Central heating pump running permanently?

[Morrisman]

i noted your info as long as it looks like a bleed cap or other then its fine but they do fail even so when fools paint them

check for hot water cylinder switched to the on position it could be just that thats keeping the power feed to the pump

you will have 2 switches anologue style digital is more fun

one will be for the cylinder the other will be for the central heating make sure they are both switched to off and check then could be as simple as that

if still on then theres a wiring fault if off then try switching to on, on the hot water and check

The hot water has ‘off’ selected on the programmer. The electric switch to it upstairs is also off. The tank is cold.

Heating is in ‘timed’ mode, I pressed the hot water boost button, and the boiler fired up and the heating did come on and work. That was with the pump switch in the C3 position.

With both set to ‘off’ the pump was still on.

 

[gaz1]

its wired in wrong on the wire box

pump should only come on when the system is calling for heat wether its for the heating or central heating

its a good job you noticed it otherwise someone might have had a higher electric bill than what they should have got

 

[iNf]

I pressed the hot water boost button, and the boiler fired up and the heating did come on and work

If you only pressed for hot water the heating shouldn't come on, unless the diverter valve is left in the manual position or u/s or possibly in this case somehow wired incorrectly.

 

[Morrisman]

If you only pressed for hot water the heating shouldn't come on, unless the diverter valve is left in the manual position or u/s or possibly in this case somehow wired incorrectly.

Sorry, I got that backwards I pressed the heat boost button, and the heating came on. I didn’t try hot water.

 

[Onoff]

On the back of the controller might be a switch that needs to be switched for either gravity or pumped btw.

Have you a 3-port mid position valve in the system? Diagram from my old controller manual:

 

[Morrisman]

On the back of the controller might be a switch that needs to be switched for either gravity or pumped btw.

View attachment 449902

Have you a 3-port mid position valve in the system? Diagram from my old controller manual:

View attachment 449903

I’ve no idea, it’s all new to me. I shall leave it in the hands of whatever plumber the agent sends out. Hopefully I’ll be there when he comes, and I’ll ask why he threw all the old parts, and offcuts of wire, stripped off insulation etc, in the bottom of the airing cupboard.

 

[Gareth J]

Likely been wired wrong. There may be a bodge reason that it's set to run constantly; maybe to keep an airing cupboard warm?
Or for frost protection?

The power it takes to run is fairly negligible (maybe a few tens of pounds a year) but presuming if it's running through the cylinder coil constantly and cooling the cylinder down unnecessarily, it'll waste a lot of energy.

I'm not saying you should do this, or should have to but people in rented accommodation live in fear of rent increases. My partner had a good deal on a flat and had so much trouble with the weird new heating system. I forget the issue now but after a few visits from the installing plumber, who was pretty useless, I took a look and the issues were easily resolvable with a simple wiring change. I just made the alteration in the end. Heating fixed, no more plumber callouts, no waiting in for the plumber, no bills for the landlord to be wanting to recoup. Again, this isn't advised and you shouldn't have to do it. And it was decades ago now I guess!

 

[minimutly]

On the back of the controller might be a switch that needs to be switched for either gravity or pumped btw.

View attachment 449902

Have you a 3-port mid position valve in the system? Diagram from my old controller manual:

View attachment 449903

Here we go, this is the important question! If you have a mid position valve (as I suspect you have), the pump should run when the boiler is called to run. Forget controlling it from the valve. whether you want it to run on after boiler shuts down is an efficiency thing.

 

[Morrisman]

Likely been wired wrong. There may be a bodge reason that it's set to run constantly; maybe to keep an airing cupboard warm?
Or for frost protection?

The power it takes to run is fairly negligible (maybe a few tens of pounds a year) but presuming if it's running through the cylinder coil constantly and cooling the cylinder down unnecessarily, it'll waste a lot of energy.

I'm not saying you should do this, or should have to but people in rented accommodation live in fear of rent increases. My partner had a good deal on a flat and had so much trouble with the weird new heating system. I forget the issue now but after a few visits from the installing plumber, who was pretty useless, I took a look and the issues were easily resolvable with a simple wiring change. I just made the alteration in the end. Heating fixed, no more plumber callouts, no waiting in for the plumber, no bills for the landlord to be wanting to recoup. Again, this isn't advised and you shouldn't have to do it. And it was decades ago now I guess!

It runs even with everything turned off, so it’s not dependant on whether heat or water is called for. I’d wager the plumber has just hooked it up to the wrong terminal in the connection box. If I knew where to move it to I’d do it myself, but I’m clueless on this sort of thing, and I doubt there is any sort of a wiring diagram in the manuals that are there for the boiler.

I may take a look though.

If I can hear it during the day when we are in the house moving about and talking then I’m pretty sure it would sound like a jumbo jet to me in the dark of the night. It is a very quiet area. It would drive me up the wall, or drown out my raging tinnitus, one or the other…..

 

[Onoff]

I may take a look though.

Take the cover off if you can and take a pic of the wiring centre? Be careful of course!

 

[Morrisman]

Take the cover off if you can and take a pic of the wiring centre? Be careful of course!

I’ll do that. The clown plumber has even put the cover on back to front, so the 220 volt warning is upside down….

 

[Robotstar5]

I’ll do that. The clown plumber has even put the cover on back to front, so the 220 volt warning is upside down….

Off topic, but I wired a couple of 24VDC sensors into a machine using a plastic junction box, my boss wanted a metal box fitted so I did, but added a butchered 240V warning label to read "warning 24 volts, isolate elsewhere before removing cover"

 

[dobbslc]

 

[gaz1]

depending if you know your system

Y Plan Heating with Unvented Cylinder and 2 Port Valve

Wiring for a 2 port valve and high limit thermostat when installing an unvented hot water cylinder on a Y plan heating system

flameport.com

W Plan central heating system

W-plan central heating system operation and wiring diagram

flameport.com

take a photo before you start so at least if you need to do you can reset back to how it was

 

[Welderpaul]

My daughters just moved into a new rental house, nice place fairly newish, quite big.
One thing I immediately noticed was a continuous quiet hum in the background upstairs. Nosing around I discovered the pump running, even with the heating totally off, stat set to 10° on a warm day.

It looks like it’s been recently fitted, and can be stopped by turning the dial to the C1 position.
I have no idea what the six different settings are for. It was on C3 when I found it.

Questions have been asked of the agent, but I’d like to be armed with some information in case they or the plumber try fobbing us off, saying it’s normal etc.

The old pump, and an old diverter valve are laying on the floor underneath, along with bits and pieces of wire and rubbish, obviously the plumber has no pride in his workmanship….

View attachment 449736

View attachment 449737

It's not just a circulation pump on the DHW is it?

 

[Morrisman]

It's not just a circulation pump on the DHW is it?

It still shouldn’t be running 24/7 when the heat and water are both turned off though.

 

[dobbslc]

Get a photo of the pump wires where they connect into the terminal box. We might be able to work out what is wrong.

 

[brightspark]

the simple wiring on the y plan https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=h...ient=gws-wiz#vhid=wuE2Fvy0Xt1XnM&vssid=l&ip=1

 

[Morrisman]

I took a couple of pics, doesn’t mean anything to me though.

The rear right hand white cable is from the pump, the black one next to it from the diverter v/v.

 

[brightspark]

the boiler and pump feed go to the orange cable