Neither HW or CH working - Problem filling from Feeder tank?

[richauty]

Hi,

I've just moved in and have been experiencing some problems with my heating and hot water. I have been here a week now, and now have no HW or CH!

When we moved in last Thursday, we noticed that the pump was pretty noisy; this appeared to be caused by a lot of air in the system judging by the bubbling noises. I did not bleed anything at this time.

Last Saturday, I removed two downstairs radiators in order to decorate. Upon re-fitting and bleeding, they did not bleed until water appeared; just bled a small amount and then stopped. These two radiators did not get hot when the heating came on. The upstairs rads seemed to be working fine, however I later noticed that none of the downstairs rads were working.

The pump remained noisy, only now it seemed that other radiators which previously worked upstairs were not working. These also failed to bleed properly. These rads then started working intermittently.

Attempting to bleed the CH or HW circuits at the bleed points next to the HW cylinder results in the same unsuccessful bleeding, with air obviously still present but no pressure to dislodge it.

This morning, everything is cold. The Boiler still fires and heats the pipes next to it, but then cuts out (probably because the water isn't circulating to it's reached its temperature threshold). I have no HW and no CH! Pump still operating (but now quiet so no bubbles passing through). The 3-way valve seems to operate normally.

I decided to try draining down the entire system, however this seems to be fairly unsuccessful too. Even with the cold water feed from the header tank open, and a hose running outside, water will not flow from the tank into the system.

Any ideas, please?! I'm considering connecting the water feed from the header tank to the mains to flush the system through.

Cheers
Richard

 

[MattChan]

I'm no plumber so I will probably get a good flaming, but your cold feed could be blocked where it T's into the system. I'm sure I read something about holding a magnet against the T piece, if it sticks its full of iron type stuff if thats the case cut the T out and replace and you'll be able to fill up again...

 

[namsag]

Yep definite blocked cold feed and needs cuttting out an clearing.. if header tank still has water in it bale that out into a bucket before you start cutting

 

[Lagerkhan]

Backfill with a hose connected to mains pressure.
Either push the hose down cold fill outlet on header tank a few inches or onto a drain off with a jub clip and turn mains on slow.
This should get the system filled

 

[richauty]

Thanks all -

I cut out the reducer tee from the header tank along with a section of the 15mm pipe work, and was suprised to find that although there was some scale on the joint, it looked free running. However poking a piece if stiff wire down into the 22mm tube (flow from boiler), i found that was well and truly jammed, where it teed off to the pump.

Since space is very limited in the airing cupboard, i didn't fancy a big re-plumbing job, so drilled the pipe out with a long 16mm drill. Then flushed through with mains pressure water and... hey presto, the rads bleed successfully.

Small problem still though - the downstairs rads still don't get warm! They are run in 10mm pipe (it's all 15mm upstairs) so could the manifold be blocked? Is there an easy way to unblock it without dismantling the house to get to it...?!

Thanks again
Richard

 

[gas4you]

Sounds like a job for DS40 man

 

[richauty]

Hmm, DS40? Presumably that would be some sort of power flushing at £300 a go then?!

Found in yellow pages under "HEATING" or something similar..?

Cheers

 

[gas4you]

DS40 is a very potent heating cleanser. Very good but use at your own peril and follow M I's to the letter

 

[namsag]

You may have got some crap into manifold, but try just turning upstairs off and having downstairs on to see if it is just air