heating newbie advice needed for zone valves

[Dan Condé]

Firstly, hello to everyone.

I'll start of giving everybody a quick rundown before i rant my dilema.

I've been self renovating my house (first home) on a MASSIVE scale for the last 2 years, and we're now in the final stages.... plumbing and electrics. I'm a fabricator by trade so have touched on plumbing and pipework throughout my time buy not domestically, so......

..... basically, I've got a heatmiser neo-stat system ready to install, with underfloor heating covering the entire ground floor split into 2 zones. There's 5 remaining zones upstairs that are all radiators.... my question is.... rather than run a ring main for the upstairs and branch off it for each rad with the ugly motorized valves on show in each room, is it possible to have all 5 zone valves downstairs positioned near the rest of the heating hardware (UFH manifold), resulting in 5 sets of vertical pipes leading upstairs?..... or will that be to much for the pump to handle without buying a special one?

the ground floor is 55m2 with wet UFH , there are 3 rads and a towel rail on the first floor and a single rad on the 2nd floor, i haven't bought my boiler yet so advice on that is also welcome.

thanks
Dan

 

[PhoenixServices]

You can do it the way suggested but expensive. Have a look at Honeywell evohome might be easier to install and cheaper.

 

[Dan Condé]

I've already got all the hardware..... full heatmiser neo-stat, ive also got the honeywell 2 port valves. My only issue now is the layout, I'm worried that if all the valves are open then it'll be too much for the pump to handle as it'll have 5 sets of vertical pipe to push the water upstairs.

 

[PhoenixServices]

For the boiler I would suggest an Ideal Vogue. Obviously you need a gas safe registered engineer to fit it.

 

[PhoenixServices]

What pump were you thinking of installing? Really needs to be sized correctly to the system.

 

[Dan Condé]

I've already got a pump that will run the UFH, it came with the system i bought (unsure on size without looking but its a Grunfos). As for running the rads, i was under the impression the boiler will have a build in pump to power these.... obviously i will buy the appropriate size (advice on this too would be great)

 

[oz-plumber]

Why don't you run all the panels off a UFH manifold and have actuators on each panel.

As for the pump capabilities - not really a concern for a system your size.

The biggest concern would be having adequate by-pass, so when you only want one panel operating, the system can cope.

Way over engineering yourself with the heating system as far as I am concerned

 

[Howsie]

Where's my popcorn?

 

[Dan Condé]

Why don't you run all the panels off a UFH manifold and have actuators on each panel.

As for the pump capabilities - not really a concern for a system your size.

The biggest concern would be having adequate by-pass, so when you only want one panel operating, the system can cope.

Way over engineering yourself with the heating system as far as I am concerned

That would have been a great idea.... but I already have all my parts so may as well use what I have (sourced everything through work at great prices)

 

[Dan Condé]

Where's my popcorn?

Thanks for your input

 

[Howsie]

My pleasure. You've bought parts that are wrong and you won't accept guiadance from people who do this for a living.

I'm out!

 

[Dan Condé]

At no point during this thread have I shunned anyone's guidance. You are the first person to say I'm doing things wrong, I've been told I've gone the expensive and over engineered route, which I've accepted.... but as long as it works I'd rather be over doing it than under doing it.

 

[Howsie]

I seem to have misread this post and missed out a few of the replies. I apologise if I've caused you any offence and in anyway slighted your ability to plumb your central heating system in effectively and efficiently.

A couple of pointers you may want to consider when continuing. If you're looking to do it right, make sure that the HE are adequately sized to provide the correct dt in each room and then a return temperature low enough to ensure that your boiler condenses as often as possible. I'd also recommend fitting weather compensated controls which can communicate with a suitable boiler with a suitable modulation ratio; this will stop boiler cycling and save you plenty of money in the long run.

Also you may want to consider not using inhibitor in your system, boiler dependant of course, but instead filling your CH system to VDI 2035 standards.

Good luck which ever direction you take!