Hi everyone, first post - be gentle please.
The heating system in my house is a hybrid of under floor heating (on ground floor) and upstairs radiators. It was installed by an amateur (although by repute a skilled engineer in another field!). It comprises - a 90k BTU oil boiler connected to a brazed home made manifold (with a spur for the upstairs radiators (3, about 5KW total)). The returns from the UFH circuits (8) arrive to another manifold back to the boiler via a pump. The flow rates seem to be controlled on the return circuits simply by ball valves (they are all in slightly different positions of 'open/close'. It would make some sense that the UFH circuits are reasonably similar in size/capacity - I talked to a neighbour who was 'around' when the installation was underway. Of course I have no documentation whatsoever.
My problem is:
I changed out a radiator upstairs (leak). I drained down the system (the new radiator was a different size and I need to redo some pipework). There was a couple of weeks gap between draining the system and installing the radiator. (it was a cast model my other half wanted and it took some time to paint and transport - and get upstairs). When I refilled the system I found that the pump no longer worked!! I tried a direct feed from the mains (nothing - did not even get warm - at a guess - no current draw). The start capacitor seems OK - no swelling or failure points. The connections seem good. The pump is a SMC admiral - green colour. There are no bleed points or facility to try and turn the spindle that I can see. I have tried to 'give it a belt' as a last resort but that made no difference.
Questions:
Before taking it out (this looks non trivial with lots of hemp and BSP taper fitted pipe section floating about) is there anything else worth attempting before the stillson attack?
I have been unable to find much about this pump on the net - only on the Grundfos site -they suggest that their Alpha 2L is a suitable replacement. If have to replace the pump - quite likely I expect, is this a feasible substitute. I am aware that for UFH circuits pipe losses can be quite high and flow rate requirements considerable. The only useful info written on the old pump is a maximum current draw of .7 amps which equates to 161w. However given that modern pumps must be at least 50% more efficient this may not be a definitive guide.
Many thanks in advance for any help or suggestions - or just even for reading this.
Best regards
The heating system in my house is a hybrid of under floor heating (on ground floor) and upstairs radiators. It was installed by an amateur (although by repute a skilled engineer in another field!). It comprises - a 90k BTU oil boiler connected to a brazed home made manifold (with a spur for the upstairs radiators (3, about 5KW total)). The returns from the UFH circuits (8) arrive to another manifold back to the boiler via a pump. The flow rates seem to be controlled on the return circuits simply by ball valves (they are all in slightly different positions of 'open/close'. It would make some sense that the UFH circuits are reasonably similar in size/capacity - I talked to a neighbour who was 'around' when the installation was underway. Of course I have no documentation whatsoever.
My problem is:
I changed out a radiator upstairs (leak). I drained down the system (the new radiator was a different size and I need to redo some pipework). There was a couple of weeks gap between draining the system and installing the radiator. (it was a cast model my other half wanted and it took some time to paint and transport - and get upstairs). When I refilled the system I found that the pump no longer worked!! I tried a direct feed from the mains (nothing - did not even get warm - at a guess - no current draw). The start capacitor seems OK - no swelling or failure points. The connections seem good. The pump is a SMC admiral - green colour. There are no bleed points or facility to try and turn the spindle that I can see. I have tried to 'give it a belt' as a last resort but that made no difference.
Questions:
Before taking it out (this looks non trivial with lots of hemp and BSP taper fitted pipe section floating about) is there anything else worth attempting before the stillson attack?
I have been unable to find much about this pump on the net - only on the Grundfos site -they suggest that their Alpha 2L is a suitable replacement. If have to replace the pump - quite likely I expect, is this a feasible substitute. I am aware that for UFH circuits pipe losses can be quite high and flow rate requirements considerable. The only useful info written on the old pump is a maximum current draw of .7 amps which equates to 161w. However given that modern pumps must be at least 50% more efficient this may not be a definitive guide.
Many thanks in advance for any help or suggestions - or just even for reading this.
Best regards
not surprised it died when you drained the system - it must have been in 40 years 
