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Original poster

Heating turning on automatically

19 replies

happiertimes123 · 16/12/2022 05:11

Has anyone else had this? We had a new boiler fitted in September, we use oil. It's a Navien boiler.

Since temperatures started to drop, our boiler has started turning on by itself, when it gets to below 0. Sounds great except this has been largely at this time of the morning when we're already warm. The house holds heat very well and an hour before bed is more than enough. It's been waking me up and giving me headaches and a dry mouth. Plus we can't afford to have our heating turn on by itself every single night, oil is ridiculously expensive and you need to pay for a full tank (£1k) all at once, which we don't have right now.

Help! We phoned Navien and they said they'll phone me back but I haven't heard anything. We have been completely switching the thermostat off to prevent it but that doesn't work and it seems when this does happen we can't turn it off either. This was problematic last night when we had the wood fire going and the heating randomly turned on which meant we were roasting and could only put out the fire, which we prefer to the heating anyway.

Anyone had this? What did you do? Thanks!

OP posts:
Testingprof · 16/12/2022 05:28

Is it turning on as frost protection? Turning off the thermostat wouldn’t turn off the boiler, it would leave it uncontrollable. You should be able to turn the boiler off itself or turn down the thermostat.

Caspianberg · 16/12/2022 05:30

Frost protection offset I assume?

our old oil system would still turn on even if ‘off’ if below x degrees outside. But it only ran cold water though the system to stop pipes freezing. Maybe yours is doing the same?

Original poster
happiertimes123 · 16/12/2022 06:40

Testingprof · 16/12/2022 05:28

Is it turning on as frost protection? Turning off the thermostat wouldn’t turn off the boiler, it would leave it uncontrollable. You should be able to turn the boiler off itself or turn down the thermostat.

Yes it may well be frost protection. The problem is the boiler is outside so turning it off would mean going out in the freezing cold every night to turn it off and then out in the freezing cold every morning to turn it back on. The thermostat won't let us turn it down when it comes on automatically unfortunately, I don't know why - it says it's set at 10c still even though the radiators are hot.

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Original poster
happiertimes123 · 16/12/2022 06:40

Caspianberg · 16/12/2022 05:30

Frost protection offset I assume?

our old oil system would still turn on even if ‘off’ if below x degrees outside. But it only ran cold water though the system to stop pipes freezing. Maybe yours is doing the same?

This would be fine but it's 100% not cold water, it's absolutely roasting and feels higher than we'd actually have the heating on!

OP posts:
Lonelycrab · 16/12/2022 06:45

Mines been on a lot of the night due to frost protection, boiler in garage. It’s -6 here now.

rippleraspberry · 16/12/2022 06:46

Stating the obvious perhaps, but phone Navien again Companies (in my experience) rarely actually phone you back when they say they will.

Ring them again and get someone out to look at it. If it's the frost protection it shouldn't be sweltering, it should be just enough to stop pipes freezing.

Shejustwentthere · 16/12/2022 06:49

I turn mine off with the mains switch.

Original poster
happiertimes123 · 16/12/2022 07:20

Lonelycrab · 16/12/2022 06:45

Mines been on a lot of the night due to frost protection, boiler in garage. It’s -6 here now.

Aye we're at similar temperatures, I can see the logic in it I just don't want to be massively overheating. I've had four hours sleep because I cannot cool down Sad

OP posts:
Original poster
happiertimes123 · 16/12/2022 07:20

rippleraspberry · 16/12/2022 06:46

Stating the obvious perhaps, but phone Navien again Companies (in my experience) rarely actually phone you back when they say they will.

Ring them again and get someone out to look at it. If it's the frost protection it shouldn't be sweltering, it should be just enough to stop pipes freezing.

On the list for today - good to know that it shouldn't be this warm. Hopefully they can reset it.

OP posts:
Original poster
happiertimes123 · 16/12/2022 07:21

Shejustwentthere · 16/12/2022 06:49

I turn mine off with the mains switch.

The mains switch on the boiler? Ours is outside so it would not be fun navigating this every freezing morning and night!

OP posts:
ifonly4 · 16/12/2022 08:12

Boiler should have a guarantee. Did the company or a heating engineer fit it? If the latter, I'd try contacting them as well.

Shejustwentthere · 16/12/2022 08:35

happiertimes123 · 16/12/2022 07:21

The mains switch on the boiler? Ours is outside so it would not be fun navigating this every freezing morning and night!

Show quote history

No, it's an electrical switch, beside my boiler in the kitchen. It looks like a light switch.

Original poster
happiertimes123 · 16/12/2022 09:24

ifonly4 · 16/12/2022 08:12

Boiler should have a guarantee. Did the company or a heating engineer fit it? If the latter, I'd try contacting them as well.

Yes it has a 10 year warranty I think. The folk that fit it did a terrible job and are completely uncontactable. Warranty are with Navien who are great and fixed an issue before so hoping they can sort this too.

OP posts:
Original poster
happiertimes123 · 16/12/2022 09:30

Managed to get some sleep, have woken up to it on AGAIN. Thermostat thing says it's at 9.5c - it most definitely is not.

Heat massively agitates my chronic pain and I'm in shitloads right now. Really really hope this is fixed before Christmas or I'll have a painful few weeks...

OP posts:
psychomath · 16/12/2022 14:02

I've never heard of an outdoor boiler, that sounds like it would be really inefficient - are all oil ones like that? In that case it doesn't matter that it's warm in the house, when it's down to -7 or below outside it'll still need to heat/circulate the water to stop the boiler itself and any outdoor pipes from freezing. Just circulating cold water is unlikely to be enough protection at such low temperatures. Not really sure what you can do about it besides insulating the boiler and outdoor pipes better, if that's possible - definitely don't turn the boiler off, frozen pipes will be way more hassle than being too hot at night. The weather is meant to be getting warmer in the next few nights so hopefully it will resolve itself soon.

psychomath · 16/12/2022 14:17

Also sorry if I'm stating the obvious but you haven't mentioned it that I can see - do your radiators have physical valves that you can use to shut them off individually?

Original poster
happiertimes123 · 16/12/2022 23:07

psychomath · 16/12/2022 14:02

I've never heard of an outdoor boiler, that sounds like it would be really inefficient - are all oil ones like that? In that case it doesn't matter that it's warm in the house, when it's down to -7 or below outside it'll still need to heat/circulate the water to stop the boiler itself and any outdoor pipes from freezing. Just circulating cold water is unlikely to be enough protection at such low temperatures. Not really sure what you can do about it besides insulating the boiler and outdoor pipes better, if that's possible - definitely don't turn the boiler off, frozen pipes will be way more hassle than being too hot at night. The weather is meant to be getting warmer in the next few nights so hopefully it will resolve itself soon.

Not all but most of them - oil heating is a total pain!

OP posts:
Original poster
happiertimes123 · 16/12/2022 23:08

psychomath · 16/12/2022 14:17

Also sorry if I'm stating the obvious but you haven't mentioned it that I can see - do your radiators have physical valves that you can use to shut them off individually?

Yes thankfully we have radiators with valves so we've turned off the one in the bedroom now. Hopefully that's the end of that!

OP posts:
carringtonm · 16/12/2022 23:23

This happened to us just this week! It was a broken valve that needed replacing that wasn't able to stop the water from the tank flowing into the heating system or something. It was costing about £1 an hour and we just couldn't turn it off 😖 We got a plumber out before it bankrupted us! An easy fix so hopefully it's the same thing for you.

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