Extra rads fed down from upstairs

[Graham22]

Hi
I thought I should open fresh thread for this question. I had a problem of 3 sepaarate leaks in radiator pipes bedded in a concrete floor. It started after a power flush and although everything has stayed dry for the last 3 or 4 weeks, I have lost confidence in that pipe work so want to replace it.

We have an open vented system with header tank in loft and hot water tank upstairs. The boiler is downstairs and the pipework goes upstairs to the hot water tank cupboard (where the pump etc is located) and then runs, amongst other places, back down to downstairs rads.

I was thinking I could replace the run to the three rads downstairs (currently fed under concrete) by installing flow & return pipes from an upstairs bedroom rad, through the floor/ceiling and down the wall to the downstairs rads. I am happy to box them in. But a plumber said that it wont work, and I cant run pipework up and down. I dont really understand that as the pipework already runs down to the downstairs rad circuit. So I will just be running down in more than one place.

I would welcome any suggestion/advice - thanks

Graham

 

[Terry lambert]

It's quite common to have drop feeds ( what you describe) when you have a concrete floor.

 

[Galoka]

Where do these plumbers come from?

As terrydoh says it's is quite normal . A couple of things :

Check that the pipework you are connecting into will supply enough water for the new rads. It's possible that you might need to upgrade some of the upstairs pipe to 22mm to do the job properly

And remember to put in drain points somewhere on the bottom of each loop

 

[ChrisR]

If you connect a radiator downstairs straight across one that's above it, it can be a delicate Balancing operation to get the flow right through both, so it quite often doesn't work - until that's done.

 

[Graham22]

Thanks so much for feedback. So is it fair to say it works fine if it comes straight from the 22mm pipework. I can take it as a "mirror" from a radiator above but I might find I need to mess about with getting the two rads involved balanced.
This was very helpful - better than the plumber! - thanks

 

[Terry lambert]

You can have more than one rad fed off of 15mm pipe work. But obviously we cannot see how yours has been piped.

 

[Nige F]

Where do these plumbers come from?

Middlesex - says it all