Circulation problem - and my plumber is desperate!

[holty]

looks like pumping over to me

 

[paulhodson]

i did check the images and to me every alteration is with speedfit wich can be reused by any amature. not saying you have done this but its hard to believe a plumber, or as you have said someone who is an industrial heating engineer,has not still been able to solve your problem seems unbalievable. i could turn up on your doorstep and tell you im with mi5 wolud you believe me. it sounds like youve been taken for a ride

Local guy - 30 years experience - installed my bathrooms for me (very well) and has worked for friends. Has a proper apprentice and I even had a visit from his inspector/tutor or whatever in my house when he was doing the bathrooms 2 years ago who was here for an hour or so conducting an interview or whatever yhey do with the lad. He was also recommended to me by two local plumbing merchants! (for the bathroom job admittedly)

Honestly - he is a genuine guy - however good or bad he is.

He is pushed for time which may explain the speedfit - and I had never even seen it before let ever used it. First changes he made (see earlier pictures) had couplings when he was less short of time and thought the job was going to be easier!

I do not do DIY - especially with stuff that leaks and makes a mess. THIS IS NOT A WIND UP!

 

[paulhodson]

looks like pumping over to me

I have been into loft - cold feed not hot nearer the tank - and the vent pipe is cool too

 

[holty]

bathrooms and heating are seperate issues if you ask me. ok someone from college came round to check the plumbing of a bathroom did he also check the heating system arrangements. i dont think so,iv worked with gas engineers who were useless about plumbing systems ie sanitation.but give them boilers and fault finding they will lose most know how plumbers.theres different types of plumbers domestic ,commercial,industrial. one gas engineer i knew was trained only on boilers,comercial gas instulations yet came unstuck when he saw an old fashioned one pipe system, his excuse was he was a gas engineer not a plumber

 

[holty]

[quHe is pushed for time which may explain the speedfit - and I had never even seen it before let ever used it. First changes he made (see earlier pictures) had couplings when he was less short of time and thought the job was going to be easier!
ote]


for me id sooner take longer making a job look good and have self satisfaction, even if the customer wasnt bothered(looks) most would agree on this site.

 

[paulhodson]

bathrooms and heating are seperate issues if you ask me. ok someone from college came round to check the plumbing of a bathroom did he also check the heating system arrangements. i dont think so,iv worked with gas engineers who were useless about plumbing systems ie sanitation.but give them boilers and fault finding they will lose most know how plumbers.theres different types of plumbers domestic ,commercial,industrial. one gas engineer i knew was trained only on boilers,comercial gas instulations yet came unstuck when he saw an old fashioned one pipe system, his excuse was he was a gas engineer not a plumber

No I agree - just indicating he is a genuine tradesman not just a cowboy! He was not checking the plumbing - just that the apprentice was doing his time properly I think. These pictures show the before and after of pressurising the multi section boiler - I couldn't make these up!

Please don't comment on the plastic mains feed!

 

[holty]

is this spot the difference

 

[tryitandsee]

The last pictures remind me of that game, 'spot the difference', great fun.

Can you introduce a second pump into the system?

 

[paulhodson]

The last pictures remind me of that game, 'spot the difference', great fun.

Can you introduce a second pump into the system?

Hpoefully it is not too hard to spot - or you have more problems than my plumber.

People have been suggesting I am making this up - and hopefully the pictures prove I am not.

As far as a second pump is concerned (which I assume is a serious suggestion) the apprentice suggested that but the plumber said it would not work.

I am considering the idea of having the boiler replaced with a pressurised unit - it seems totally daft to change the boiler which works OK and connect it to plumbing which does not - but if you look back through the posts you will see that the presurising and sealing of the system with the current boiler (which should not have been done) did make it fully operational.

So presumably the same would apply if a new boiler which was suitable was used. If only I could be sure of that it would be my first move at this stage - just a bit afraid it still would not work! I really really don't want to have the whole system replumbed with all that would entail. It's not a question of the money - though that is more than a little irritating - simply the mess and consequences to the house.

 

[paulhodson]

Looking at your second last picture which way is the arrow on the pump body pointing, left or right.

Can only see this arrow on face of pump - should there be another?

 

[Gasguru]

Why are you continuing to use this "heating" engineer - he knows nothing.

Is that an isolating valve on the connection to the expansion vessel? If so he left it with a serious safety issue since the safety valve is connected downstream.

Why is a filling loop still connected to the system?

He has installed a gate valve on the feed tank - again not recommended.
Pushfit pipework is very restrictive ie your safety vent is now smaller bore - especially the fittings/inserts.

The pump flow arrow is in the rear casting of the pump.

 

[paulhodson]

Looking at your second last picture which way is the arrow on the pump body pointing, left or right.

Sorry found it - right to left

 

[Gasguru]

Well at least thats the right way round.

 

[holty]

not sure a compotent diy person did this never mind a heating engineer, maybe done by a 4 year old that thought speedfit was lego

 

[Softus]

Just noticed this astonishing topic.

The plumbing looks like was done by an undercover Hepworth agent. If, as the OP seems to insist, it was done by a professional (i.e. normally takes money for doing work) heating engineer then he needs quite a lot of training.

There's nothing wrong in principle with using Speedfit, or other pushfit brands, especially for something temporary, but he shouldn't have made such an appalling lash-up of it. In any case he shouldn't have been doing something temporary.

The last time I came across a system with intermittent heating it turned out to be lumps of sludge migrating around the system. They didn't respond to chemical treatment because they refused to flow, so in the end there was nothing for it but to replace entire sections of the 22mm underfloor flow and return - it was too difficult to remove the old copper so I never saw the blockages, but the system worked just fine and dandy afterwards.

As Gasguru said most succinctly, I would, if I were a lay person, get someone in who knows what they're doing, won't experiment and fart around with their time and my money, and will get on with putting in place a conventional and time-proven pipe layout that will work. After that, I'd flush out (or replace) any radiator that has any hint of a cold patch on it, and clean out the entire system with a sludge remover.