Has my neighbour taken over my Drayton SCR?

[DaPanda]

As the new SCR hasn't solved the problem, you should go back to Drayton. It's their problem, after all, not yours. Trade Description and Sale of Goods Act etc (not fit for purpose and not of merchantable quality).

I did go back to them, but I haven't got any further response (yet). I don't think I can invoke the Trade Description and Sale of Goods Act as this was installed four or five years ago before we moved in. So although I agree that it is not fit for purpose, it is likely too late and I'm not the actual purchaser. It's interesting that my diagnosis was better than theirs. I did ask them how long is the id sent by the thermostats but they didn't answer that. I thought that if the new SCR had fixed the situation then it could have been that the logic that stores the the id at pairing time and then compares the stored id with the received id could have improved in more recent version of the SCR. It would be nice to know the protocol they use and how long is the transmitted thermostat identification (and if all the transmitted bits are used by the receiving unit), but they don't seem willing to share that information.

Does your boiler have a Frost Stat ? If it does could that be switching the boiler on.

Yes I think it does. Theres a rotary switch that increases the water temperature for the radiators, and it goes below minimum to a frost position. I assume that's what you call a Frost Stat. I'm not sure exactly how the Worcester combi boiler interacts with the thermostat when put into this frost setting, but I intend to set it that way when we go away in the hope that it will help both avoid the flat going too cold and getting a too high gas bill for when we'll be away

 

[WilburSki]

Well drayton gave you a freebe,a gift. Thats what they do but if you were less demanding they would have sent you a complete kit.
Thank you drayton for my kit but we have gone the hard wired route.
Please remember you have a mass produced old technology unit.
Others will disagree and have their own views.

 

[DaPanda]

Well drayton gave you a freebe,a gift. Thats what they do but if you were less demanding they would have sent you a complete kit.

I'm not sure where this aggressiveness comes from and apologise if I'm the cause of it. Anyway, I didn't demand anything from Drayton. I'm experiencing a failure with their kit. I tried to diagnose it and got much help in this forum. I contacted them described the fact and suggested my hypothesis. They offered to send me an SCR unit. I thanked them and told them that I wasn't convinced that would solve anything. When I got the SCR I plugged it in. When I found out it made no difference I contacted Drayton again to update them and asked them again if my hypothesis was likely correct. They have just emailed me to offer to send me a new thermostat. So they are kind in sending me replacement kit they are under no obligation to do so, but they have refused to engage on a technical level as to whether my diagnosis is correct. I now even wonder if they paid attention to the details of the fault as described in my emails and didn't send me initially a new SCR as the most common fault for this system, looking at the internet, is a bad capacitor in the SCR even though that's not the issue I have.

Please remember you have a mass produced old technology unit.

These units are still sold, so even though they were designed a while ago they are current technology. If there's a design fault in the protocol, then you'd expect a fix in a mass produced technology as it potentially affects many people. It is possible that Drayton improved its protocol, in a compatible way with earlier units, to be more selective on the unit id, but if this is something they've done, they have not advertised it and I do not know whether this is the case or not.

 

[DaPanda]

FYI, I compared the gas meter before leaving and when I came back, and this confirmed that the new thermostat solved the problem I had.