@cathoderay Thank you for the long and useful reply.
Heating system not in use, lowered little portable thermostat to 5C as the only way I could work out how to stop constant rumbling and overheated bedroom. Still runs at times, protecting itself from freezing temps?
Water is from a well, no mains. Washing machine was working until this installation.
Can accept that washing machine problem a plumbing problem but only since installation, previous problem was fixed last year.
Think a hot air system would have been preferable - where do I put stuff now most of wall space taken up with large radiators? And it may be a tidy heating unit job but I didn't expect it to be in a bedroom, could it have been installed downstairs where there is space in a utility room?
Think I may be wasting the time of experts, although I am learning, slowly. Hope attached pictures useful.
Heating system not in use, lowered little portable thermostat to 5C as the only way I could work out how to stop constant rumbling and overheated bedroom. Still runs at times, protecting itself from freezing temps?
Yes it will be protecting itself from freezing. You cant really stop this unless you decommission it completely. The question that you need to answer (because nobody else can) is do you want to persevere and get it running or abandon it. There isn't really a middle way.
Water is from a well, no mains. Washing machine was working until this installation.
Can accept that washing machine problem a plumbing problem but only since installation, previous problem was fixed last year.
Is there a pump for the well if not how does the water come up? Its possible that doing the installation disturbed some debris which has eg blocked a filter. What was done to fix the problem previously? Can that be repeated.
Im just checking up about the valve, can you post a picture of the grey one with the head directly facing the camera, also does the writing on the side say calefi or something else?
4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.
Heating system not in use, lowered little portable thermostat to 5C as the only way I could work out how to stop constant rumbling and overheated bedroom. Still runs at times, protecting itself from freezing temps?
You are leaning! That is the standard way to turn a heat pump on and off ie turn the main (even if little and portable) thermostat all the way down to turn off the heat pump, all the way up to say 28 degrees to turn it on. Used like this, the thermostat becomes an on/off switch. What you do not want to do is used it to set the room temperature. Counter-intuitive, I know, what is a room stat for if it isn't to do that? But it is not how heat pumps work, using a room stat will cause cycling. Instead, we use weather compensation (Water Law in Samsung units). The still running at times could well be frost protection kicking in, this should happen even when the heat pump is nominally off, for obvious reasons.
Both pictures are useful. We need a Samsung expert to take you through the Water Law bit, or maybe @jamespa, can do it, I think he may be familiar with Water Law settings even though he doesn't have a Samsung heat pump. And I think we are all agreed the hot/cold water pressure balance and washing machine behaviour are plumbing, not heat pump, problems.
I had the same thought as @jamespa about the installation - it really does look quite neat. I have seen a lot worse. That makes it all the more the pity that other parts of the installation didn't go so well. Perhaps different sub-contractors did different elements of the work.
Losing wall space to large radiators is one of the trade offs of having a heat pump. The preferred installer offered up by my grant administrators (so called LAD scheme not ECO4) were a bunch of goons who wanted to install radiators so large they would have partially blocked off some of my windows! I got rid of that installer, and went with a better one, and ended up using mostly K3s (three panel radiators) which are big and blocky to say the least, but their frontal areas is smaller than a K2 with the same output, leaving me a bit more usable wall space. Over time I have got more tolerant of the visual intrusion caused by the radiators (apart from one which I have discussed elsewhere).
You will probably be the first to appreciate Ronald Reagan's 'nine most terrifying words in the English language...I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help'. There is no doubt government schemes can be over-complicated and excessively rigid, but as I have said before, we are where we are. In your case, you have a heat pump system that I am confident can be made to warm your home to a comfort level that suits you without needing a mortgage to pay for it, though it will be expensive (like mine) to run, because of the nature and characteristics of our homes.
We just need to get your settings set up correctly.
I see @jamespa has just posted, so some overlap between our two posts.
Midea 14kW (for now...) ASHP heating both building and DHW
@jamespa Thank you for taking the time to help. I really am learning a lot although something of an uphill struggle.
Yes, would like ASHP working, need the CH as often not able to carry logs, but would like to use stove whenever possible, the cat and I enjoy real flames. Radiator is so close to stove to avoid a socket outlet, no joined up planning. The continuous running worried me due to probable cost and noise.
Water from two sources pumped to a storage tank with new filter then gravity fed to house. Don't think filtration problem, outside tap good pressure, have cleaned washing machine filters. Last time it was a leaky pipe dropping water pressure, now repaired. Hot water pressure does seem excessive, explodes from taps if not careful although no hot/warm water at present.
I can follow simple instructions so would be very grateful if you could help me start system running again. Radiator valves (trvs?) all have different settings. Two very loose, just balancing. Can't bend low enough to see properly but a couple seem to display a flame. This is what puzzles me most - if they confound the system why are they fitted? If removed what replaces them?
The noise rumbling and vibration may well be because the heat pump is working harder than it should (as evidenced by rooms too warm). If you turn it down, that may reduce the noise etc as it is working less hard. @transparent is good at commenting on actual installations, he may have something to say.
@cathoderay Love the Ronald Reagan quote. Surely whoever planned ECO retrofits must have realised one size couldn't fit all given the very different types of housing stock across the country?
Thank you for encouragement, I'm not usually quite so slow on the uptake. You are right about getting used to radiators, didn't realise there were different types. Don't think I will ever get used to surface plumbing, it is so intrusive and just looks wrong. Reminds me of cow sheds.
OK. Its good to hear you want to get it working and you do appear to have a good set of parts, so its a case of getting them set up a bit better.
However lets take this one step at a time:
Regarding the excessive HW pressure, many would see this as an advantage, but if (just like me) you have taps designed for low pressure and then the pressure is increased, it can cause the water to spill over. As your cold water is gravity fed, and presumably feeds the DHW also, Im a little surprised you have this problem, unless the tank is quite high, but you do so it needs fixing.
Two ways the reduce the flow from the hot taps.
The easy one is partially to close the red lever valve at the top of the tank. You might find it makes a bit of noise, but its simple and quick.
The more difficult one is to adjust the setting of the grey valve. You need an allen key of the correct size. Depending on how much pressure you have from your storage tank, this may not even work (because the grey valve may be doing nothing), but if it does work it may well give better results. I dont know how far you can turn the allen screw before it reaches some sort of stop (or pops out entirely, which is going to create a mess), so if you use this approach i suggest take it carefully and remember where you started. The instructions are here under 'calibration', the head has +/- on it, you know what that means! It says you need to turn off the outlets which are the red and blue lever valves near the top of the tank.
If its only one tap causing a problem and turning the pressure down to suit this one causes the others to be too low, you can get flexible tap connectors with inbuilt isolation valves, that can be turned down if necessary.
Personally Id start with the red lever valve, if closing this gives acceptable results why look further?
Regarding the w/machine its very odd that the hot water is high pressure but there isnt sufficient pressure to fill the machine. Is there a cold tap near to the machine, whats the pressure like there. Is it possible its something simple like a kinked hose. Could you check the pressure actually at the machine by disconnecting the hose from the w/machine (having isolated it first!), placing it in a bucket and switching back on. Thats what I would do. This may even force through an airlock.
Regarding the heating, let me give some thought to sequence of events given what we know about your system. In the mean time please read this intro to heat pumps and especially the bit about weather compensation. If you have it also read about 'water law' in the Samsung manual (water law is just Samsung speak for weather compensation). I am not a Samsung expert but the principles apply to all heat pumps and I know Samsung has the pretty standard 4-point adjustment for weather compensation/water law. Can you post a photo of the handheld/wireless thermostat you mentioned earlier please?
This post was modified 4 weeks ago 4 times by JamesPa
4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.
@transparent did you just reply to my post by editing it?
Im pretty sure this grey valve is on the inlet to the DHW, it looks like a standard 'inlet group' to me, ie a combination of a pressure regulating valve (normally set at 3 bar) and a pressure release valve (set at 6 bar I think). The former affects both cold and hot water and means that existing mixers which were designed to be fed from the indirect cold and indirect hot still receive balanced water pressures. If you connect the mains directly to the former indirect cold circuit, there may be mixers that wont work properly hence the way these are normally plumbed.
This post was modified 4 weeks ago 2 times by JamesPa
4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.
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