Heating not circulating

[Dan Gilbrook]

Hi,

A new customer has contacted me stating a plumber fitted a new radiator for them recently and a few isolation valves and now their heating isn't working.

I went out to view and couldn't see anything obvious other than the pump not circulating past its top valve. The only other thing is the old guy put an iso valve on the cold feed coming off the f and e tank, to Isolate it easier. There's a separate vent on it so as I understand there's no risk of pressure build up (correct me if I'm wrong) but has anyone heard of this causing issues with the heating? (air expansion etc.) Never come across it before and I would fit valves on the Inlet side of the tank so haven't had to deal with issues on the cold feed side. I told them I'd get back to them ASAP, but as far as I can see, the pumps had it. Any advice?

 

[Riley]

Should never be an iso on the feed pipe. It’s there for expansion too. It could be that when the work was done the othe bloke hasn’t filled it up and bled it properly and the pump was running dry and is now goosed

 

[Dan Gilbrook]

Should never be an iso on the feed pipe. It’s there for expansion too. It could be that when the work was done the othe bloke hasn’t filled it up and bled it properly and the pump was running dry and is now goosed

Ok, is that still definitely the case when it's not a combined coldfeed expansion? I thought if they were separate the expansion wouldnt go back through the feed due to weight in the pipe and so on?

Seems like I was correct with the pump fault but I don't want anymore issues arising due to this valve. Thanks for replying.

 

[Rob876]

Could the iso valve be restricting flow through the system? If its a small bore iso valve.

 

[Riley]

No it’s on the feed pipe mate. The feed pipe is also for expansion. It’s not just about the vent pipe

 

[Rob876]

Did he open this iso valve in the first place?

 

[Dan Gilbrook]

Could the iso valve be restricting flow through the system? If its a small bore iso valve.

It's definitely a small bore, and I did wonder that but the pump isn't pushing anything away to upstairs so I don't think that's the issue, I pulled through some of the water from the drain off out my hose and everything heated up then, so I reckon it's not heating due to the pump, but like I said if a new pump is installed I don't want issues occurring due to this iso valve. Just wondered if it's worth taking it off or not.

 

[Riley]

It will always need to be open. Scratch that. It needs to be removed

 

[Dan Gilbrook]

Did he open this iso valve in the first place?

Haha yeah it was open when I got there and everything was full.

 

[Riley]

What’s small bore??

 

[Dan Gilbrook]

What’s small bore??

It's a small iso valve 10mm bore I believe. Large bore are 15mm or same as the pipework.

 

[Rob876]

Lol if there was to be an iso valve it should be full bore, but there shouldn't be one there anyway!

 

[Riley]

The feed will not be 10mm

 

[Rob876]

I think he means the bore inside the valve? If they aren't full bore then they are, um, not full bore

 

[Riley]

Small bore is misleading. Anyway it shouldn’t be there please remove

 

[Riley]

Are you a plumber Dan?

 

[Dan Gilbrook]

Cheers guys I'll remove it and suggest a new pump. Out of interest what happens if that valve is left on if there is a vent to?

 

[Dan Gilbrook]

Are you a plumber Dan?

Lol yeah, haven't done enough work on f and e tanks feeds to know the answers I needed though so I appreciate the advice.

 

[Riley]

Didn’t they teach you at college??

 

[Dan Gilbrook]

Didn’t they teach you at college??

Yeah when I went 3 years ago. If you're gonna ridicule there's no point being on this sight. I came on here for some advice I don't have a lot of experience in that's all. You're the one asking what a small bore valve was ffs so ask yourself the same bloody question. Thanks everyone else for your help, I appreciate it.

 

[Harvest Fields]

He got you there @Riley

 

[Riley]

I actually was asking what part of the system was small bore. Keep the toys in the pram precious. I’m not being derogatory there are many people that have been supposedly trained and still know nothing. It’s a lot easier to help people if we get an idea of what they know and how they’ve learned. There’s lots of non plumbers out there still being paid to do plumbing jobs is all I was saying.

 

[Dake205]

Quality, the valve isn’t the issue, first off you can only guess and question what previous issues there was and what plumber done, depending on size of system I have actually plugged cold feed from tank fitted ballofix to outlet and flexi pipe to cold mains feed allowing mains pressure to fill system, the reason for ballofix was to isolate, remove hose from mains and allow any overpressue to feed back into tank before removing ballofix and connection back to tank before removing plug,
First questions are, is there still power to pump, is the pump running on demand and have you checked when there is a demand the power is at pump

 

[Riley]

Quality, the valve isn’t the issue, first off you can only guess and question what previous issues there was and what plumber done, depending on size of system I have actually plugged cold feed from tank fitted ballofix to outlet and flexi pipe to cold mains feed allowing mains pressure to fill system, the reason for ballofix was to isolate, remove hose from mains and allow any overpressue to feed back into tank before removing ballofix and connection back to tank before removing plug,
First questions are, is there still power to pump, is the pump running on demand and have you checked when there is a demand the power is at pump

Agreed the valve isn’t the issue. But it shouldn’t be there from a safety perspective. Agreed check the pump is turning. If it is, is it weak? If it’s not turning is it getting power at the correct time?

 

[Dake205]

Obviously I don’t agree with it being there but you have to question why is it there and original post states no heat past first valve does he mean pump valve, is that knackered/locked shut and when there is demand is the boiler actually firing up or is he just getting heat from the pump burning up, agree if you can’t advise or help don’t question logistics, some people are diy daft and will tackle anything and asking advise they expect a decent answer and see when they Damn it up that’s when I’ll earn my wages