New Radiator Issues

[KPIke]

Hi all
I have experienced a problem and really not sure what to do...

I recently moved into my new house.
I replaced the boiler as soon as I bought it to a Baxi Duo Tech 33.

I felt that the house was lacking radiators, it had 1 in each of the following rooms:
Living Room
Dining Room
Downstairs hallway
Bathroom
Bedroom 1
Bedroom 2.
I felt that it needed one in the kitchen and the upstairs landing.

I promptly went onto findatrade and someone contact me with a fair price to install 2 new radiators, total cost of £270.
He and one other then came out to install them.
They were here around 3 hours and installed a radiator in the kitchen and the upstairs landing.
About 10 minutes after I left, I put the heating on to see how much of a difference it made. About 10 minutes later I noticed that none of the radiators were on. I checked on the boiler and seen error messages and that the pressure had dropped to 0. I then opened the inlet valve to fill with water, to where the pressure wasn't going up.

I called him and he came back within 20 minutes to have a look. He explained that there was a leak in one of the pipes that they laid and it has now been repaired.
That night, I noticed that water was coming out from my light fitting downstairs in the dining room (this room is slightly below the radiator upstairs and boiler upstairs) and dripping onto the floor. I immediately turned off the light section from the fuse box and took down the light fitting. I called the plumber and he explained that it was probably water coming through from the leak earlier.
He came out the following morning, drilled holes in the ceiling and collected the load of water with about 4 buckets. He then filled in the holes, left and explained that it will all be fine.

This was around 2 weeks ago. Since then I have had to bleed the new upstairs radiator 2 times as it has filled with air. I have noticed that the pressure is dropping on the boiler, not drastically, but gradually and have had to fill it back up twice. Also, the radiator in the kitchen is cold at the bottom and warm at the top.

I have told him this and he said that it is normal for air to fill in radiators over time.

The thing is, since I had my new boiler, the needle has NEVER moved off the mark where it was the day before (obviously without the heating/water on) and it had never needed filling or the radiators never needed bleeding.

Any suggestions?

I'm starting to feel like I wish I didn't bother in the first place!

Thanks

 

[dilalio]

Sounds like you had a couple of cowboys in! Photos of their work can tell us a lot.

 

[KPIke]

Thanks for the reply

I'm not sure if these pictures would make a difference as it's all of the surface.

Landing - I ripped up the carpet and floorboards on the landing and couldn't see anything. The leak before was under one of the floorboards which I couldn't dig up, it seems like it is stuck down solid.

Kitchen - I'm lost about the radiator being cold at the bottom though. There is a radiator directly behind the one in the kitchen so it is connected to them pipes I imagine, but the radiator in the other room is working fine.

Pictures:
Ceiling
Rad1
Rad2
Boiler

 

[muggles]

Life lesson - pay peanuts, get monkeys. A decent installer would never leave a new installation without testing his work and, in the case of installing new radiators, re-balancing the system to ensure everything heats up at the same rate. Looks like your boiler has been slung in by someone doing it for a, ahem, "fair price" as well :-/

Your pics don't reveal anything really - need to see the new pipework under the floors where it connects to the existing system to have any idea of where they've gone wrong.

 

[gas112]

The actual boiler install has been done by a lazy feker dangling cables and plastic used and left hanging get it done in copper.
Is kitchen rad teed into same size pipe (microbore) if so thats wrong and it wont work it needs running back to or before manifold . 4 buckets full that is not a simple weep that pishing out .No rads do not fill up with air even over years let alone weeks unless there is a leak .
Cut your loses and get a proper tradesman in

 

[steve32]

Lesson learned cheap price crap job how did they arrive horseback or bus lol

 

[dilalio]

Did you get any other responses from the findatrade site? What 'other' prices were you quoted?
Did the price you paid include the rads, valves and other materials?

 

[KPIke]

Thanks for the responses.

I paid around £2400 for the boiler and installation, I've not had any problems with that.

For the rads, I paid £270.T he other tradesmen quotes me around £290-£330, not much in it I guess.
The price I paid included everything.

Looks like I'll be paying again.... I regret getting this done!
I have been so laid back and easy going, from when the water leak happened initially to when the water was pouring through the ceiling I just said as long as it's sorted don't worry about it and let them carry on.

 

[dilalio]

I'm sorry for your troubles!
It makes things all the more difficult for the next 'decent' plumber who comes to do work for you, as you will now think that ALL plumbers are bodgers - we're not! The fact that they left you to do the testing of their work says it all really! I even run washing machines and dishwashers through 3 fill and forced drain cycles when I've installed one... which is something that usually surprises the customer, so tells me a lot about what they've experienced before!

 

[WLF85]

Did your boiler installer powerflush the system? If not how did he ascertain that the system was otherwise clean and free of sludge? There's a lot of poor work in the pipework around the boiler.

It's possible that some sludge has settled in the bottom of your new kitchen radiator, which is why the top is getting warm first.

Is the boiler losing pressure only after you bleed the radiators or by itself?

Your system won't be inhibited at the moment so air can build up over time, but in the period you described it's likely you still have a small leak.

 

[dilalio]

As has been mentioned, I see minibore from your images and this needs to be T'd off a manifold or from the 15mm circuit, not from other minibore pipework that supplies an adjacent rad.
You will need to have the floors up where they have been and altered pipework and to examine every new joint for leaks! Cheaper in the long run for you to investigate this at your own pace than to pay for someone to come in and do it! If you can find the leak, we can help advise you on repairing it!
See if you can get the 'cold at bottom' rad working by shutting down all other rads, to push flow through it then, once you've got it circulating again and any sludge is in suspension, drain system down and repeat. Then you should dose with cleaner for a few days then inhibitor when leak is fixed and water is again circulating!

 

[Dan Robinson]

The whole lot looks like an abortion.... Including the boiler.

 

[KPIke]

Thanks for your responses, much appreciated. I spoke to the guy today and he said he will come back Monday to check it all again, being the easy going person I am, I suppose I'll give him another chance to sort it (3rd time he would have been out).
When the boiler was installed it was power flushed with Fernox(sp?) or something like that and everything has been working fine until new rads installed.
I explained that it is likely a leak from everything that has happened so far but his response was:

"if the radiator was bleeded the pressure will drop and need to be topped up, it's a possibility that the PRV has some grime in it from when I drained down and could be passing."

Fingers crossed progress is made on Monday, hopefully it doesn't make things worse.

 

[gas112]

AND what about teeing that rad into existing same size pipework or is it bigger ?

 

[KPIke]

Ill mention that when he comes and see what he says (even though I have no idea what it means lol)