Single Pipe System

[owenyboy]

Was helping a mate replace a floor in his dining room at the weekend when we noticed there was a leaking pipe. The leak was coming from an old 8 port copper manifold. We could only get hold of 4 port plastic manifolds so went with that.

The system has a new combi boiler, but has been installed with the old pipes still in place. So, as far as I know, the radiators are fed from a single pipe which returns to the boiler.

I left my mate to fix it and went to the dump with the old flooring. When I came back he had 'fixed' the heating, but the radiators weren't heating up.

Am I right in thinking that connecting both ends of the radiator to the same manifold is a bad idea? My mate thinks this should work because that's the way it was before, but I think there will be no flow through the radiator and it wont be very hot if it heats at all!

I'll try to add a picture of what it looks like now.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Untitled

• owenyboy
• 26 Mar 2012
• 1

 

[doitall]

If that works I'll be amazed, astounded and mystified.

 

[owenyboy]

my suggestion was to put one manifold on the end of each 22mm pipe and then connect one pipe from each radiator to each manifold. This would force the water to each radiator like more modern systems work. The only problem is each radiator has a TRV, so could cause problems if they all closed. Would I get round this problem with a pressure relief valve connecting the two 22mm pipes?

 

[Dan Robinson]

Would I get round this problem with a pressure relief valve connecting the two 22mm pipes?

No.

 

[DeltaT2]

Was helping a mate replace a floor in his dining room at the weekend when we noticed there was a leaking pipe. The leak was coming from an old 8 port copper manifold. We could only get hold of 4 port plastic manifolds so went with that.

The system has a new combi boiler, but has been installed with the old pipes still in place. So, as far as I know, the radiators are fed from a single pipe which returns to the boiler.

I left my mate to fix it and I went for a dump

Too much detail!!!

I agree, if that works I'd give IronNaz a job.........

 

[Dan Robinson]

You should know the cruelty of S0ds Law by now Dicky... Now, the question is have you jinxed the OP or yourself ?

 

[DeltaT2]

You should know the cruelty of S0ds Law by now Dicky... Now, the question is have you jinxed the OP or yourself ?

So true Dan, so true.

 

[mysteryman]

You probably had an 8 port copper microbore manifold. [Was it green or red?] These had the two 22mm ends connected to flow and return - BUT there was a blanking disc in the middle, so it was effectively a pair of 4 port manifolds. Alter it so it is connected as a pair of 4 port manifolds, and you should be OK. There should be a bypass elsewhere - if it needs one. You'll need to identify the flows and returns now, though, because they may have become mixed up.

 

[owenyboy]

You probably had an 8 port copper microbore manifold. [Was it green or red?] These had the two 22mm ends connected to flow and return - BUT there was a blanking disc in the middle, so it was effectively a pair of 4 port manifolds. Alter it so it is connected as a pair of 4 port manifolds, and you should be OK. There should be a bypass elsewhere - if it needs one. You'll need to identify the flows and returns now, though, because they may have become mixed up.

Excellent, that would make sense. I think it’s still lying around, so will get him to check what colour it is.

Cheers

 

[doitall]

You'll probably find it's a normal 2 pipe set up, with one pipe the flow and the other the return.

Take the short piece of pipe between the bends out, then connect 4 pipe to each end.

To make that clear that's one pipe from each rad to one side and one pipe from each rad tp the other