Problem with elderly neighbours heating - need some advice

[dannyboi2003]

Hi Guys, I got home late Sunday evening and my elderly neighbour was on the doorstep asking if i could pop in and have a brief look at her heating which wasn't working as it should.

Long story short is that some rads were fine and others were stone cold, checked all the obvious to no avail (boiler pressure, valves, bleeding). History of the house is old back boiler replaced with a combi a few years ago, boiler resides in old airing cupboard with the flow/return pipes to the old hot water tank reconfigured to act as the flow/return for the rads. After some head scratching i noticed that the old back boiler controls in the living room were still there, looked in the cupboard in the corner and the entire electrical system for the old back boiler is still there including the pump, i found the old stat in the hall, turned this to max, the old pump kicks on and the cold rads now get hot! Seems that someone turned the old stat down by accident however she had been told it was redundant and was to use the new wireless stat the installer fitted.

My question is should this pump even be there as the combi has its own circulation pump built in or has the installer cocked up? I'm no expert with plumbing but i know the basics and have never seen this kind of setup before in a domestic property, even if the pump is ok being there i don't like the fact its electrically separate from the main boiler and running 24/7. If anyone can offer any advice i would be most grateful, my neighbour is going to dig out the details of who installed the new boiler so i can give them a call on her behalf but i said i would ask here for advice too.

The combi boiler fitted is a Glow Worm Betacom 28 and serves 7 rads plus hot water to kitchen and bathroom sinks, no bath, shower is electric.

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies - Dan.

 

[Keithmac]

I'm not a plumber but that doesn't sound right, all rads should be fed buy the pumped output from the boiler.

Sounds like a bit of a cock up by the installer?.

 

[footprints]

Sounds a bit of a mash up, lots of old BB systems used gravity for the hot water and the pump came on just to run the heating circuit.
That should have all been cleared away when the system was updated, sounds like a cowboy job to me.
Still if it works I guess she will not need all the upheaval to sort it out now.

 

[dannyboi2003]

Hi Guys, Thanks for the replies so far, i understand how gravity systems work etc, seems the installer has joined the pipes from the cylinder to the flow/return from the old BB but has not removed the pump so its acting as a restriction when not running. Removing it would be simple with no major works involved, i just wanted to confirm there is no good reason why its been left there before i take up the issue with the original installer? Thanks - Dan.

 

[ianmcd]

No it shouldnt be there

 

[Nige F]

Agree with ianmcd but would it be enough of a restriction to stop flow maybe there is more to the incorrect piping.

 

[ianmcd]

Agree with ianmcd but would it be enough of a restriction to stop flow maybe there is more to the incorrect piping.

seen it with a vokera easi-heat, installer had left a pump in the circuit upstairs and just cut the cable, it was enough to restrict the flow to the downstairs rads, I was a bit surprised too but as soon as I removed it and fired up everything was toasty

 

[Daveydub]

Could it possibly have been done on a plate hex so second pump is actually required?
Is there anything that looks like this knocking about in the cupboard?

 

[ianmcd]

Could it possibly have been done on a plate hex so second pump is actually required?
Is there anything that looks like this knocking about in the cupboard?
View attachment 129220View attachment 129221

very unlikely if the pump and origional room thermostat are still wired in and the origional room stat is controlling the origional pump

 

[dannyboi2003]

Hi Guys, Thanks for all the replies much appreciated. I rang the installer last night, he couldn't explain why the old pump is still there and was sure he had bypassed it (he hasn't) but is coming back to remove it this week.

Davey - no nothing like that just the old circulation pump in the cupboard.