Switch it to the 'on' position.
The main heating system is a gas fired central heating system. The gas is from the white tank below the terrace and feeds a boiler in the leftmost cellar. The hot water tank is next to the boiler. Most rooms have radiators and the internal house temperature is controlled from a thermostat on the wall next to the window near the stairs.
The system is straightforward, although it does have some quirks which we'll come to!
When you first arrive the system should be switched off. To get it running you will need to; Turn on the gas feed, then light the boiler. Turn on the hot water control and the radiator control and switch on the main timer control.
However, first check that the water is swiched on in the house. If there's no water when you turn the taps on then you can assume that the water has been turned off for the winter. You have to turn the water on before you switch the heating on! - read the opening up after winter instructions
Once the system is running you may want to override it from the main room; to regulate the min/max temperatures or change the periods when the heating is on or off
The boiler is in the leftmost cellar (facing the valley) To get there you go down the stairs into the cellar, out of the door opposite the stairs onto the lower terrace (lift door slightly to turn key), turn left on the terrace and walk down to the door on the end. The light switch is on the wall on the left of the door as you enter.
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The boiler and hot water tank are to the left of the door -
standing in front of them, the hot water tank is on the left and the
boiler on the right. The main gas switch is on the wall to the right of
the boiler. When on, (as it is in the photo) the switch handle points up
the pipe - when off, it points across the pipe.
Switch it to the 'on' position. |
| To Light the boiler, you need to switch the boiler on - this is the orange switch at the top. Make sure the dial is set to 1, ie all the way to the left. |  |
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Then look down to the bottom of the boiler (if the front panel is still on, remove it). You can see a grey knob angled to the left - this is the pilot light control and to the right of it another knob - the ignitor. You need to press and hold the pilot knob and then turn the ignitor to the right. If you look below the pilot knob you should see a small flame behind the observation hole. If you don't - try the ignitor again. Once you see the flame, keep the pilot knob depressed for about 30 seconds. Then gently release it, the flame should stay lit. If not repeat until it does. |
| Lastly, you need to switch on the hot water and radiators. The two switches are on front of the water tank. Then set the hot water temperature. We usually set it to 4 which is hot but not scalding. |  |
If all has gone well, then the boiler is now lit and ready to run. The last step is turning on the main timer switch
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The regulation of the boiler is actually carried out by the
timer box. Apart from the clock, this usually doesn't need changing.
The timer box has a min and max temp setting, a main switch and a timer clock. The main switch is the to the right of the min/max temp setting. It should be in the third position down from the top, ie red bar and little mains symbol (it's in that position in the picture). The off position is the bottom position. (Check the clock is set to the current time - if the electricity has been switched off it will need resetting - just adjust the hands to the correct time as needed) Check the min and max temperature on the slider bar. In winter we set this for a min of about 7 and a max of 21. In spring/autumn we bring the max down to about 15. In summer you should bring it down to 12. |
Congratulations, you should now have the boiler running and the timer setup to control it - if you happen to be doing this when the timer is set to heat, then the boiler will have started up - otherwise it will come on at whatever time it is set to.
At this point return to the house and read the warning about radiators leaking at the end of this document just in case you're unlucky!
| On the wall in the main room is the thermostat for the
house. It can be used to increase or decrease the temp by 3 degrees (from
the max set on the timer box in the cellar), or to override the timer and
switch on or off the central heating.
The timer override is the 3 position switch top left - the normal position is the center, allowing the timer in the cellar to control. If you want the central heating on when the timer has switched it off, switch to the left and if you want it switched off, to the right. |
The temp override is the small dial on the top right - adjust it right for more heat or left for less. |
The main constraint we've found is that the system gets upset if you turn all radiators off, or switch on just the hot water but not the radiators. This means that to get hot water you've also got to have some degree of heating. Since we've never been here in summer, its not been a problem for us. Strategies for dealing with it could be:
Let us know what works!
If for some reason you want to change the min/max setting and the 3 degrees allowed by the main room control isn't enough. Then you can simply slide the min/max pointers on the timer box in the cellar. Don't go past 25 as it upsets the radiators.
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The on and of times will normally be set for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. If you need to change these, return to the timer box in the cellar and grasping the two screws a the top and bottom of the front plate, gently remove the front plate. The time on and off are controlled by the red (start) and blue (stop) pegs. Move them to your preferred start and stop time. |
The boiler may shut down - this can happen if you set the max temp too high and it causes a failsave control to trip and switch off the boiler completely. If it does shut down, adjust the max temp down a little and restart the boiler from scratch. Another reason we've know this to happen is if you try and regulate the house temperature using individual radiators. When you switch most of the radiators off at night, it causes the system to get confused and overheat, again causing a shutdown. The best approach is to use the thermostat in the main room and just leave the radiators as they are. If you do need to control radiators, try and leave a few slightly on so the system thinks it has some work to do and doesn't get upset!
Try increasing or decreasing the temperature setting on the hot water tank - we find setting it at 4 is about right but you may like it hotter or colder.
The water heat is actually driven from the main boiler so you may in summer find that you turn the heating down or off because its too hot, but the water never gets very hot. Try setting the max to about 17 and use the override in the main room to force the heating on for an hour or so. Turn most of the radiators off or on low - but leave a few on to keep the system happy.
One possible cause for this is that the gas tank is empty - if it is, there's little you can do. You can check it by going down to the tank, lifting the top cover and looking at the little dial on the top. If it's empty, either call us or phone the gas company and arrange a delivery (takes several days).
Another possible cause is that the boiler pilot light thermostat is unhappy. The pilot thermostat is to the right of the pilot flame observation hole - it has a wire coming out of it - jiggling this wire sometimes resolves the problem.
When the system is first switched on and the radiators go from very cold to very hot (or when the max temp is set above 25 degrees) some of the radiators may leak. It seems that the temperature change opens up cracks or badly sealed joints. The three most prone to this are all upstairs. If it happens, firstly use the radiator control knob on the radiator itself to switch them nearly off and see if it improves. If that doesn't stop it, try reducing the max temp on the timer control box in the cellar. Usually when they reach a stable temperature they stop leaking. While you're waiting for the leaks to stop place a container under the radiator.
The main fire should be self explanatory, you'll probably need to chop the wood to get pieces small enough to burn. The 'Aga' in the summer kitchen can be used to add a couple of degrees to the main room and to heat the guest bedroom if nee
There's also a small 'Oil' heater around that uses a deodorized fuel. It's useful for an extra boost in winter - the on switch is temperamental though.