Central Heating Woes

[gromit]

Hi, All,

A week before Easter and we had cold rads downstairs and hot upstairs, so after checking for air blocks etc, assumed it must be pump, as it had been on for 15 + years.

Call well known Heating Specialist as we have service cover. They eventually turn up, rattle around in airing cupboard and say "That's OK now" and try to make a quick exit, but I ask to let me know what they had done. "Turned up the pump speed to full" was the reply, It worked for about 10 minutes after he had gone and then back to square one!

Next time they arrived after callout, diagnosed airlock, turned all rads off both ends. Turned up boiler to full. No luck frustrated. Then they replaced the pump. Still no luck. Sorry end of shift, will come back another day"

Last callout involved replacing a thermostat which seemed to do the trick, but now the downstairs rads seem to be heating up on a random basis, sometimes a couple heat up and the rest don't. Sometimes they all heat up.

Any clues as I am puzzled!

I will call them yet again once I can see any pattern.

Thanks

 

[meldrew's_mate]

Poor flow is indicated. Is the water in the system dirty? What dirt came out with the old pump?

Had one recently where the rubber ball had fallen off the end of the 3-port valve lever and was floating over the holes, severely retricting heating flow. Get co. to dismantle valve and check for this.

Does the boler run for 10 minutes or more on heating only? If not suspect a blockage or poor pump (new?). If dirt is suspected install a Fernox boiler buddy if you have space, or Magnaclean if its more awkward.

 

[Nige F]

I can see a pattern forming............................The initials B






and G.......................BG

 

[Agile]

Having turned off the rads at BOTH ends when they are turned on again the whole system has to be BALANCED again !

Clever people can do it adequately by experience but to do it according to the book it would take about 1.5 hours.

Better call them back yet again!!!

Tony

 

[Soggy_weetabix]

Having turned off the rads at BOTH ends when they are turned on again the whole system has to be BALANCED again !

Clever people can do it adequately by experience but to do it according to the book it would take about 1.5 hours.

Better call them back yet again!!!

Tony

Sorry for adding something not totally relevent to this thread....

sent my ex apprentice back to a job 3 times to balance a system (6 rads!), and I ended up having to go back on his 3rd visit. Half hour (well, it will only take that on 6 rads wont it). All rads heating properly.

Just saying, if you cant apply common sense to your work you'll get nowhere.

David

 

[gromit]

Having turned off the rads at BOTH ends when they are turned on again the whole system has to be BALANCED again !

Clever people can do it adequately by experience but to do it according to the book it would take about 1.5 hours.

Better call them back yet again!!!

Tony

This sounds as if it could be the problem, although there are two pipes coming from upstairs where the pump is, which I presume are the feed and return. As expected one gets hot when the thermostat turns on and a short while later the other gets fractionally hotter. What is weird is that when the thermostat (Room) goes off, after a few minutes the two pipes reverse their temperatures! It is almost as if there is a non-return valve stuck open or something. I may be talking a load of rubbish., so please say so.

 

[Agile]

You said at first that they replaced the pump!!!!

It sounds as if they have put it in BACKWARDS !!! Thats quite a common problem with inexperienced people.

The trouble is that which way it should pump depends on the system design. There is no simple answer!

USUALLY the arrow on the pump should point TOWARDS the middle inlet on a three pipe motor valve!

If you can identify which are the flow and return connections on the boiler then you can see if the flow is the hottest as it should be if the IF the pump is correct!

As BG make all these claims in adverts that their staff are all so clever it always amuses me when I find they have messed up! No independent could afford to stay in business if they had to come so many times to sort out a simple fault!

Tony Glazier

 

[Nige F]

OMG ....I was only guessing...they might sue Didn`t really mean what I said about fitting things