Central heating in a bungalow

[benjamin31]

I may be doing some alterations to central heating in a bungalow. The bungalow has had a new combi boiler fitted six months ago. The flow and return go up into the roof space, and then there are drops in 15mm to each radiator. Everything works fine, however there is exposed pipework next to each radiator, which the customer doesn't like.

Does it seem viable to remove this pipework, run the flow and return down from the boiler under the floorboards, route it around the house and pop up to each radiator? I can't see any reason why not. My usual occupation is bathroom fitting, so I thought i'd just check incase there are any reasons why this wouldn't work.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[petetheleak]

don't see why not ,Is there any reason why it was done this way in the 1st place? Sounds like a quick in and out installation to me.Wee bit expensive 4 the customer if it was they that paid 4 the initial installation.But hey go 4 it if its an easy access under the floor.

 

[Agile]

As long as its done properly there should not be any problem but its a lot of work involved!

Almost all bungalows I have seen have had solid floors!

We would be charging about £700 for a three bed bungalow. I dont see anyone wanting to pay that just "because they dont like the pipes".

I would not advise you to do it if you are not experienced at that kind of work as you could end up damaging the new boiler.

Tony

 

[gasright]

TBH all bungalows that i've been in have been solid floor

Could you not box the piping so it looks a bit better?

 

[benjamin31]

Thanks for the replies.

It was an in and out job. It took 4 hours for 4 guys to install it, and I guess running the pipework down the wall was the quickest option. I was suprised that it wasn't solid floors too, but it's all floorboarded and apparently there is a gap of at least a foot underneath the joists so I can clip the pipework to the underside rather than notching all the joists.

The house is in mid renovation so there are no carpets or floor coverings down.

I agree that it seems like a lot of work for some supposed unsightly pipework, but hey, who am I to comment!

I was thinking of a similar figure to Agile, so i'm not sure someone will pay that for some pipe alts.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[gas4you]

My mothers old bungalow was wooden suspended floors with solid floor in the Kitchen.

One would assume that the OP has already checked what flooring there is

Shouldn't be any problems at all, but remember to insulate all pipes under the floor. (if it is wooden )

 

[benjamin31]

Oh just another quick one regarding the boiler. Doing the pipe alts will take me longer than a day. So i'm thinking the boiler won't supply hot water to the taps while i've got capped off pipes on the flow and return. Is this correct?

Thanks.

 

[gas4you]

If you can cap off pipes under boiler and re-pressurise it then I can't see why you couldn't.

If it has a built in filling loop then even easier. I often get the Vaillants I fit up and running on the dhw before I start installing the heating circuit as they have the built in filling loop.

Edit; I would probably quote them £780 + materials + VAT

 

[benjamin31]

It is a Vailliant, I had to top it up a little because customer said it had lost a little pressure since january. I'm not entirely sure she knew what she was talking about though.

Cheers for advice, i'll get quoting

 

[Dan Robinson]

Why don't you run the new pipes first and then do a quick change over when everything is in positoin?