help me!!!! steaming F&E

[stakkabo]

Hello

Can someone please help me with this problem before I turn grey????? I am only 28 after all...but then I am ginger so I suppose that wouldn't be a bad thing.........

Central heating spec

Put in about 1972
Old old steel pipes everywhere except bathroom kitchen and pipes leading in and out of water cylinder. Rads are cr@p with cold spots in most rooms but we can't bleed because they are very old ( long and thin )
Potterton Suprima boiler ( not sure what make but it is at least 10 years old and had the circuit board changed about 8 months ago because it refused to fire up )

We recently bought this really lovely old house and had to do some work in the bathroom and kitchen about a year ago. We had a new expansion tank fitted in the loft as part of the bathroom work and we were about to start ripping the central heating out and replace in April this year.

My husband went into the loft today and all our beams are covered in mildew and the insulation is soaking because there is steam rising from the expansion tank, which isn't covered. This wasn't there about a month ago but it sure is now! He had moved the thermostat up very very slightly on the boiler about 4 weeks ago and when we did that a rad in one of our rooms went from not working to being roasting hot. Could this be the problem? We don't want to leave it as it is until april because of the damage the moisture could do to the wood but we would really like to know what could cause this problem so we can do something about it and possibly move the date for the C/H replacement forward.

Sorry if I sound like I don't know what I am talking about, but I don't and neither does the hubby. So someone please help us!!!!!!!

 

[lor]

possible pumping over due to restiction in pipes

 

[Agile]

I have successfully dealt with this problem by converting to a single feed and expansion pipe.

It does however indicate a badly sludged up system and it may just last until April if you are lucky.

You should plan to replace EVERYTHING in your system and budget several thousand depending on the size and the type of floors.

Tony Glazier

 

[Nige F]

don`t get that masked man who fitted the expansion tank to do the whole heating/ water system....Yee Haa

 

[JohnD]

Fit a cover to the tank for a start.

Try turning the CH pump speed down.

You could use a chemical cleaner to wash the sludge out. There is however a risk that the sludge and rust are holding your system together and it will start to leak if you clean it.

I don't understand why you think you can't bleed the rads.