I have an open fire with a back boiler. The thermostat on the pump is set to come on at 40 degrees or so. The pump works fine - After an hour or so of heat from the open fire, the pump kicks in and the radiators throughout the house get very hot within seconds.
But it is short lived - It only lasts for about 2 minutes.
Then they are cold again for the remainder of the day if I leave the pump on.
They do get lukeworm periodically, I assume as the pump kicks in and pumps the water around the system, but by lukewarm, I would still say pretty cold to the touch.
I have been turning the pump on manually for about a minute every couple of hours and this works - The rads keep the heat, as the cold water is not getting pumped through when I turn the pump off, but this is not practical.
I understand that the fire heats the water in the back boiler and the pump kicks in at a point when the water heats a certain temperature, but there seems no point to this system, as I only get 5 minutes of heated radiators.
Am I missing something?
Is 40 degrees too low?
Am I not keeping the fire hot enough?
Is there a way to make the flow of the heated water slower around the system, making the rads stay warm for longer?
Is the pump faulty - Is it pumping water for too long after reaching the set temperature?
Surely the cost of running the pump outweighs the benefit of the system - We just go and put the central heating on, as the open fire is only heating the room its in.
But it is short lived - It only lasts for about 2 minutes.
Then they are cold again for the remainder of the day if I leave the pump on.
They do get lukeworm periodically, I assume as the pump kicks in and pumps the water around the system, but by lukewarm, I would still say pretty cold to the touch.
I have been turning the pump on manually for about a minute every couple of hours and this works - The rads keep the heat, as the cold water is not getting pumped through when I turn the pump off, but this is not practical.
I understand that the fire heats the water in the back boiler and the pump kicks in at a point when the water heats a certain temperature, but there seems no point to this system, as I only get 5 minutes of heated radiators.
Am I missing something?
Is 40 degrees too low?
Am I not keeping the fire hot enough?
Is there a way to make the flow of the heated water slower around the system, making the rads stay warm for longer?
Is the pump faulty - Is it pumping water for too long after reaching the set temperature?
Surely the cost of running the pump outweighs the benefit of the system - We just go and put the central heating on, as the open fire is only heating the room its in.