@william1066 Hmm interesting, I’ll keep that in mind when it gets cold again.
It would be great if I could monitor what it’s doing exactly but having the old FTC2 I’m kinda out of luck.

Unless I’m missing there is a way I can monitor what it’s outputs are in terms of power consumption to heat output kind of thing?

Posted by: @calzo21

↑

Hi @derek-m hope you are well.

Thought I’d jump on and give a little update. So that same week we had a group of contractor going round the estate to find out what is going on. There were families being shipped out to Hotels or being moved to homes in different estates!

Luckily they deemed our house was actually good in terms of things working than the other houses, but agreed efficiency should be a priority as no point paying over the odds. They recommended to the upgrades team that we need another circulating pump to the upstairs manifold, as we are just not getting much flow upstairs (non existent if you look at the flow meters).

They changed me off WC and on exact flow temp…. 
That was changed straight back 😂

Im now running full WC with stats as limiters 2oC above.

Flow settings are 25oC @12oC outside and 38oC @-2oC outside.

Bought 3 Govee hydro-thermometers to check real life temps and it’s comfy around house maybe even too comfy 22oC mid floor(kitchen and living room and 19/20oC top floor (bedrooms) so could afford to try knock down slightly.

Being with Octopus they sent me out a FLIR cam for a few days to check the house. House is good and apart from some slightly leaky seals at some windows the house is insulated well. Right enough the top floor manifold is open full but some return pipes were cold so a pump probably needed. 

Also I joined Octopus new Cosy Tariff, designed for HP owners, 2 cheap rates 20p/KWh at 0400-0700 and at 1300-1600. A peak rate 52p/KWh 1600-1900 and rest of time at mid rate of around 34p/KWh.

On the circulating pumps, I decided to investigate as the ones downstairs at the water tank were all at max 3. 1 is to the return to HP and other for circulation. I changed HP one to low/1 and circulation to mid/2 and noticed no change. 

Still about £10-£12 a day this last week when it was cold but we are comfy at least.

Lastly I’ve now noticed that Delta T is very close, how close is too close? They can be like 2oC difference sometimes the same. 
And the cold weather has me noticed it may be doing defrost cycles quite often, but how many is too many?

I am pleased to hear that you and your family are keeping warm, but disappointed that others are having to live elsewhere because of incompetent contractor staff. I won't call them Engineers, because they obviously don't deserve the title.

So you are becoming the Army's heating system expert, I too am gaining new knowledge, which proves that 'you can teach an old dog new tricks'.

Now that you are getting heat energy from the heat pump into your home, the next objective is to get this heat energy to the correct places. I recently discovered that I was mistaken in my assumption that there is a water pump inside the heat pump unit, which I must have confused with some other manufacturers equipment.

So within your system there are 3 water pumps, one in the flow or return pipework, pumping water from or back to the heat pump, one in the pipework feeding the first floor UFH manifold, and the remaining one in the pipework to the UFH manifold for the bedrooms.

Since you mentioned that some of the UFH return pipes are cold, this would probably indicate that the relevant solenoid valves are not open. Each of the grey coloured solenoids will probably feel warm to the touch when they are energised, and the corresponding water valve should be open, thereby allowing water to flow through the UFH loop. The solenoid valves are open and closed by the appropriate thermostat, probably via some central controller. I would suggest that you get a 'little helper' to operate each thermostat in turn, and listen to see if you can hear the relevant solenoid operating, there will possibly be a clicking sound. If there is a central controller for the UFH, there will possibly be LED's that indicate that the thermostat is operating, and that the corresponding solenoid valve should be energised. Any faulty thermostats or solenoids should be investigated and replaced if necessary.

If the thermostats and solenoids are functioning correctly, but some pipe are still cold then it could be that the valve is stuck. Initially try tapping the valve with a small hammer or similar to see if it can be freed. If that does not work, then Google the equipment manufacturer, to see how to remove the solenoid. Once remove it may then be possible to check the movement of the plunger on the valve, to ensure that it is moving freely.

I would suggest that you confirm that all the thermostat's, solenoid's and valves are all functioning correctly, then post back and we can go through the process of balancing your system.

Posted by: @calzo21

↑

@william1066 Hmm interesting, I’ll keep that in mind when it gets cold again.
It would be great if I could monitor what it’s doing exactly but having the old FTC2 I’m kinda out of luck.

Unless I’m missing there is a way I can monitor what it’s outputs are in terms of power consumption to heat output kind of thing?

Don't worry about DeltaT for the time being, that can be looked at during the system balancing. The main thing at the moment is to confirm that all the equipment is functioning correctly.

I know that the FTC5 and FTC6 controllers have a number of display screens showing detailed information, and they can also be connected to MelCloud which produces various graphs and historical data.

Have a read through your manual and anything that you are not certain about then post a question.

@calzo21

Did you find any faulty thermostats, solenoids, or stuck valves?