when you switch on the heat upstairs, power goes to the upstairs thermostat - if the temp is below the set point, power is switched through to operate the motorised valve. There are four wires going to a motorised valve. Two operate it (open it). The other two wires are connected to a switch which should close when the valve is fully open. This second pair of wires should be connected to the call for heat wiring, probably in parallel with the two other valves.

What happens next depends on the system. On mine the call for heat goes to the boiler, which is also wired to the pump. After the boiler has kicked in for a few minutes and the internal temperature has risen enough to trigger the boiler stat, the boiler switches on the circulation pump.

What's weird (to me) is that the boiler starts up but the pump doesn't run when you switch on the upstairs zone. So maybe there is something funky about the way the pump is wired up ...

Dtp1979

swampgas wrote: »

What's weird (to me) is that the boiler starts up but the pump doesn't run when you switch on the upstairs zone. So maybe there is something funky about the way the pump is wired up ...

Ye that's the part that's not making sense to me either

nigeldinho

Sound lads. Thanks for the advice. Have called the plumber to have a look this week to see if it's wired up wrong or if there's some balancing off in the system.

Best not to go messing with it myself if it's a wiring issue.

whizbang

If the actuator for the Upstairs zone valve switched ok, but the valve isn't opening: there may not be enough flow in the system for sufficient heat to get to the pump thermostat ?