Tiles too hot. How to diagnose where fault lies?

[Antony]

Hi,

We had under-tile heating installed in our bathroom when we had it fully renovated. The system comes from Wickes.

The problem is that regardless of what we set the thermostat to, the floor basically goes very hot. We've tried varying the temperature on the thermostat to see if there's any correlation, but haven't noticed anything. The temperature does vary a bit (between quite warm and hot), but we've never been able to detect a pattern.

It seems to me that the fault could be either with the thermostat unit or the temperature probe. Is there any way to test which one is causing the problem? The thermostat costs £38 to replace, and the probe would require lifting tiles, so I don't really want to do either unless I'm sure that it is definitely where the problem lies.

Many thanks - any suggestions much appreciated!
Antony

 

[Colour Republic]

Who fitted the system Antony?, Has this problem just occured or has it always been the case?

 

[Antony]

Thanks for the quick reply.

(1) The system was fitted by the builder who did our bathroom. I didn't watch it being installed so don't know how it was done.

(2) It has always been the case, which is about 2 years now (no, we didn't move very quickly on this, it's been a busy couple of years).

Thanks again,
Antony

 

[Colour Republic]

Shame it's a bit too late to call the builder back up maybe. Were you happy with the work he did? i.e did you have any other problems?

I would in the first instance call the builder and explain the situation if you had a good working relationship then he should come back and at least do a test on it for you.

Failing that ring the manufacturers and see if they have any logical explanation as to why it is doing it. It’s really hard to diagnose without seeing what type of system it is but there is a very real probability that it has been wired up wrongly. If the builder is unwilling then I would ring an electrician to come and take a look this could cost anything from FREE to £50 for a diagnose depending on where you live.

 

[poynton phil]

Have you looked inside the programmer to see if there is a probe fitted, i'v known a few people to forget it. get a sparks to test the programmer, though i'v never heard of one of these to go wrong, but i suppose some do.

 

[DHTiling]

The thermostat could be installed wrong, this could cause the matt to perform incorrectly..It could be a number of things..it needs testing..

 

[faithhealer]

have you still got the installation instructions, if not get them off the internet. The electrician will ask you for them more than likely

 

[Ajax123]

Is the house built under the NHBC scheme or similar. If there is a cost attached to fixing the problem you may be able to make a claim on the NHBC insurance.

 

[Daz]

I don't know the Wickes product but usually the elements are warrantied for at least 10 years and the probe only 2/3 years. The probe should be installed in a conduit so that it can easily be replaced without the need to lift tiles (check with your builder).

This could be a probe/sensor fault and easily remedied if it was installed correctly.

 

[Antony]

Hi,

Thanks a lot to everyone for taking the time to give suggestions. Sounds like the best approach is to get our builder back to test the system (he's done other work for us since so sure he'll do it without fuss); I just like to fix these things myself where possible.

Thanks again,
Antony