3 way valve installation positioning

[Daniel Howden]

Hi, does a 3 way valve need to be in an upright position or is any angle ok?

The reason why I ask is that we seem to get through a large number of these valves and ours is installed at a 45deg angle and I am wondering if this could be a problem as the motor is always roasting hot.

Thanks, Daniel.

 

[Millsy 82]

I can't see why it would make too much of a difference.

What make valve are you fitting?

 

[EvilDrPorkChop]

Sounds like the valve is being held open for excessive periods of time which they aren't designed to do. You've either got a wiring issue or the valve is wrong for the system. I've had it before with Vaillant wiring centres end up holding the valve open and causes them to burn out.

 

[Harvest Fields]

Poor water quality mate?

 

[Daniel Howden]

The body to the valve I don't know as it was already installed but the head unit is a honeywell.

 

[Daniel Howden]

Sounds like the valve is being held open for excessive periods of time which they aren't designed to do. You've either got a wiring issue or the valve is wrong for the system. I've had it before with Vaillant wiring centres end up holding the valve open and causes them to burn out.

Well we do have hard water but how can I check if the wiring is a problem?

Also, thinking about the hard water problem, could it be that the valve itself is all limescaled up and the motor is trying to open it and it wont go because of the limescale?

 

[Millsy 82]

The body to the valve I don't know as it was already installed but the head unit is a honeywell.

That's your problem if your only changing the head. Stiff spindle putting extra strain on the motor.

Replace the lot. I very rarely replace just the head due to this reason.

 

[Daniel Howden]

Cool, thanks.

 

[EvilDrPorkChop]

Well we do have hard water but how can I check if the wiring is a problem?

Also, thinking about the hard water problem, could it be that the valve itself is all limescaled up and the motor is trying to open it and it wont go because of the limescale?

Easiest way to tell if the back is causing the issue is remove the head from the valve. If you can move the pin with your fingers easily and freely then it's probably not causing the issue.

In terms of telling if it's a wiring issue you need to get someone in to check it. An easy way to tell would be once everything has gone off at night/morning, a few hours afterwards if the valve is still red hot then something isn't right.

 

[Daniel Howden]

I just wanted to come back to this thread to give a final answer / solution to this problem. I needed to rearrange some pipework and in doing so I decided to move the 3 way to a horizontal position but more importantly to a place I could easily get to it instead of the difficult position it was in. I also changed the valve itself for a new one.

Doing this work did cure the problem and it seems that it is most likely that it was the valve that was the problem and I guess it has enough limescale around the workings that it was cooking the 3 way motor when it was trying to get to a position.

Thanks a lot for the help.

Daniel.