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NeedHelp
It's a slightly long story -please bear with me and see if you can help!
I have been living in a 20 year old house with a single pipe heating system for two years and have decided to have a upgrade as many of the radiators have sludge problem and are cold near the bottom. Also had a "pitching" problem with the heating with hot water going up the attic expansion tank. Had a few quotes for de-sludging system, new condenser boiler, new hot water cylinder/immersion etc.
First of all, all the plumbers who looked at the system said that two new pipes had to be installed to go from the new boiler (downstairs utlity room) to the new cylinder upstairs if I wanted to split the hot water and heating.
The initial work was carried out over 3 days. Day 1 first thing that was done was the heating (all radiators) was turned on and a chemical was put in the system for an hour or so to desludge. At this point, half the upstairs radiators (2 back bedrooms + main bathroom) did not come on at all. I was told it was probabaly a sticky valve but it was not rectified although it meant that those 3 radiators were not chemically desludged.
The second main job was to put in the new condenser boiler/HW cylinder and run the 2 new pipes + cable to the new cylinder in the hot press upstairs. Instead of the inital suggestion/quote of running 2 new pipes up and across under the bedroom floor/landing into the hot press, I was told the splitting (of HW and heating) could be done at the top of the new boiler in the utility room although the cabling still went up as originally planned (minus the pipes). I now have 3 circuits: HW, Downstairs heating, upstairs heating
On day three when the work was all done the plumber looked at the upstairs radiators that were not working. After a couple of hours he threw his hands up and said he could not solve the problem. Miraculously as he was packing up and all 3 circuits were being tested the 3 cold rads suddenly heated up.
The next day the same circuit failed again the boss came back and diagnosed a blockage problem by running water through different points of the circuits and said that it which much slower from bedroom2 than the bathroom rad he said that there was likely to be a blockage under the bathtub between the bathroom and bedroom2. I never had a problem with bedroom 2 before. A few days later he brought back a power flush machine but that didn't work either.
I have now been told they are two solutions: 1) to lift the bathtub to find the blockage or 2) to run a new circuit i.e. install new pipes off the upstairs hot water cylinder (and not from the initial split from the top of the boiler) and to upgarde the rads to a 2 pipe system. Both of these options involve disruption and huge expense. I have already had an invoice of over 5K and I'm reluctant to spend more money unless I'm hundred percent sure it's going to work.
I have a few doubts anout this and would be grateful if anyone has any idea of any other possible cause of the problem. What I have noticed is that the other three radiators upstairs that are working are now very noisy when they come on. I can hear water splattering in the system and in the two bedroom radiators which heat up very quickly but the ensuite heated towel rail, which used to be piping hot is now warmish only most of the time and takes much longer to heat up. Could there be a circulation or balancing problem upstairs?
If there was a partial blockage in the problem circuit before surely it wouldn't have heated up piping hot on day three of the work? Can that problem (three stone cold radiators/pipe) be caused by the work that was carried out, bearing in mind that the two pipes splitting the system from the boiler to the hot water cylinder were NOT installed but the split effected at the top of the boiler instead (a short-cut taken??) . Could it be a problem with hot water not being pumped into the circuit at all? I'm at a loss and have been trying to get a second opinion to ascertain the problem before spending even more money on it.
I would be grateful of anybody has any idea of what is causing the problem and potential remedies?
Thank you in advance.
I have been living in a 20 year old house with a single pipe heating system for two years and have decided to have a upgrade as many of the radiators have sludge problem and are cold near the bottom. Also had a "pitching" problem with the heating with hot water going up the attic expansion tank. Had a few quotes for de-sludging system, new condenser boiler, new hot water cylinder/immersion etc.
First of all, all the plumbers who looked at the system said that two new pipes had to be installed to go from the new boiler (downstairs utlity room) to the new cylinder upstairs if I wanted to split the hot water and heating.
The initial work was carried out over 3 days. Day 1 first thing that was done was the heating (all radiators) was turned on and a chemical was put in the system for an hour or so to desludge. At this point, half the upstairs radiators (2 back bedrooms + main bathroom) did not come on at all. I was told it was probabaly a sticky valve but it was not rectified although it meant that those 3 radiators were not chemically desludged.
The second main job was to put in the new condenser boiler/HW cylinder and run the 2 new pipes + cable to the new cylinder in the hot press upstairs. Instead of the inital suggestion/quote of running 2 new pipes up and across under the bedroom floor/landing into the hot press, I was told the splitting (of HW and heating) could be done at the top of the new boiler in the utility room although the cabling still went up as originally planned (minus the pipes). I now have 3 circuits: HW, Downstairs heating, upstairs heating
On day three when the work was all done the plumber looked at the upstairs radiators that were not working. After a couple of hours he threw his hands up and said he could not solve the problem. Miraculously as he was packing up and all 3 circuits were being tested the 3 cold rads suddenly heated up.
The next day the same circuit failed again the boss came back and diagnosed a blockage problem by running water through different points of the circuits and said that it which much slower from bedroom2 than the bathroom rad he said that there was likely to be a blockage under the bathtub between the bathroom and bedroom2. I never had a problem with bedroom 2 before. A few days later he brought back a power flush machine but that didn't work either.
I have now been told they are two solutions: 1) to lift the bathtub to find the blockage or 2) to run a new circuit i.e. install new pipes off the upstairs hot water cylinder (and not from the initial split from the top of the boiler) and to upgarde the rads to a 2 pipe system. Both of these options involve disruption and huge expense. I have already had an invoice of over 5K and I'm reluctant to spend more money unless I'm hundred percent sure it's going to work.
I have a few doubts anout this and would be grateful if anyone has any idea of any other possible cause of the problem. What I have noticed is that the other three radiators upstairs that are working are now very noisy when they come on. I can hear water splattering in the system and in the two bedroom radiators which heat up very quickly but the ensuite heated towel rail, which used to be piping hot is now warmish only most of the time and takes much longer to heat up. Could there be a circulation or balancing problem upstairs?
If there was a partial blockage in the problem circuit before surely it wouldn't have heated up piping hot on day three of the work? Can that problem (three stone cold radiators/pipe) be caused by the work that was carried out, bearing in mind that the two pipes splitting the system from the boiler to the hot water cylinder were NOT installed but the split effected at the top of the boiler instead (a short-cut taken??) . Could it be a problem with hot water not being pumped into the circuit at all? I'm at a loss and have been trying to get a second opinion to ascertain the problem before spending even more money on it.
I would be grateful of anybody has any idea of what is causing the problem and potential remedies?
Thank you in advance.
