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I've been doing some work for a good customer of mine on a residential home. It's a converted 300 yr old hall with 24 bedrooms on 3 floors as well as 3 bathrooms, dining room common room and kitchens, and as you can imagine, the system has been modified alot since c/h was first installed.
Beginning of last year they changed the system to biomass and since then it's gone wotsits up. Regular problems with the biomass shutting off due to one thing or another and the installers are based in plymouth (i think) while the home is in colwyn bay so they aren't exactly local.
Since the biomass was installed, rads that working originally do not work now and 2 that didn't (in the basement) are pumping out heat but typically don't have valves.
I've done some investigating all the way from under the hall in bat, rat and mouse doodaa all way up to the lofty roof space and more bat doodaa.
The rads that don't work now are original cast rads on a 2" steel single pipe system. The system that works is onon 3/4 steel with a number of updated rads on 15mm copper. There is another run from the manifold that feeds 3 rads that I think has a blockage, as return is cold to luke warm and flow can't get up to top floor. This run also has an f&e above it. I was trying to suss out the biomass as to whether it was a closed system and whether the f&e should now be decomm'd?
Some of the staff sdaid that the biomass lot did a 20 min survey and said their system would be adequate and went off. I don't believe for one min that they sized up the whole system properly, regarding the installed pipework that is. The boilers may be the dogs and heat and supply h/w that they need but I reckon they should've decomm'd the single pipe system and installed new f and r system personally.
The home has had another heating co in in mean time to sort some of probs out and they were reluctant to take on the job as amount of steel work that needs replacing was too big ... sorry, too much hassle for them.
I'm a one man band at min and want to sort this prob out for them (and the old dears that reside there) as heat for eldery is a must, but I fear that it's way too big for me. I would like to say "rip it out and repipe the lot" but that would take weeks and it's not practical or cheap!
At a bit of a loss really as which way to advise them tbh, any ideas peeps?
Beginning of last year they changed the system to biomass and since then it's gone wotsits up. Regular problems with the biomass shutting off due to one thing or another and the installers are based in plymouth (i think) while the home is in colwyn bay so they aren't exactly local.
Since the biomass was installed, rads that working originally do not work now and 2 that didn't (in the basement) are pumping out heat but typically don't have valves.
I've done some investigating all the way from under the hall in bat, rat and mouse doodaa all way up to the lofty roof space and more bat doodaa.
The rads that don't work now are original cast rads on a 2" steel single pipe system. The system that works is onon 3/4 steel with a number of updated rads on 15mm copper. There is another run from the manifold that feeds 3 rads that I think has a blockage, as return is cold to luke warm and flow can't get up to top floor. This run also has an f&e above it. I was trying to suss out the biomass as to whether it was a closed system and whether the f&e should now be decomm'd?
Some of the staff sdaid that the biomass lot did a 20 min survey and said their system would be adequate and went off. I don't believe for one min that they sized up the whole system properly, regarding the installed pipework that is. The boilers may be the dogs and heat and supply h/w that they need but I reckon they should've decomm'd the single pipe system and installed new f and r system personally.
The home has had another heating co in in mean time to sort some of probs out and they were reluctant to take on the job as amount of steel work that needs replacing was too big ... sorry, too much hassle for them.
I'm a one man band at min and want to sort this prob out for them (and the old dears that reside there) as heat for eldery is a must, but I fear that it's way too big for me. I would like to say "rip it out and repipe the lot" but that would take weeks and it's not practical or cheap!
At a bit of a loss really as which way to advise them tbh, any ideas peeps?
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