Hi everyone,
I recently bought a 6 year old house which is fitted with under-floor heating to the ground floor (radiators upstairs). The UFH has 4 loops - Hall, Living, Dining and Kitchen. It was installed when the house was new, by Even-Heat (who I understand are no longer trading). The house builder was Norfolk Homes who install ground-floor UFH as standard in many of their builds.
When I first turned it on after moving in to check it was working, I could feel some warmth in the hall, but that was it - even after leaving it turned on for the best part of 24 hours as I know it takes a while to seep through. I asked a local plumber to take a look but he could not find the problem. His only suggestion was to try again when ambient temperatures dropped, and that the whole system might need flushing out which would be an all day job at a cost of several hundred pounds (he seemed genuine enough but I wasn't entirely convinced by this).
Subsequently I managed to get a basic user guide for the system and tried adjustments at the manifold myself - I closed the flow to the Hall, Dining and Kitchen, and re-set the screws on the return of the Living loop - hey presto warmth in the living room a couple of hours later (which was lovely - could still feel it over 24 hours after I turned it off again).
However, I still have an issue with little warmth in the hall, and none at all in the Dining room and particularly the Kitchen, even though water does appear to be flowing through the return pipes. Alarmingly, when I made adjustments on the return manifold for the kitchen there was a small but steady flow of water seeping up from around the adjustment insert and screw. Should this be happening? (I assume not) If not, what could be the cause of this and could it be causing issues with the other zones? I suspect it must have been like that for a while, as the insert was dis-coloured, not shiny brass like all the others are.
I have taken a couple of photos - one of both manifolds together, and a close up of the Kitchen return insert/screw, showing water seeping up.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu52/grahamgoo/ufh1.jpg
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu52/grahamgoo/ufh2.jpg
Any ideas what my problem might be? I do intend asking a professional to take another look (unless it's something simple I can fix myself) but would like to be as well informed as I can be first.
The return manifold adjustments are actually quite fiddly and flow gauges not particularly easy to read, so if they are not too expensive, I think I would happily consider a replacement manifold. I've seen some much better looking ones on youtube whilst researching UFH that seem to make adjusting and balancing much much easier than mine!
I assume the valves on the bottom right of each manifold are drain/filling valves valves - is this correct? I have not had any water coming out of the return one when I removed the cap.
Hope I haven't gone on too long - any help/advice/suggestions much appreciated.
Thanks,
Graham.
I recently bought a 6 year old house which is fitted with under-floor heating to the ground floor (radiators upstairs). The UFH has 4 loops - Hall, Living, Dining and Kitchen. It was installed when the house was new, by Even-Heat (who I understand are no longer trading). The house builder was Norfolk Homes who install ground-floor UFH as standard in many of their builds.
When I first turned it on after moving in to check it was working, I could feel some warmth in the hall, but that was it - even after leaving it turned on for the best part of 24 hours as I know it takes a while to seep through. I asked a local plumber to take a look but he could not find the problem. His only suggestion was to try again when ambient temperatures dropped, and that the whole system might need flushing out which would be an all day job at a cost of several hundred pounds (he seemed genuine enough but I wasn't entirely convinced by this).
Subsequently I managed to get a basic user guide for the system and tried adjustments at the manifold myself - I closed the flow to the Hall, Dining and Kitchen, and re-set the screws on the return of the Living loop - hey presto warmth in the living room a couple of hours later (which was lovely - could still feel it over 24 hours after I turned it off again).
However, I still have an issue with little warmth in the hall, and none at all in the Dining room and particularly the Kitchen, even though water does appear to be flowing through the return pipes. Alarmingly, when I made adjustments on the return manifold for the kitchen there was a small but steady flow of water seeping up from around the adjustment insert and screw. Should this be happening? (I assume not) If not, what could be the cause of this and could it be causing issues with the other zones? I suspect it must have been like that for a while, as the insert was dis-coloured, not shiny brass like all the others are.
I have taken a couple of photos - one of both manifolds together, and a close up of the Kitchen return insert/screw, showing water seeping up.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu52/grahamgoo/ufh1.jpg
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu52/grahamgoo/ufh2.jpg
Any ideas what my problem might be? I do intend asking a professional to take another look (unless it's something simple I can fix myself) but would like to be as well informed as I can be first.
The return manifold adjustments are actually quite fiddly and flow gauges not particularly easy to read, so if they are not too expensive, I think I would happily consider a replacement manifold. I've seen some much better looking ones on youtube whilst researching UFH that seem to make adjusting and balancing much much easier than mine!
I assume the valves on the bottom right of each manifold are drain/filling valves valves - is this correct? I have not had any water coming out of the return one when I removed the cap.
Hope I haven't gone on too long - any help/advice/suggestions much appreciated.
Thanks,
Graham.
