Hot Radiators Upstairs When Hot Water Is On.

[Vamp]

Hi all new to the forum,so ill say hi all.

My problem is this,i have just moved in a different council house.
The heating is a back boiler,i havent got a clue what one or age but the fire looks old,it is a big ugly creamy colour fire with a dial 1,2,3,4,max under it behind a brown removable plate if that helps.

When i put the hot water on,the upstairs radiators all get hot,not downstairs ones,i have had the council out and they have told me theres nothing wrong with it.

In 6 weeks i got a bill from british gas saying i used up 187 pounds of gas,that was putting the heating/water on once in the morning for a hour and once at night for three hours each day,i am not on key metres.

If i put the water on for a hour to four hours my water is just warm not hot as it should be,i need to keep it on all day then switch off at night before bed to have hat water.

I was going to get a engineer out,but aint got a clue what they would cost to check the system out,then see the council yet again about it if it is not working properly.

Any help on this would be great

Thankyou very much

PS:Also we havent got a thermostat on the wall anywhere in the house,should there be one,and could this be the cause why my gas bills are so high for very little usage,just wondering.

 

[Biguns]

gravity system, turn the upstairs radiators off when you dont want them to come on
Did you take a reading of the meter when you moved in. If so did it tally with BGs start reading £187, 6 weeks ,Staggering

 

[Vamp]

Thx for the reply snugib

I took the reading when i moved in gave it to BG,when i phone them and told them NOWAY as i had key metres in the other house and never used no where near that much.
They checked it all out,if it was in metric or the other forgot what its called and the serial to make sure it was right metre,they said it was all correct and put it down to the system being old,when i told the council they said it was ok.
They all so said the tenents before bills were high aswell.

If the radiators were turned down/off if i can as it doesnt look they have been turned down in a while would the heating still use the same amount of fuel to run or would that be less

to be honest i aint got a clue

Thx again

 

[Biguns]

To heat your hot water, the water from the boiler also heats your upstairs radiators,even in the summer. To heat your hot water quicker and use less gas, turn the upstairs rads off, when you need heating upstairs turn them on, but only the rooms you need to heat. The down stairs rads (if you have them) will come on by switching on a pump usualy via a timer

Is the reading you gave to BG the start reading on the bill they sent you ?
Or are you paying for the previous tennants gas usage

 

[seco services]

if its gravity hw pumped heating i would check for a gravity check valve maybe stuck open.

 

[Vamp]

Is the reading you gave to BG the start reading on the bill they sent you ?
Or are you paying for the previous tennants gas usage

Its the reading from when i we moved in,that the bill is for,ill turn the rads off upstairs and do as you said.

Thx for your advise.

 

[Vamp]

if its gravity hw pumped heating i would check for a gravity check valve maybe stuck open.

Where abouts would i find the gravity check valve.

And what should i be looking for to find out if its blocked,sorry about all the questians,but im a newbie to this

 

[Biguns]

Read this from "seco services" Shows picture of check valve, and approx location

http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1303756#1303756

 

[Vamp]

Thx alot snugib,ill check out the link

 

[Agile]

Can you tell us what kind of meter you have?

Then read it every day at the same time and tell us what your consumption has been on each day.

Certainly back boilers are not very efficient but it should still not be that much.

Tony

 

[dextrous]

Is this boiler a candidate for the scrappage scheme?

 

[Vamp]

Just looked at the only pipes visable.

And i cant see one of them on it any where could that be the problem,if so ill get in touch with the landlord and ask them where it is and tell them i have been dvised that it could be stuck/blocked

Can you tell us what kind of meter you have?

Then read it every day at the same time and tell us what your consumption has been on each day.

Certainly back boilers are not very efficient but it should still not be that much.

Tony

I checked the metre reading every for a week like eon ask me as im with them now,and it all came back as right,they said they can only put it down to the heating system being uneconomicle.

the make of the metre is Krom schroder M3

Is this boiler a candidate for the scrappage scheme?

Honestly dont know,its a council house so cant see them wanting to do much with it.

I was thinking of trying to save up,and getting it replaced with a new system,but thought why should i if it aint my property,plus i reckon a new system would be very costly to replace.