Nest Installed - No Rads Downstairs working

Optimus Prime

Hi,

I had a NEST Installed by electric Ireland last Thursday and since then none of my downstairs radiators work.

The upstairs ones work fine and the water heats up.

He came back out today and told us to bleed the radiators and if that doesn't work "Call a plumber", I was in work myself and never would have accepted this since everything was working fine before he installed the NEST last Thursday.

Ill bleed the radiators anyways (I already tried turning off all the updstairs ones to see if that did anything), can all your downstairs rads just stop working like that at once and be fixed by bleeding them?

Any other ideas about what would stop them from working? personally I think he just didn't wire up the nest correctly to the downstairs radiators but I don't really know anything about this stuff so said Id put up a post here first before I ring them back, if it wasn't id expect him to notice when he came back out today..

Should I have to pay a plumber to fix something Electric Ireland broke?

Thanks a lot

Wearb

I would be contacting electric Ireland again and asking them to send out a different guy to fix it. Most likely a zone valve not opening, but you shouldn't have to bother yourself as to the reason, just tell them to sort it.

Graham

How many nest controllers were installed how many heating zones do you have?

I recall Nest only supports 1 zone or 1 zone + water for the newer models. Multiple heating zones requires multiple Nests.

Optimus Prime

I dunno how many zones I have? previously we flicked a switch on the boiler(I think its called the boiler, we have gas heating?) in the press and upstairs\downstairs rads came on at the same time. The switch im talking about was on the round timer thing where you push the plastic pieces in to time when your heating comes on. we didn't have to turn on both separately or anything.

He installed a box thing on the wall in at the boiler(?), it has a couple of wires going from the nest box into it. then we have another thing with a screen on it where we control the temp etc. this is just plugged into a wall socket, its in the hall.

Edit: My brother in law lives in the same housing estate around the corner and he has nest installed, and it turns his upstairs and downstairs radiators on together. they would have the same setup as us in the house.

Graham

Sounds like you had a single zone if you couldn't independently control the upstairs/downstairs heating.

I'd go with wearb's theory, stuck valve somewhere. Worth bleeding the rads just in case.

Optimus Prime

Thanks for the advice guys, ill get back onto them again.

donegal.

does the nest not just replace timer/ controller for the central heating ?
would the installer even go anywhere near valves or anything else that could leave the downstairs rads not working?

tbf you might have to pay for a plumber.

Optimus Prime

I don't know what he goes near, but my heating was working fine on Thursday morning, he came and installed a NEST and when we turned it on after that evening the downstairs radiators didn't come on and haven't since!

Graham

donegal. wrote: »

does the nest not just replace timer/ controller for the central heating ?

Yup

donegal. wrote: »

would the installer even go anywhere near valves or anything else that could leave the downstairs rads not working?

Shouldn't need to. Not sure if there would be multiple motorised valves which would all need connecting into the nest.

donegal. wrote: »

tbf you might have to pay for a plumber.

You could well be right, I wouldn't automatically assume the problem is with the installation work although the timing would certainly suggest it's connected with it.

Optimus Prime

My brother in law came around last night and had a look, he is more familiar with the system than I am. He got the rads working after a few seconds. There is a switch or something on this top silver box that was off. He flicked it and they came on. So the NEST installer from electric Ireland either turned it off during install and never turned it back on or accidentally turned it off. . And missed it again when he came out yesterday. Lucky I didn't just ring a plumber as he suggested!

Thanks for the advice guys.

Wearb

Optimus Prime wrote: »

My brother in law came around last night and had a look, he is more familiar with the system than I am. He got the rads working after a few seconds. There is a switch or something on this top silver box that was off. He flicked it and they came on. So the NEST installer from electric Ireland either turned it off during install and never turned it back on or accidentally turned it off. . And missed it again when he came out yesterday. Lucky I didn't just ring a plumber as he suggested!

Thanks for the advice guys.

Should be turned on electrically, but if turning it on mechanically is causing no problems, then its fine. It will give you less zone control, but that might not be a problem now with the weather getting colder.

Nest installer should have explained all that to you and also he should have been aware that this valve would no longer be controlled by the nest.

Optimus Prime

ah ok, so maybe that switch is broken and needs replacing if its not working itself?

Electric Ireland: Una

Hi Optimus Prime,

Thank you for choosing Nest with Electric Ireland. We are sorry to read of the issue with your heating, and our Home Energy Services team would be keen to look into this matter for you.

If you private message me your name, telephone number and the area in which you live, I will organise for you to be telephoned at a time that suits you.

Best regards,
Una

swampgas

Optimus Prime wrote: »

ah ok, so maybe that switch is broken and needs replacing if its not working itself?

Yep. If the valve is there and can be wired up, you would either slave it to the upstairs valve or else you would have the option of adding a second NEST which would control the downstairs zone separately.

Optimus Prime

Ok, just so I have this right in my head..

assuming that thing is broken.

Currently, the nest is working, when I turn on the heat on the nest device all radiators in the house come on.

what would fixing this do?

Give me the option to set different temperatures upstairs to downstairs IF I buy a second nest for upstairs?

swampgas

Optimus Prime wrote: »

Ok, just so I have this right in my head..

assuming that thing is broken.

Currently, the nest is working, when I turn on the heat on the nest device all radiators in the house come on.

what would fixing this do?

Give me the option to set different temperatures upstairs to downstairs IF I buy a second nest for upstairs?

That depends. Typically there are three motorized valves in a modern system. One for hot water - this should be on a pipe leading into the side of the hot water cylinder. The second should be on a pipe feeding the upstairs rads. The third should be on another pipe feeding the downstairs rads.

All three valves should be able to operate independently. In such a case one Nest could operate one set of rads and the hot water, and the other Nest would operate the other set of rads. So independent timing and temperature control in each zone.

If that's how your system is plumbed, then it's possible. If some cowboy installed it, might be worth verifying the current installation first.

Wearb

Optimus Prime wrote: »

ah ok, so maybe that switch is broken and needs replacing if its not working itself?

Unlikely to be broken. More likely excluded from new setup.

That valve would normally be controlled by the downstairs room stat working through a control panel.

Optimus Prime

Im confused, if it is working but excluded from my new setup with NEST, then how am I able to turn on the radiators now using the nest? Just want to make sure im doing the right thing not following up on it? Thanks for all your advice on this by the way, I do appreciate it.

swampgas

Optimus Prime wrote: »

Im confused, if it is working but excluded from my new setup with NEST, then how am I able to turn on the radiators now using the nest? Just want to make sure im doing the right thing not following up on it? Thanks for all your advice on this by the way, I do appreciate it.

It looks like the "fix" was to manually open the valve to the downstairs rads. That means the valve is always open. So even if you just try to heat water, for example, the downstairs rads will come on as well.

Basically, once the boiler kicks in and the pump turns on, any zone which has a valve open will get some heat.

Try this: turn OFF the heat to the rooms using the Nest. Turn ON the hot water with the Nest. Wait for the boiler to kick in. See if the downstairs rads get hot. If they do, it's because the corresponding valve is manually open.