Please Pigletjohn!

[SantaClauseMightWork]

I badly need your help to save us from freezing in our home.
We tried to put the central heating on timer. It is not enough and I want to override the timer but can't. I want to be able to switch it on and off manually, like I used to.
I have no idea what I was doing when I did this. It is an ancient system and I can't really afford to get an electrician or plumber to look at it for me.
Please please help me!

[SantaClauseMightWork]

Just to add, me and DH have been through the manual but we can't seem to understand why we can't override the timer.

[SpartonDregs]

does the advance button not work?

[BobbleyPook]

Press 'advance'

[Neverenoughspoons]

You could also try switching it to all day?

[DancingLedge]

I'm sure PJ is who you need, but meantime, can you post another picture, showing the other controls , further over than the timer?

[Okkitokkiunga]

So you've got it on from 7am-2pm and then 7pm - 11pm. Why can't you just change the times to those you do want?

[SantaClauseMightWork]

Thanks for so many replies.

sparton and bobbley
I have tried that. It didn't work.

Neverenoughspoons
How do I do that? Please explain a bit. But the proble would still be there: we would be boiling instead of freezing.

DancingLedge
This is all of the thermostat. Nothing beyond or around it at all.

Okkitokkiunga
You would think it should do that at this setting. It is not doing that. It switches on for about 20min every three or so hours and that's it. If I switch off the power supply to it, and switch it back on, this somehow overrides the timer. But, again, for 20 minutes or so only. That's just not enough.

[SantaClauseMightWork]

Problem is, I don't even know what I am doing anymore.
I have written to Honeywell but they open on Monday now. No supplier (screwfix, etc) has the sort of customer support Honeywell would do. I called the suppliers too.

[LBOCS2]

OP, do you have something that looks like this somewhere?

Basically, you should have two things. One which is a dial which tells your heating what temperature you want your house to be, and the other, which is your central heater timer (your pic) which says what time you want it to be trying to get to that temperature. They work together. So, you put your thermostat on the temperature you want (most people have it between 18-20) and then you set the timer dial to come on in the morning (dibs 1-2) and what time you want it on in the evening (dibs 3-4). You push each of the sliding buttons on the right down to 'twice' and your heating should work all together. By pressing 'advance', you turn the heating on until the next time it's due to go off.

The fact that it's firing up says to me that the house is at or near the temperature your thermostat is telling it to be, so check that's turned up high enough first.

[Snowman41]

Switch it off and switch it on again?

[Snowman41]

Sorry I missed that last post somehow!

It does seem to be a thermostatic issue: if you don't have a thermostat like shown above perhaps you have a system controlled by one of your radiators, I don't know much about this but if it has been turned down somehow that would stop your heating from staying on as it would hit the max temp sooner? Yes

[wowfudge]

If you took the photo just before you posted, the time is not set correctly as it's showing nearly 11pm. But, I agree with the pps that it sounds as though it's a thermostat issue.

[SantaClauseMightWork]

Thanks for so many suggestions!
LBOCS2
Your pic is something we have in one of the kitchen cabinets. You have given such a long, detailed description of steps. Thanks for that. I will do all of that in the morning and report back. (Right now, DC2 is unwell and I want to catch up as much sleep as possible while he is asleep).

if it has been turned down somehow that would stop your heating from staying on as it would hit the max temp sooner?
I never even thought of that 😳 Thanks for this. I will need to check this. I do vaguely remember a discussion with DH where we thought of taking the temperature limit lower to save on bills (those were the times when we used to have a boiling flat, hence the tries to "timer" it).

wowfudge
It is great to see what amazing advice I can get from Mumsnet! I did take a little bit before posting (about half hour). It was nowhere near 11pm. I will check that and report back.

Thanks everyone. We have a big standard electric heater/fan so at least nights are much better.
I will come back and report on all these checks tomorrow.

[Neverenoughspoons]

I agree with LBO sounds like your thermostat is set too low. Hope you sort it and your DC is feeling better soon.

[PigletJohn]

Watching with interest.

I think LBOCS2 has nailed it

Your thermostat should not be in a cupboard, though, it should be in free air in the room.

[SantaClauseMightWork]

Here is the picture of what we have in the kitchen. Other than this, we can't seem to find any other thing anywhere.
DH thinks this black dial (showing min and max) is the one controlling the temperature. He says he can't remember tempering with it at all.
I have looked in all the closets, toilet and kitchen. We can't seem to have anything else like the picture LBOCS2's post.

[SantaClauseMightWork]

Picture didn't seem to upload. Here it is.

[SantaClauseMightWork]

So sorry. Forgot to thank you for coming to comment pigletjohn.

[PigletJohn]

Your picture seems to show the front of the boiler. There should be a panel over that, which no doubt would have a mark pointing at the knob to indicate the setting.

If we assume that the knob controls boiler temperature, it looks as if it might be set to 0. It would control the temperature of the circulating water, but it would not control when the radiators and cylinder are heated. How hot is your tapwater?

Have you found a wall thermostat?

[SantaClauseMightWork]

Tap water and shower are completely fine. I haven't really found anything other than this pic from my kitchen. I have looked in every closet and in the airing cupboard too.
Does this mean this boiler panel (black one) controls the temperature? This is so confusing.

[SantaClauseMightWork]

What are the chances i could have this Honeywell thing without a wall thermostat? Can that be a possibility somehow?

[PigletJohn]

it's possible, but not common, and very poor practice (because the heating will be running even when the house is warm). It is sometimes seen in old installations, or when the installer (wrongly) relies on TRVs and has no care for wasted energy. Some older customers used to think in terms of turning the heat on and off, as you would an electric fire, and may have had small radiators that didn't get the house very warm.

Do you have thermostatic radiator valves?

Some modern thermostats incorporate timing as well as temperatures for the CH, and are a good choice if you are thinking of having one fitted. The work to install is no greater than a simple dial thermostat, but they are more expensive to buy.

Wall stats are most often in the main living room, or, mostly in older installation, the hall.

It's fairly easy to fit one, running a cable usually to the boiler, but it could be connected to your timer-programmer.

[DancingLedge]

Agree, except for no cables needed nowadays. All wireless.

[DancingLedge]

this

[parkview094]

If I understand correctly, you can (through various means) get the boiler to fire for ~20 minutes, but then it stops. Is that still the case?
If so..
During that 20 minutes, do the radiators get hot?
In between the periods of the boiler being on and off, presumably the radiators get cold?
Do you have hot water cylinder somewhere? If so, there should be a thermostat on it (dial with temperature settings). If so, what temperature is that set to? Once the boiler has turned it's-self off after the 20 minutes, if you temporarily increase the temperature on the hot water cylinder, does that cause the boiler to turn back on?
If you set the hot water to 'off', does the boiler still fire up and run for 20 minutes with just the heating set to 24hrs?