Hello all
I am a trainee plumber, sadly without a mentor, and I have come across a problem which I can't figure out and would really appreciate some help.
My water cylinder is no longer getting heated up, so I have no domestic hot water. The water is however getting heated in the boiler and the central heating is working fine.
The problem occurred after I carried out two tasks. Firstly I replaced the radiator in the bathroom, which it turns out is connected into the H/W circuit. The pipes to it branch out from the entry and exit to the coil in the hot water cylinder.
The second task I carried out was to lower the height of the F/E cistern in the loft as it was originally installed higher than the Cold water storage cistern.
On completing the two jobs there was a whistling sound coming from the pipes and neither the central heating or hot water were working. I bled the system of air and gradually the whistling sound went away and the central heating began working again. Unfortunately the hot water is still not working.
I have since raised the F/E cistern back to where it originally was (in case lowering it caused the problem by reducing the head of water), but still there is no hot water. I have tried bleeding the system but it hasn't made any difference.
The layout of the system is as follows (oh, I live in a flat, by the way):
Boiler - Potterton Netaheat 10-16 MkII F (located in kitchen)
Has four water pipes connected up, 3 at the bottom 1 at the top.
2 of the 3 pipes at the bottom are for the C/H flow and return (pump included on the flow and is working fine). These two pipes go down under the concrete floor to the rads in each room except for the one in the bathroom.
The pipe at the top of the boiler appears to be the H/W flow. It goes up into the loft, where the F/E cistern and vent are connected to it. From there it drops down into the airing cupboard and connects into the coil in the hot water cyclinder (also branching off into the radiator in the bathroom), then back up into the loft, through an automatic air release valve, then through a pump (Grundfos UPS 15-60, which appears to be working as I can feel it vibrating ever so slightly) then returns back down into the bottom of the boiler (the third of the 3 pipes connected to the bottom of the boiler).
The system is controlled only by a 1 year old programmer (Sunvic select XL) on the boiler. There are no 2 or 3 port valves anywhere in the system (unless inside the boiler).
I think the system is mostly under negative pressure due the pump being located on the H/W return. I also get the feeling that the H/W was originally gravity circulated and the pump was added at a later date.
I've made a diagram of the circuit:
click the link below if you can't see the picture:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ec2208/index.mht
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Cheers
Chris
I am a trainee plumber, sadly without a mentor, and I have come across a problem which I can't figure out and would really appreciate some help.
My water cylinder is no longer getting heated up, so I have no domestic hot water. The water is however getting heated in the boiler and the central heating is working fine.
The problem occurred after I carried out two tasks. Firstly I replaced the radiator in the bathroom, which it turns out is connected into the H/W circuit. The pipes to it branch out from the entry and exit to the coil in the hot water cylinder.
The second task I carried out was to lower the height of the F/E cistern in the loft as it was originally installed higher than the Cold water storage cistern.
On completing the two jobs there was a whistling sound coming from the pipes and neither the central heating or hot water were working. I bled the system of air and gradually the whistling sound went away and the central heating began working again. Unfortunately the hot water is still not working.
I have since raised the F/E cistern back to where it originally was (in case lowering it caused the problem by reducing the head of water), but still there is no hot water. I have tried bleeding the system but it hasn't made any difference.
The layout of the system is as follows (oh, I live in a flat, by the way):
Boiler - Potterton Netaheat 10-16 MkII F (located in kitchen)
Has four water pipes connected up, 3 at the bottom 1 at the top.
2 of the 3 pipes at the bottom are for the C/H flow and return (pump included on the flow and is working fine). These two pipes go down under the concrete floor to the rads in each room except for the one in the bathroom.
The pipe at the top of the boiler appears to be the H/W flow. It goes up into the loft, where the F/E cistern and vent are connected to it. From there it drops down into the airing cupboard and connects into the coil in the hot water cyclinder (also branching off into the radiator in the bathroom), then back up into the loft, through an automatic air release valve, then through a pump (Grundfos UPS 15-60, which appears to be working as I can feel it vibrating ever so slightly) then returns back down into the bottom of the boiler (the third of the 3 pipes connected to the bottom of the boiler).
The system is controlled only by a 1 year old programmer (Sunvic select XL) on the boiler. There are no 2 or 3 port valves anywhere in the system (unless inside the boiler).
I think the system is mostly under negative pressure due the pump being located on the H/W return. I also get the feeling that the H/W was originally gravity circulated and the pump was added at a later date.
I've made a diagram of the circuit:
click the link below if you can't see the picture:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ec2208/index.mht
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Cheers
Chris