Weird heating setup, need advice

[Ribeard]

Edit: I realise this probably should have gone in the Central Heating forum, mods please feel free to delete this as I've reposted over there

Hi folks, first post but I've been reading the forums for a good while!

Just had a crew in to install a Nest but they were thwarted by our odd set up, so I'm here for advice.

We have a 2 zone heating system (heating/hot water, glowworm gas boiler, danfoss heating controls). The boiler is in the kitchen downstairs, it has a digital timer control beside it. Upstairs we have the water boiler which according to the guys I just had in has at least one superfluous timer attached (one of the old analogue push pin types). Recently the timer downstairs stopped triggering the heating, I have to turn this on by manually switching the motorised valve. In order to get the nest installed I have to get that last thing sorted at the very least, but the guys also recommended getting the extra controls all removed because there'll be conflicting signals and they claimed to have never seen a system wired up so strangely.

I've attached pics of the system as it is, maybe someone can shed some light.

Kitchen gas boiler timer/control panel:

Hot press timer panel, switches and other stuff:

Motorised valves x2:

My question is who do I even get to do a job like this? A plumber? Boiler service? Is this a pricey job? The nest installation is paid for through my energy provider so I'm quite happy to remove anything that the Nest doesn't need to work.

 

[Dan]

Edit: I realise this probably should have gone in the Central Heating forum, mods please feel free to delete this as I've reposted over there

Hi folks, first post but I've been reading the forums for a good while!

Just had a crew in to install a Nest but they were thwarted by our odd set up, so I'm here for advice.

We have a 2 zone heating system (heating/hot water, glowworm gas boiler, danfoss heating controls). The boiler is in the kitchen downstairs, it has a digital timer control beside it. Upstairs we have the water boiler which according to the guys I just had in has at least one superfluous timer attached (one of the old analogue push pin types). Recently the timer downstairs stopped triggering the heating, I have to turn this on by manually switching the motorised valve. In order to get the nest installed I have to get that last thing sorted at the very least, but the guys also recommended getting the extra controls all removed because there'll be conflicting signals and they claimed to have never seen a system wired up so strangely.

I've attached pics of the system as it is, maybe someone can shed some light.

Kitchen gas boiler timer/control panel:
View attachment 41033

Hot press timer panel, switches and other stuff:
View attachment 41034

Motorised valves x2:
View attachment 41035

My question is who do I even get to do a job like this? A plumber? Boiler service? Is this a pricey job? The nest installation is paid for through my energy provider so I'm quite happy to remove anything that the Nest doesn't need to work.

Added images to post for you. We don't like hosting them externally, we lose them down the line then and it doesn't help other people in the future.

Good luck with the job.

 

[Chuck]

Upstairs we have the water boiler which according to the guys I just had in has at least one superfluous timer attached (one of the old analogue push pin types).

That doesn't look superfluous to me. It looks as though the electromechanical programmer controls the electric immersion heater(s) for your cylinder, which is probably there for the summer months when the previous owners probably turned the central heating off completely.

 

[Ribeard]

That doesn't look superfluous to me. It looks as though the electromechanical programmer controls the electric immersion heater(s) for your cylinder, which is probably there for the summer months when the previous owners probably turned the central heating off completely.

Thanks for the reply, and forgive my ignorance, but as far as I know it's gas fired central heating, where would electric immersion come into it? Can everything in pic 2 be bypassed so the whole system can be controlled from the timer panel in pic 1? When the pic 1 timer was working properly (up till Feb this year) I never had to touch anything in pic 2, I don't know what any of it does or how it relates to heating or hot water. Previous owners left us no instructions so I've not even been able to work out why the panel in pic 1 no longer operates the heating (hot water is fine)
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PS - if anyone can give me a top-to-bottom description of each of the items in pic 2 and even a rough idea of what they control I'd be tremendously grateful

 

[Brambles]

In essence, your Nest installer is working within a very narrow window of knowledge.

Get a recommended plumber or heating engineer over and they will be able to instal Nest correctly. Any additional timers in the system will be in series with Nest - providing that they are set to permanently on, it won’t be an issue.

 

[king of pipes]

It really is up to you how you want the system to work as Brambles has said if you have two different forms of control then they must be wired in series , do you want to control your heating and or hot water from you phone via nest ? It can be used in several different ways but each system is different and will need to be configured to work properly , the cylinder looks old and inefficient the red lagging jackets have very poor insulation value consider improving this in the future the pipework also could do with a tidy up, and the flue on the boiler elbow needs screwing together. Best of luck kop

 

[Ribeard]

Thanks folks. I'm sure the whole system could do with an update but the house is very well insulated and heats up quickly, retains heat for ages, and I've never had to touch the hot water controls (we have a power shower so we're not relying on the boiler for that, otherwise it might be a different story).

If I can get the timer on the gas boiler back up and running I'm quite happy to just leave everything else alone or on constant 'on' and let the timer control it. Then I can hopefully just get the timer swapped with the Nest and go from there. I wasn't sure if it was a plumber or another trade I should be contacting, I'll start with my plumber and go from there.

 

[king of pipes]

You will probably need both . Hope all goes well kop