Drayton 3 Port motorised Valve MA1 Actuator only.

Product Information

At this point, demanding Hot Water causes the actuator to move to the W position and if the demand for Heating is still there, the actuator moves to the mid-position. (This is counter-intuitive to the problem of no hot water in the morning as when I test the system the actuator moves with hot-water demand even though it had not done so yesterday morning!) At the moment, there is nothing wrong with the system, thank goodness. It was a case of putting two and two together and coming up with five. The water was very cool when I showered and so I advanced the timer to heat it up. The boiler was working fine as I had the heating on at the same time. Boosted HW MPV stays in W. Boosted CH and MPV moves to H. Turn the boosts off and MPV remains in H and after a short time pump stops. The problem with the cold shower remains a mystery, appears to be a one-off and it has not happened again. The system has been working perfectly for 14 years until yesterday when the domestic hot water was cold.

Very frustrating and don't know what else to do with the damn things other than to have a different make and model installed. I don't do it myself. I get a professional to do it - thank god I have an all-singing-all-dancing central heating insurance cover to deal with it. As my MPV position indicator is 'hidden' from view, I had never realised that the MPV stayed in the last position demanded by the system and concluded, wrongly, that I had found the cause of the cold shower; assuming that the MPV had not moved when demanded. I had always thought that the MPV only moved to the H position when heating was demanded. I turned off the power to the system and immediately the actuator returned to the relaxed, Water, position under spring pressure. I have a really weird problem with a Drayton MA1 mid-position valve and I can't find any reference to this specific problem.

Faulty mid position valve??

If heating or water is called for the main valve opens and the 3 position valve moves to Heat or Water. If both are called for then the Mid position is selected which allows water to circulate to both. I have looked up the model and found it to be a "drayton mid position actuator MA1" and wanted to know what i need to do to replace it . I assume if the 3 way valve was working properly and the heating side wiring wasn't requesting heating then the 3 way valve would be set to Heat and the central heating wouldn't work. However although I heard the main valve move and watched the plastic lever move, I haven't heard anything from the 3 way valve and the plastic lever seems to be floating. formatting link When there is a HW demand but not a CH demand, the valve is un-powered and sits in the HW position. The boiler and pump are powered directly from the cylinder stat.

As I said, when I turn the water on, the actuator does move to either the mid or W position depending on whether there is demand for Heating as well. In that respect it all works perfectly. Last night my partner heard a very strange buzzing whiring noise coming from what i now know is the "mid position actuator" . For some reason later in the day, with the hot water off and the heating on, twiddling the thermostat does not cause the boiler to fire and the pump to run; I assume causing the pump to run is the critical test because the boiler usually fires a bit after the pump runs. The system is a conventional gravity-fed system with gas condensing boiler, Lifestyle LP522 programmer, Drayton RTS1 room-stat, Honeywell tank-stat, Drayton MA1 MPV and ACL Lifestyle Wiring Centre. It seems to have two functions; an open/close switch and a three position switch for Heat Mid and Water. I assume that the logic is roughly;

Write a review

The manual lever only moves the valve to the mid position, and is useful when filling or bleeding the system to make sure that all water paths are open. It will flop around when the valve is powered to the mid position or beyond - this is normal. Now some heat is getting to the cold radiators. The new (compared to the others) double radiator is doing something I haven't encountered before. The rear part is heating up but the front part is staying cold. It doesn't have air in because I have bled it (amazingly after a long search I found a bleed screw) and it was full of water. That was why I came here and my misunderstanding has now been corrected thanks to John and flameport! When HW and CH are calling for heat at the same time, the valve moves to the mid position. The boiler and pump are still powered directly from the cylinder stat. Given that, if the flow valve is permanently open and the 3 way switch is in the middle then water should always flow around the central heating.