Daughter just moved into new house only upstairs rads working?

[nickjaxe]

Hi guys my daughter moved into a new house yesterday well its new to her but quite an old house,

It has a Worcester 19/24 CBI mains gas boiler, it seems to fire up ok but the whole downstairs is like an ice box with non of the rads getting warm at all....she tells me that the inlet pipe to one of the downstairs rads is very very slightly warm but thats it,

She tells me there seems to be no sign of a water pressure/contents gauge,

The upstairs rads all seem fine bar the one in the main bed room which is stone cold....I did ask her if she is sure that the rad valves are turned on....and she tells me they are,

I have not had a look for myself so I must take her word for this,

The house is 150 years old and has been unoccupied for around 18 months and I see that Worcester discontinued this boiler in 2006,

The house is quite large with 4 bedrooms I wonder if this boiler is big enough for this house,

Any ideas guys what maybe her problem maybe guys.

Nick.

 

[Barry98]

has it been drained down while empty ?

 

[nickjaxe]

Mmmm sorry I dont know...is there an easy way to tell....should she still be running it...she is at the moment to keep upstairs warm.

 

[Barry98]

if neither of you know i would suggest getting someone in to give it the once over and get it working right before the real bad weather comes. might be wort putting a post in the i need a plumber / gas engineer section. and getting some rough prices.

not what she wants to hear just before crimbo i know but its a good investment and not everyone is like the guys you see on tv

 

[nickjaxe]

Do you think its ok to keep it going to heat the upstairs of the house till she can get somebody in.

Nick.

 

[Barry98]

the boiler will just go into lock out if theres a issue could be a few things to be fair but as ive said if its been empty that long id be very tempted to get someone and give it a check wont cost a lot depending on your loaction

 

[nickjaxe]

She has one of those British Gas maintainance plans...but until she is on the sys at this new house they wont touch her....I dont think she can get going on that till Monday...was hoping to sort it for her before then.

Nick.

 

[Barry98]

bleed key , check the valves etc

 

[Resolute]

Is the pump running? All rads been bled?

Are we talking combi boiler or conventional?

 

[nickjaxe]

Ok I will check that for her....do you think that model of boiler is big enough for a big old 4 bedroom house.

Nick.

 

[nickjaxe]

Are we talking combi boiler or conventional?....sorry not sure...but she does tell me she has a copper immersion type tank,

Not sure about the pump...but seeing that most of the upstairs rad are ok does that mean the pump will be ok.

Nick.

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

Maks sure all the rad valves are open. Shut off the rad valves to the rads that are working and this may force the heat through

Its not a combi

 

[Curnsie28]

Check for zoned upstairs and downstairs heating by room thermostats, downstairs stat or motorised valve might be faulty?!

 

[Destroyer2813]

As Gasmanxxxr1 says try turning the hot ones off and see what happens could well be the pump if its sat for that long is it excessivly hot or making a lot of noise

 

[Curnsie28]

Another Thot, maybe if it's 8mm or 10mm micro bore piping, it may require the pipes flushing?

 

[SimonG]

All depends on how the system is piped up, but I would suspect the pump from what has been said.

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

turn the speed of the pump to three

 

[Curnsie28]

If it was the pump, it would probably be downstairs heating rather than upstairs, but it depends if downstairs heating is on drops?!

 

[SimonG]

If it was the pump, it would probably be downstairs heating rather than upstairs, but it depends if downstairs heating is on drops?!

In general on a system when the pump fails you will get a gravity circulation to the upstairs rads not the downstairs ones. All depends though on zoning etc.

Unless you have the boiler in the basement

 

[Destroyer2813]

^^ if the pump was burnt out how would it have enough power to pump down the drop/drops but not upstairs. If upstairs heats not down the pump is a possible cause of the problems

 

[dontknowitall]

It's a classic symptom of the pump not working. Heat rises so upstairs radiators work by gravity (hot water rising and cold water falling back to the boiler) and the downstairs radiators require the pump to push the water through those parts of the pipework.

 

[Curnsie28]

Yeah gravity would sound right if the pipes were piped directly out of the top of the boiler and if radiators were luk warm, chances r that the boiler would lock out at full temp by not getting pumped away from boiler!

 

[SimonG]

Not if control stat working correctly, it would just cycle on and off. Gravity can be a wonderful thing

I think as everybody has said it really needs somebody to have a look, as we are all just giving our best 'guesses' based on the information given and our experiences.

 

[parsonsplumbing]

knock all rads of up stairs and force heat to downstairs rads make sure that motorised valves and other zone valves are open

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

sounds like the pump has failed and as said upstairs will work off gravity get someone in to check it over