Background story: About 18 years ago we refurbished 75% of our house and self-installed UHF in that part of the property with the help and advice of a good friend of mine (who is also a Gas Safe registered engineer). At the time we purchased a design and complete kit of parts from a young specialist business that has long since disappeared. All went well. Love UFH for the comfort and convenience it offers.
Other than a couple of actuator failures all has run reliably and effectively. However we now have a couple of issues with a leaky (dripping) mixer valve/pump block and a dripping 8 port sectional return manifold. I'm going to deal with the manifold issue here which is FAR brand (Italian I believe?) and consists of 4 x 2 port sectional manifolds assembled as an 8 port piece. After the original plastic(!) retaining brackets became brittle and disintegrated I re-secured the manifold with metal band strip which did the job but probably slightly disturbed the gaskets between each section hence the drips. I don't really want to pee around with new gaskets etc on the original manifold and feel it is just easier and for long term reliability to replace it with a single solid 8-port piece. The original FAR manifold is 1.25" dia (if I've measured correctly) and accepts 17mm PEX.
So my questions for anybody willing to share are:
Is there a manifold brand you prefer/recommend for long term reliability and ease of installation?
I see many manifolds advertised than accept 16mm pipe but very few that accept up to 17mm pipe.
Am I right in assuming 17mm PEX is no longer commonly used?
Am I wrong is assuming 16mm is the maximum diameter the majority of current manifolds accept?
Or is it just a matter of using the correct dia connector on the pipe?
Data sheets I have pulled up for various manifolds seem incredibly vague about port pipe sizes ...... or am I just lacking common knowledge the manufacturers take for granted ....... !?
Thanks in advance.
Other than a couple of actuator failures all has run reliably and effectively. However we now have a couple of issues with a leaky (dripping) mixer valve/pump block and a dripping 8 port sectional return manifold. I'm going to deal with the manifold issue here which is FAR brand (Italian I believe?) and consists of 4 x 2 port sectional manifolds assembled as an 8 port piece. After the original plastic(!) retaining brackets became brittle and disintegrated I re-secured the manifold with metal band strip which did the job but probably slightly disturbed the gaskets between each section hence the drips. I don't really want to pee around with new gaskets etc on the original manifold and feel it is just easier and for long term reliability to replace it with a single solid 8-port piece. The original FAR manifold is 1.25" dia (if I've measured correctly) and accepts 17mm PEX.
So my questions for anybody willing to share are:
Is there a manifold brand you prefer/recommend for long term reliability and ease of installation?
I see many manifolds advertised than accept 16mm pipe but very few that accept up to 17mm pipe.
Am I right in assuming 17mm PEX is no longer commonly used?
Am I wrong is assuming 16mm is the maximum diameter the majority of current manifolds accept?
Or is it just a matter of using the correct dia connector on the pipe?
Data sheets I have pulled up for various manifolds seem incredibly vague about port pipe sizes ...... or am I just lacking common knowledge the manufacturers take for granted ....... !?
Thanks in advance.