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- 16 Apr 2020
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Hi all,
I'm driving myself mad trying to figure out what's preventing my radiators from heating up. I moved into this property a couple of weeks ago and am currently renovating the whole place. This is the first time I've done proper DIY stuff and I've read up a lot on plumbing & heating, including the manuals for all the devices in the house that I can find.
The heating worked on the first day but since then it's been dead. I've been tracing pipes and lifting floorboards to make sure I fully understand the system. It's a gravity fed system with the hot water tank in an airing cupboard and the cold tanks above.
Boiler: Baxi Solo 40/4 RS (old I know!)
- No problems with the hot water
- Pilot light stays on fine
- Fires up when adjusting the heating thermostat on the wall but only stays on for a minute or so then goes off
Heating pump: Grundfos Alpha 2 15-60 (recently replaced as the old one didn't seem to be spinning)
- I've traced the pipe from the boiler to the heating pump (annoyingly under the floorboards in the centre of the back bedroom). The pump powers fine and I can hear it humming away so it seems to be operational
- Pipes coming from the pump split off to what I assume are the radiators
- Pipes leading to the pump never get hot (which I expect they should) - water must be getting to the pump though as when I remove the pump from the pipework there is water inside.
One thing I can't find is a motorised valve. Do all systems have them and where would I expect it to be located? After the boiler but before the heating pump? It may be in the roof space of my kitchen extension where the boiler pipes shoot upwards into.
EDIT: when the boiler seems to go off there is a lot of clunking and clanging of pipes before hand. Is this the heated water going nowhere and the boiler powering down to avoid overheating? Is it the elusive motorised valve failing?
Any advice would be wonderful.
Cheers,
Phil
I'm driving myself mad trying to figure out what's preventing my radiators from heating up. I moved into this property a couple of weeks ago and am currently renovating the whole place. This is the first time I've done proper DIY stuff and I've read up a lot on plumbing & heating, including the manuals for all the devices in the house that I can find.
The heating worked on the first day but since then it's been dead. I've been tracing pipes and lifting floorboards to make sure I fully understand the system. It's a gravity fed system with the hot water tank in an airing cupboard and the cold tanks above.
Boiler: Baxi Solo 40/4 RS (old I know!)
- No problems with the hot water
- Pilot light stays on fine
- Fires up when adjusting the heating thermostat on the wall but only stays on for a minute or so then goes off
Heating pump: Grundfos Alpha 2 15-60 (recently replaced as the old one didn't seem to be spinning)
- I've traced the pipe from the boiler to the heating pump (annoyingly under the floorboards in the centre of the back bedroom). The pump powers fine and I can hear it humming away so it seems to be operational
- Pipes coming from the pump split off to what I assume are the radiators
- Pipes leading to the pump never get hot (which I expect they should) - water must be getting to the pump though as when I remove the pump from the pipework there is water inside.
One thing I can't find is a motorised valve. Do all systems have them and where would I expect it to be located? After the boiler but before the heating pump? It may be in the roof space of my kitchen extension where the boiler pipes shoot upwards into.
EDIT: when the boiler seems to go off there is a lot of clunking and clanging of pipes before hand. Is this the heated water going nowhere and the boiler powering down to avoid overheating? Is it the elusive motorised valve failing?
Any advice would be wonderful.
Cheers,
Phil