Central Heating NIGHTMARE!

[JordyPlum]

Right!!!

Me, my wife, my two children....we need help!!!!

so....

We we bought a house...

The people we bought the house off very kindly didn't tell us there was a leak on the CH system, plenty of stress and cash later and that is sorted. I hope!

now!!!!

our CH is having problems, mainly that the downstairs rads aren't functioning properly. We've got red hot flow pipes, stone cold return pipes.... And cold rads.

weve also got a wet ufh system on its own loop (I think) that won't work at all

weve turned all the rads off upstairs to try and get downstairs working
I've drained it all down to try and take out any air locks
weve treated the system with a cleaner for 2 Weeks

for the love of God (and warm children) can someone please tell me what to do next!!

 

[hammers4spanner]

In fairness bud maybe just get a plumber out .

 

[Ch4 plumbing]

Could be as simple as a new CH pump! Could be a lot more involved!

What happens if you turn off all the rads with the exception of 1 downstairs rad?

 

[stani]

I think hammers has hit this one right on the head. Get a plumber in.

 

[Unregistered]

I will get a plumber in once all routes have been exhausted, I can work my way round a central heating system so I would prefer to not spend more money on something that I could potentially fix myself.

when we turned all rads off upstairs the rads downstairs worked much better, it's a large system with 16 rads and the ufh so we thought it might be pump related?

but as it's just the flow pipes on the rads not working properly would it most likely be a blockage of either air or sludge? When I drained the system the water was clear, but I know this doesn't mean the rads are. When I drained it down it didn't push the water out quickly even though I opened all the bleed nipples up - not sure if this is a clue!

next steps:
take rads off and hose out
power flush
drain down system and make sure there's nothing left in there

any of these? All of these? !!!

 

[ShaunCorbs]

I will get a plumber in once all routes have been exhausted, I can work my way round a central heating system so I would prefer to not spend more money on something that I could potentially fix myself.

when we turned all rads off upstairs the rads downstairs worked much better, it's a large system with 16 rads and the ufh so we thought it might be pump related?

but as it's just the flow pipes on the rads not working properly would it most likely be a blockage of either air or sludge? When I drained the system the water was clear, but I know this doesn't mean the rads are. When I drained it down it didn't push the water out quickly even though I opened all the bleed nipples up - not sure if this is a clue!

next steps:
take rads off and hose out
power flush
drain down system and make sure there's nothing left in there

any of these? All of these? !!!

take rads off and flush with mains then pains flush the system

 

[SimonG]

Do all three then for the love of god and warm children call a professional.

 

[plumben]

I will get a plumber in once all routes have been exhausted, I can work my way round a central heating system so I would prefer to not spend more money on something that I could potentially fix myself.

when we turned all rads off upstairs the rads downstairs worked much better, it's a large system with 16 rads and the ufh so we thought it might be pump related?

but as it's just the flow pipes on the rads not working properly would it most likely be a blockage of either air or sludge? When I drained the system the water was clear, but I know this doesn't mean the rads are. When I drained it down it didn't push the water out quickly even though I opened all the bleed nipples up


In all fairness get a plumber in, yes you might be able to do the job your self and save some money but
I wont lie most of the work I do on a day to day basis anyone could do the actual work but I dont get paid for what I can do with my hands its my knowledge and experience,

 

[Dsp]

Could a local friendly member help out?? Where are you??

 

[jonnyswamp]

What sort of heating system is it, sealed, open vented ?
I only ask because, on open vented, I have come accross all flow rad valves blocked with dissolved fibre board that was used as an f & e tank lid!
If so,remove rads and flush through,also flush through all rad valves, flow and return

Has the UF got it's own pump?

 

[JordyPlum.]

We are in Streety, Sutton Coldfield - friendly members I make great tea!!

its a sealed system with a combi boiler.

The UF has got its own pump and we think that may be air locked as when we opened the front, air and water were passing in Fairly equal measure.

I understand why people are advising to get a plumber, but we are already had countless visits from a plumber in relation to the leak and boiler problems, what I don't want to do is pay for someone to come round and try what we have been doing ourselves, not make any progress, and leave me a few hundred quid lighter!

i work in construction and my best mate is extremely proficient in plumbing - but is not gas safe, so it's not as if we haven't got a rudimentary understanding/skills to go through this systematically, it's just that currently, we are drawing a blank!

 

[Sparkgap]

1) Replace pump. Make sure you get one properly sized for the system instead of just a like-for-like. Can't be sure but didn't one of the big manufacturers have a problem with ceramic shafts on their pumps breaking, so motor ran but it pumped bu66er all?
2) Dept-of-stating-the-obvious: make sure you don't have a valve shut somewhere! Chances of one hidden away somewhere?
3) You could power flush in case it is something bunging up but this sounds like something common to all rads not just a few not working, therefore boiler or pump. Poor flow indicates pump.

 

[walterwhite]

Isolate UFH at manifold and turn power off to it first. Then concentrate on rads...

 

[jonnyswamp]

Start with the basics, make sure system is full of water, all air vented and up to pressure
Has the UF circuits been filled correctly, as in hose on manifold and each circuit individually filled until all air is expelled through a drain hose? Uf could be full of air and its making its way around the rest of the system causing constant air locks
As said above, isolate UF and try rads
Just re-read your first post, has this problem just started after the leak was fixed or have you always had it
If only since leak, maybe a valve is partially shut somewhere

 

[Tonycane]

Drain the system fully and fill back up slowly venting each rad downstairs working your way up.

 

[JordyPlum.]

Has the UF circuits been filled correctly, as in hose on manifold and each circuit individually filled until all air is expelled through a drain hose? Uf could be full of air and its making its way around the rest of the system causing constant air locks

That would be a no!!! Assuming this has caused a problem then? I merely refilled the system and bled the two nipples on the UF first to get rid of air??


Just re-read your first post, has this problem just started after the leak was fixed or have you always had it
If only since leak, maybe a valve is partially shut somewhere

hard to know on this one as we moved in in April, and I'm not sure if we even had the CH on at any point. The first day we moved in the boiler "broke" which was related to the leak on the system, so ever since then we have been trying to get it all sorted! I hope the people we bought the house off live and long and incredibly miserable death

 

[jaydebruyne]

I will get a plumber in once all routes have been exhausted, I can work my way round a central heating system so I would prefer to not spend more money on something that I could potentially fix myself.

when we turned all rads off upstairs the rads downstairs worked much better, it's a large system with 16 rads and the ufh so we thought it might be pump related?

but as it's just the flow pipes on the rads not working properly would it most likely be a blockage of either air or sludge? When I drained the system the water was clear, but I know this doesn't mean the rads are. When I drained it down it didn't push the water out quickly even though I opened all the bleed nipples up - not sure if this is a clue!

next steps:
take rads off and hose out
power flush
drain down system and make sure there's nothing left in there

any of these? All of these? !!!

How much better did the rads work when you turned off the upstairs rads? Over how many floors are the rads? If they worked normally when you turned off upstairs rads your pump may either not be powerful enough to satisfy that many rads (or may be starting to fail) or the rads may just need balancing properly.

 

[Jordy Plum.]

How much better did the rads work when you turned off the upstairs rads? Over how many floors are the rads? If they worked normally when you turned off upstairs rads your pump may either not be powerful enough to satisfy that many rads (or may be starting to fail) or the rads may just need balancing properly.

The Rads work better but then the flow pipe is literally stone cold. It is the main rad in the lounge and the rad in the hallway, so its not the end of the world, but needs sorting!

As these are within close proximitity to each other I am guessing (you could never tell!) that there is a blockage on the return pipe that services this part of the CH, but then the joker in the pack is the UFS which is on the 3rd floor and will not work at all. AGain, the return pipe is red hot, but the flow is stone cold and we just cannot get this to work.

 

[walterwhite]

As I suggested before....take the UFH out of the equation first. Then get all the air out of the rad circuits. If that then fixes the rads you just need to get a pro in to fill & commission the UFH. I bet the UFH wasn't isolated before drain down & you can't just refill it the same way you do rads....

 

[joni os]

If system has leaked then probably topped up without inhibiter and significant corrosion/sludge present. take off pump and ensure vanes not clogged. Flush system as suggested by others.

 

[Worcester]

16 rads and a combi

Big house, so would guess for a start there will be other problems to follow soon. Suggest you get it properly checked over from top to bottom, else you'll end up chasing your tail with one problem after another.