Hi Chris,
You seem to have a similarly lopsided system to mine, due to having the boiler repositioned. Mine is in the garage - uninsulated, draughty and with an up-and-over metal door - not much different to being outside. I found that the system is critical to radiator balance and keeping the return temperature high - and I attracted some mockery here for lagging the return pipes at the boiler! My lockshields are open between 3/4 turn and 4 turns (full). I feel this may indicate an inefficient setup. What is your lockshield range?
My old boiler kept dropping its pilot light. After several months, I got someone in to look at it. He suspected a leak round the casing, although he could not actually find it. He condemned the boiler and put a "do not use" tape on it. I persevered with the pilot and it was OK for a year or so. After that, I decided to go for a bells and whistles new boiler. Initially, they could not get it working at all. Then they found that the old boiler had been running backwards, so flow and return had to be swapped. Ah those were the days when boilers were so versatile - days when one could adjust carburettors and clean contact breakers, days when I could rewire my house, days when I could take people for countryside walks without doing a risk assessment ... but I digress!
You seem to have a similarly lopsided system to mine, due to having the boiler repositioned. Mine is in the garage - uninsulated, draughty and with an up-and-over metal door - not much different to being outside. I found that the system is critical to radiator balance and keeping the return temperature high - and I attracted some mockery here for lagging the return pipes at the boiler! My lockshields are open between 3/4 turn and 4 turns (full). I feel this may indicate an inefficient setup. What is your lockshield range?
My old boiler kept dropping its pilot light. After several months, I got someone in to look at it. He suspected a leak round the casing, although he could not actually find it. He condemned the boiler and put a "do not use" tape on it. I persevered with the pilot and it was OK for a year or so. After that, I decided to go for a bells and whistles new boiler. Initially, they could not get it working at all. Then they found that the old boiler had been running backwards, so flow and return had to be swapped. Ah those were the days when boilers were so versatile - days when one could adjust carburettors and clean contact breakers, days when I could rewire my house, days when I could take people for countryside walks without doing a risk assessment ... but I digress!