Should I have to bleed my radiators?

[OhGranny]

Hi
Moved house just before Xmas. The old boiler failed 2 days before the move. Vendor had a new boiler fitted for us.
Saturday - rush job. They turned it on and never came back basically.
After about 2 days the bathroom radiator was cold about half way up so I bled the radiator.
I have had to bleed it again this morning.
Is this normal? I'm wondering if it is because they never bled the system and the house had been empty for over a year and they changed the system over from a vented one with tanks in the attic and a water cylinder to a sealed system.
I'm pretty sure they never flushed it - they said they did but it is still very black and mucky when I bleed the radiator.
If I have a leak how difficult is it to find out where?
Thanks
G.

 

[Rico99]

Hi there,

Get THEM to sort it out.

This should have been sorted before you moved in.

Rico

 

[OhGranny]

Hi
Won't answer phone or reply to messages. Had to replace the thermostat after 2 days - they wired it up to the old water damaged one and the boiler wouldn't turn off with the timer.
Logged a call on warranty but he disconnected the thermostat at the boiler end and left the wire hanging on the draining board terrified my wife.
Been a bit of a nightmare but I did get a boiler fitted for free I suppose.
Think at times might have been better if old boiler hadn't failed then I could have got a proper job done !!!!!
G.

 

[coldroy]

Who wont answer vendor or gas fitter contact your soliciter who did your conveyancing if you work on it you may invalidate your warrenty

roy

 

[gas4you]

Are you having to top up the system pressure other than after you have bled the radiator?

 

[D_Hailsham]

Vendor had a new boiler fitted for us.

It's the Vendor's responsibility: tell your solicitor.

 

[bengasman]

guess: it is an ideal or a heatline
guess: they forgot to leave you the benchmark and other paperwork

leave message on installers phone that you are calling corgi with safety concern if they do not visit within 24 hours.
if they don't; do call corgi. it sounds like a botch job and could well be dangerous

 

[OhGranny]

Hi Everyone
Not had to top up the pressure yet at 1 bar now but pressure has fallen slightly each time I have bled the system it was about 1.6.
Boiler is a PROCombi 85 HE think it is from PTS but I have discovered it is a rebadged Vokera HE.
At the time the 'gas fitter' did say I could have problems with a new boiler on an old system and advised I call him back in a few months for a Power Flush - which I understood to mean he hadn't bothered to flush the system!
It is the gas fitter who won't respond to calls.
I have a retention of £1500 with the solicitor to be paid upon receipt of a Corgi certificate.
But not sure if that just means that the boiler is fitted by a corgi or that the whole system including the old rads and pipework is working O.K.
Ideally I would like to get someone proper in to fix it and take the money out of the retention.
g.

 

[OhGranny]

Hi
Got through to plumber this morning says it is normal to have to bleed radiators.
Said it is a small system 7 rads and I can't have a leak because I would only have to lose about a litre and the system pressure would be down to zero.
This right?
Ta.

 

[bengasman]

total nonsense; the only reason you can expect problems is if the installer botched the job.
it seems he did not care too much as one of the great advantages of a powerflush is that you can use aggressive (acid) cleaner. the problem here is that you can not use that with an alloy boiler like you have now.
you should not have to bleed your rads with a newly installed boiler, especially not when you have a sealed system.
make sure you keep the money due to him until you are totally satisfied; might be an idea to get a recommended RGI to assess the system completely before you pay

 

[OhGranny]

Hi Bengasman
Posted earlier today about this - woke up this morning and pressure was at Zero.
Boiler still fired up though. I bled radiators again and loads of air came out.
Re-pressurised the system but from what the 'gas fitter' said about only having to lose 1 litre I was expecting just a slight turn of the tap on the filling loop but it took nearly a minute to get the boiler pressure up to 1 bar and seemed to be taking a lot of water! Water pressure is high here BTW.
What did worry me was this...
I have to disconnect the washer to get at the filling loop (behind washer).
When I re-connected the washer hoses (after re-pressurising) and turned them back on the boiler kicked in just for a few seconds and the pressure on the boiler dropped slightly.
Not too up on plumbing but the filing loop is teed off from the boiler return into the boiler DHW inlet. If I refill from the return isn't there a chance of putting air back in. Shouldn't the filling loop come from cold water supply?
Any advice and enlightenment welcome.
Ta.
G.

 

[gas4you]

I think it sounds as thought you have a leak, or some other problem if you are constantly losing that much water.

On a new system or boiler install, I would expect to maybe have to tell the customer to top it up maybe two or three times in the first two weeks or so only.

Once it has settled down perhaps only once or twice a year.

In answer to your question on the other thread, any boiler fitted on a dirty system is liable to premature failure, what ever make and how ever much you pay for it.