Take a photo of your hot water heater’s details like this and post it on here and I’ll tell you if thermostats are still available
Hello Wozza
This is the only label on the Ballon:
Hope it is helpful… the marque is ‘Lydis’.
Atvb
Jan
Hi Jan and welcome to the forum 
. What does atvb mean?
Hi Jan
We probably have different situations. I have an independent electric hot water boiler but my problem (for which I initiated the discussion) is an oil fired boiler for central heating but not confident re its water pump running separate from / synchronized the oil fired boiler thermostat
Good luck with your problem. It’s great to have so much expert advice I see coming in.
Thanks Robert
Re your ‘…t**he pump only runs when heat is being demanded by the room thermostat, and runs all the time that such is the case whether the boiler is actually fired up and burning oil or not…’
There are electronic thermostat devices, wired or via transmitter + receiver that will synchronise the boiler and water pump, so both operate at the same time. This however requires the boiler to turn on and off (from the mains) at the same time as the water pump. I’m not sure if this is good practice.for the boiler.
I read from other discussion contributors that using a plug-in timer via a wall socket that controls both the oil fired boiler and water pump operation is also not good practice.
However I know others who use this electronic device (see attached) successfully with wired in boiler and water pump… I asked my local boiler specialist for a quote to solve the problem but the price quoted was excessive.
Constructive comments on this from others are welcome, including where to purchase such a device online if this is good practice (or not).
All the very best/
… I note that a wired in wall thermostat is available on line for 16,49 Euros.
Thermostat de chaudière thermostat mécanique ventilo-convecteur thermostat thermostat de température (manomano.fr)
This presumably could control both the boiler and water pump via a junction box so that both turn on and off at the same time?
Hello Farthing
Our problems are similar inasmuch as my failed Ballon did operate in tandem with my boiler and, also independently, if required. For instance, when the property here was used as a second home, upon arrival we would put the Ballon on as well as firing up the c/h as this would provide hot water more quickly than just relying upon the oil-fired boiler. In normal circumstances when the c/h had been running for a day or so it was no longer necessary to have the Ballon ‘on’ as then it just functioned as the container and dispenser for the hot water provided by the c/h boiler.
Atvb
Jan
Don’t most Ballons have integral thermostats that can be manually adjusted?
Whereas, our c/h boiler has a very complicated control panel which could possibly require a degree to properly master - once set never to be interfered with is the general idea except checking from time to time that the pump hasn’t lost power. Probably could do with a booster mechanism for the top floor. When I first bought the house, the boiler was fired by wood supplied in steres and I became an expert in stacking it with a mix of dry and not so dry wood to get through the night. Temperature throughout the house was controlled by thermostats on each floor - it worked beautifully and I sometimes regret the move to oil…
Atvb
Jan
Hi Jane,
I couldn’t find any reference for a ballon d’eau chaude Lydis ou BDE. Lydis sounds like the boiler.
If it’s the thermostat? Your plumber could still probably be able to source one, same with the heating element.
If you’re having trouble heating the top floor then ask the plumber to purge (bleed) the radiators and look at the water pressure and up it by a Bar.
Water circulation pumps on most ch heating systems are always on for flow and return. Basically you program in the temperature and the boiler thermostat will do the rest. Modern circulation pumps are variable speed now and use less energy.
If you only want the heating on for a couple of hours in the morning and evening put a timer in
There are basically two types of wall thermostat available.
The first type requires 3 wires to connect to it — a permanent Live, a wire that becomes Live when the thermostat trips to the On position, and a neutral return wire. The thermostat is run by the mains and switches current into the switched live wire that goes back to the boiler when you need heat.
The second type is battery operated (1AAA once a year) and only requires 2 wires to connect to it, namely a permanent Live and a switched Live that goes to the boiler. This is the type that we have as their are only 2 wires from the boiler to the wall thermostat position, and changing the cable to 3 wires would create a lot of collateral damage over a long and torturous route from the boiler. No doubt these days there are all sorts of wire free options, but I prefer to keep things simple, and cheap.
Both types can be connected direct to the boiler — no junction box required.
I suggest that you obtain a digital wall thermostat rather than a mechanical one as the digital ones are much more sensitive. (Ours senses temperate in steps of 0.2 of a degree C.)
Our system has been running happily for over 20 years and is still using the original circulating pump. We do however use a rust inhibitor / pump lubricator additive in the circulating water. We have a lot of old steel pipes and 7 cast iron radiators that benefit from the rust inhibitor additive.
Basically the system works as follows. The wall thermostat controls the power supply to both the boiler and the circulating pump. When heat is required both are turned on. The boiler outflow thermostat realises that the water is cold and so fires up the flames. When the outflow temp reaches the pre-set level, the burner turns off, but in all probability the wall thermostat is still asking for heat and so the circulating pump keeps running. When the temp of the water starts to drop, then the boiler will fire up again, and this continues until the wall thermostat is warm enough and turns everything off.
Whether the circulating pump turns off at a time when the boiler is actually fired up is a matter of chance, but it certainly doesn’t matter whether it is or not.
It is said that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Our system was cheap to install, works well, and has been doing so for over 20 years of permanent residency without any problem. I do accept and understand that you may need to have a more complicated, and thus more expensive control arrangement if you want / need to be able to control it remotely from your smartphone.
WLAGAAH.
(We Like A Good Acronym Around Here) 
ATVB.
Maybe - is it an acronym if you don’t/can’t pronounce it? i.e. you write “AFAIAA” but you can’t actually say it.
I’m fairly sure a proper acronym has to relate to a thing - physical or otherwise, such as NATO, RAM, SOAS, AIDS etc.
Pedants corner…
Which, coincidentally, is a town in New South Wales 
Good answer - thanks Wozza.
Excellent answer Robert - thanks.
I just sent this to my trusty local electrician!
Alec
Not far from Chumbawamba, I believe.
In the district of Chunder I believe.
“in a land down under
Where women glow and men plunder?”
