Glow Worm Micron 40FF - Downstairs Radiators not heating up?

[Ssthisto]

Hello

I seem to be having some trouble with my central heating system at the moment. As it's gotten colder, I noticed that the radiator in our upstairs loo was only getting warm at the bottom, while the other radiators seemed to be warm all over when the central heating was running.

After doing some reading online, it looked like the problem was that the radiators needed to be bled (first time we've ever done it in seven years of living in the house). The bathroom radiator contained quite a lot of air, and there was a bit of air in a couple of the other radiators upstairs.

The problem is that now none of the downstairs radiators will warm up at all. The ones upstairs are quite warm.

Our system is running on a Glow Worm Micron 40FF inherited from the previous owners of the home, who were DIYers, and as near as I can tell, there is a Grundfos pump taking the water straight out of the boiler and sending it upstairs before it goes anywhere else.

I suspect, based on what I've read here, that the system doesn't have sufficient pressure since the radiators were drained, and that we might have an air bubble in a pipe somewhere stopping the circuit of water downstairs. I'd like to try topping up the boiler before we call out a technician but I'm having a bit of trouble doing that.

My problem is that I can't seem to *find* the top-up valve or even the pressure gauge in our system - where would this be located on a Glow Worm 40FF, or what might it look like?

We have one narrow pipe going into the bottom of the boiler from the gas meter, which presumably is the boiler's gas supply.

We also have another wider pipe going into the bottom of the boiler, with a sort of T-joint on it outside the boiler casing. The T-joint has one pipe that goes upwards and looks like it goes right up into the ceiling in the room; on the opposite side of the T from the boiler, there's a short spur that ends in something that looks like it could have an allen key or a handle stuck into it but I have not tried doing so.

One wide pipe comes out of the top of the boiler and goes up to the pump.

Am I being totally thick and not seeing something I should be? Did the DIYing former owners of the house do something strange and make the pressure gauge vanish?

Is the pressure gauge located inside the boiler housing, and if so, is it somewhere user-serviceable?

Any help and advice - and especially photographs of what I should be looking for if possible - would be very much appreciated.

- Ssthisto

 

[picasso]

have a look in the loft and see if you have one of these

http://www.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/F_and_E_Water_Tank.html

there should be a big one and a small one.

 

[Ssthisto]

We do have a big square tank that's heavily lagged so I can't see it properly and a smaller white one. I had always thought that the smaller white one (at least) is the tank for the toilet, as that's meant to be in the loft and is not mounted behind the toilet like they usually are.

What am I looking for with those?

 

[dextrous]

I'm intrigued by the white one - when you flush the loo, does the water come from there?

Anyway, the reason for asking about the small tank is that the boiler you mention is not a combi and will therefore have no filling loop nor pressure gauge.

Have you got a hot water cylinder?

 

[adlplumbing]

just incase u have i appolgise up front as did not read all your post but have you bled the rad?

 

[gassafeman]

Vent and balance it (see FAQ's)

Paul

 

[Ssthisto]

I'm intrigued by the white one - when you flush the loo, does the water come from there?

Anyway, the reason for asking about the small tank is that the boiler you mention is not a combi and will therefore have no filling loop nor pressure gauge.

Have you got a hot water cylinder?

Yes, when we flush the loo, the water comes from that cistern up in the loft (says my partner who's put loo blocks in it and the blue dye definitely winds up in the bowl).

It's possible that there's a small tank wrapped up in the lagging with the big one - what would I need to do with that if I found it?

If we have a hot water cylinder I don't think I've ever actually seen it. I'm starting to hate the former owners of the house - they've done all sorts of non-standard things in here (we have two boilers, for example - the Glow Worm does the central heating, but there's another one over in the other corner of the cupboard that does the hot water, and for all I know THAT one could be a combi) which makes it that much harder to work out what's broken if something goes wrong!

 

[picasso]

have a look at this site and see which system you think you have.

http://www.glowinstallations.co.uk/centralHeating.php

 

[Ssthisto]

Well, as I've said, I've never *seen* a hot water cylinder anywhere in the house (and I can't think where it would be if we had one - the "airing cupboard" is only about eight inches deep and doesn't contain a cylinder).

Just had a look at the tank in the loft. The white one is definitely the toilet cistern.

The black one that's heavily lagged is almost completely empty - there's a thin scum of water on the bottom and that's it. I presume this is *completely* wrong?

That would make it *closest* to being the "sealed system / open vented" other than the fact that I can't think where a hot water cylinder could be hiding in this house.

 

[picasso]

then you,ll be looking for one of these

http://www.altecnic.co.uk/Sealed System Components/filling_loops.aspx

and something like this

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/pressure-gauge-10-bar-back-226-45?CAWELAID=205025510

the filling loop has to be connected to the incoming main supply so try following the cold main pipe.

 

[Ssthisto]

If the black tank in the loft IS an F&E tank, is that meant to be empty, or should it contain water? It's got a red float in it, it's got lagging on it which makes me think it SHOULD have something to do with one or the other hot water supplies...

The lid in that tank is not sealed down in any way, either - it's just loosely set on the tank.

 

[dextrous]

And the big one in the loft that is nearly empty, does the ball actually float on the water, and about how deep is the water?

What is the boiler "over in the cupboard"? - make and model?

I'm taking a wild guess here but it may well be that the previous owners are using the tank in the loft as a feed and expansion tank for your central heating.

 

[Ssthisto]

The ball is just kind of hanging there in space because there's not enough water in the tank to float in at all - when I say "thin scum of water" I mean I'd barely get my fingertip wet if I put it in there.

The boiler on the other side of the cupboard, I'm not sure what make and model it is (and it's extremely difficult to get to it because there's a dishwasher fitted in the way!), but we know that that one is NOT the central heating and IS the hot water heater. The central heating is coming exclusively through the Glow Worm Micron 40FF.

 

[Ssthisto]

Been up in the loft and wriggled the ball float around a bit - it seemed to be a bit stuck, and when it was firmly pushed down water did run into the tank.

 

[dextrous]

Been up in the loft and wriggled the ball float around a bit - it seemed to be a bit stuck, and when it was firmly pushed down water did run into the tank.

So it is filling again now, freely? If it is as (I) suspect, the water level need only be 3 to 4 inches deep.