New Boiler problems

[Pea]

I really hope someone can help. I have recently had a Baxi Bermuda (gravity hot water system) replaced with a Vaillant combi boiler.
The problem is that only 1 of the 3 radiators downstairs is getting hot. The CH engineer has flushed the system through twice (leaving the chemicals in the system for 2 weeks in one flush) and now says he is stumped.

The only solution he can offer is to replace all the pipework. Surely, if it is was working before ( the reason I had the CH system replaced was because it was 30 years old and a bit noisy when it shut itself off) it should be working now and it must be something he has done or hasn't done which is causing the radiators not to work?


Do you have any suggestions as to what the problem may be as he is charging me for everything he is trying to do to make it work?

Thank you so much for any help you can give as it it now getting expensive and I'm not sure whether he should be charging me for fixing a problem when he seems to be clutching for straws.......

 

[AWheating]

is it def a two pipe system? have you had new rad valves/trvs fitted? has the system been balanced correctly? id also check for non returns fitted in the system.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

get a different engineer he has either not connected some rads by way of abandoning the wrong pipe or those to rads need re piping

 

[Ivor Bates]

I would hazzard a guess that there is a non return valve fitted, which were fitted to old gravity hot water systems to prevent the heating coming on when not wanted. Easy way to find out is to swap the flow and return on the new boiler...

 

[Pea]

Thanks I will suggest your posts to him and see what he says.

gas man - that's easier said than done as we've already paid him £3,000.00 for installing a new boiler (and putting a new towel radiator in the bathroom). If I get a new engineer presumably I will
a) still have to pay him the money I owe him (£247) for flushing out the system a second time and for replacing a joint under the floorboards upstairs which he thought was causing the problem but evidently wasn't and
b) he probably won't give my the guarantee certificate for Vaillant boiler.

Do you think I should be paying him more money for trying to sort out the problem?

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

Thanks I will suggest your posts to him and see what he says.

gas man - that's easier said than done as we've already paid him £3,000.00 for installing a new boiler (and putting a new towel radiator in the bathroom). If I get a new engineer presumably I will
a) still have to pay him the money I owe him (£247) for flushing out the system a second time and for replacing a joint under the floorboards upstairs which he thought was causing the problem but evidently wasn't and
b) he probably won't give my the guarantee certificate for Vaillant boiler.

Do you think I should be paying him more money for trying to sort out the problem?

well myself and most on here included would not be replacing your old boiler with a combi then leaving you with half a system working,he should be sorting this out for you

 

[Ivor Bates]

Thanks I will suggest your posts to him and see what he says.

gas man - that's easier said than done as we've already paid him £3,000.00 for installing a new boiler (and putting a new towel radiator in the bathroom). If I get a new engineer presumably I will
a) still have to pay him the money I owe him (£247) for flushing out the system a second time and for replacing a joint under the floorboards upstairs which he thought was causing the problem but evidently wasn't and
b) he probably won't give my the guarantee certificate for Vaillant boiler.

Do you think I should be paying him more money for trying to sort out the problem?

If the heating was working ok before he started, then I think either he has missed something i.e. non return valves or as Gasman says he may have capped a pipe of. Do I think you should be paying him anymore money? No I don't, I think it is reasonable to assume that by having a new boiler installed you will have a fully functional working heating system at the end of it. As to the boiler warranty, it is not his to withhold it is yours after all you have paid him £3k to install the boiler, so all the paperwork relating to the boiler should now be in your hands rather than his...

 

[Pea]

This is the note he left us on Thursday - He has said that there is a circulation problem and that all the rads have been individually flushed along with the pipework until the water is clear, all valves have been changed and the upstairs rads are all working fine on 22&15 copper circuits.
He says the only possible explanation is that the microbore is either blocked somewhere and no amount of chemicals or flushing will move it or there is a squashed or kinked pipe. He says the only option left is to remove all the existing pipework and completely replace it, this is the only sure way of getting the system working to its full potential in his opinion. (This means having pipework coming out of the ceilings downstairs, down the wall and into the radiators - he will hide the pipework presumably).
He has said that if we want to replace the pipework to contact him to let him know.

Any thoughts please a I have no idea what to do? (see my post above also)

 

[Ivor Bates]

I can't say I have ever come across a gravity hot water heating system which presumably was done in inch pipe work, to then have a microbore heating system running along side it...

 

[Roger Welton]

My FIL has exactly this system, 28mm gravity circuit of a bermuda and 8mm to all rads.

 

[Masood]

I certainly wouldn't be charging you for a second powerflush if my first attempt hadn't worked fully - I'd be embarrassed at not having done a through enough job in the first place. I'd also question his assertion that it must be a totally blocked or kinked pipe - if that were the case, why did they work beforehand? It's just possible that some sludge/particles have been dislodged during the powerflush and caused a blockage somewhere, but if they've been dislodged once, they can be dislodged again...

 

[mountainman]

I did a job earlier this year where the 22mm flow and return went into a bedroom and into micro bore manifolds to feed the rads.

I'm not keen on micro bore so I converted the system to small bore, worked a treat (and so it should).

 

[stevew451]

sounds like the flush has dislodged some gunge and blocked the manifold feed to some of the rads

 

[Pea]

He thought it might have been a blocked manifold and came to find the manifold so he could unblock it but he couldn't find it so instead changed a joint in the pipework under the upstairs floorboards.

 

[buckley plumb]

i did a floor standing gravity boiler to fully pumped system conversion earlier this year and connected to the existing pipes and the radiators worked but not the hot water. after stripping most of the bathroom floor and vanity units in there i found that the system was piped wrong from day one but worked with the gravity hw and pumped heating but not when the s plan was fitted due to the hidden pipe configuration. it took me a day to find and correct this but i did not charge the customer . but i have learnt now not to take the pipework for granted to be done right in the first place

 

[nysk2008]

Is there any heat at all getting to the flow and return on the rads that dont seem to be working?

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

Its not un-common for microbore pipes to be completly blocked and need re-piping. So long as he has ruled out an anti-gravity valve then looking at the pipework to individual rads is the next step.

Suggest using a foot pump or air compressor on the blocked drops