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GIBBERS
I replaced an oil boiler 18 months ago and at a recent service it was over 98% efficiency so well pleased.
System is sealed at 1 bar. Recently I had a huge pressure drop located to a leaking joint at a radiator - water loss went down a redundant under floor heating duct so was not at all apparent.
The property is a 4 bed long bungalow with two receptions, kitchen, bathroom and second toilet. The system is piped all above ground with a mixture of micro bore and normal pipes with TRV on most rads.
The heating engineer suggested the old TRVs need replacing - they are old and prone to sticking so he is right on this I think - and at the same time he suggested replacing most rads. There are 2 rads under 10 years old which will stay. The rads to replace are 2 at 24 years of age and 4 which are imperial size and in place when we bought the property 25 years ago so age unknown so 6 in total.
The cost of all this - to include fitting a fire valve not present (!) + the radiator leak repair already done + re charge inhibitor will be near £1,000,
The engineer said he will need to adjust the piping to make all rad connections full size so he will solder adaptors to all micro bore connections to uplift the size. There is some minor weeping at a couple of micro bore connections which the engineer was afraid to tighten in case the joint was made worse. I was told that the side mounted TRVs that I have are no longer used and that they are now upright and that there is a need to change the rads in order that any valves etc can be easily replaced using modern connections. I do not really follow this.
The engineer charged £97 for the service to include a new burner so he seems pretty fair. I can see a reason for changing 25 year old rads with new connections to avoid future leaks but I am a little unsure as to the references to rads so that we have valves etc of modern sizes and easy to maintain. I may not have fully understood this,
Should I replace just the old TRVs or is the engineer correct in suggesting new rads as well ? The cost of it all at £1,000 seems OK ?
The engineer s Vat registered so all figures are inc Vat.
Any advice appreciated.
System is sealed at 1 bar. Recently I had a huge pressure drop located to a leaking joint at a radiator - water loss went down a redundant under floor heating duct so was not at all apparent.
The property is a 4 bed long bungalow with two receptions, kitchen, bathroom and second toilet. The system is piped all above ground with a mixture of micro bore and normal pipes with TRV on most rads.
The heating engineer suggested the old TRVs need replacing - they are old and prone to sticking so he is right on this I think - and at the same time he suggested replacing most rads. There are 2 rads under 10 years old which will stay. The rads to replace are 2 at 24 years of age and 4 which are imperial size and in place when we bought the property 25 years ago so age unknown so 6 in total.
The cost of all this - to include fitting a fire valve not present (!) + the radiator leak repair already done + re charge inhibitor will be near £1,000,
The engineer said he will need to adjust the piping to make all rad connections full size so he will solder adaptors to all micro bore connections to uplift the size. There is some minor weeping at a couple of micro bore connections which the engineer was afraid to tighten in case the joint was made worse. I was told that the side mounted TRVs that I have are no longer used and that they are now upright and that there is a need to change the rads in order that any valves etc can be easily replaced using modern connections. I do not really follow this.
The engineer charged £97 for the service to include a new burner so he seems pretty fair. I can see a reason for changing 25 year old rads with new connections to avoid future leaks but I am a little unsure as to the references to rads so that we have valves etc of modern sizes and easy to maintain. I may not have fully understood this,
Should I replace just the old TRVs or is the engineer correct in suggesting new rads as well ? The cost of it all at £1,000 seems OK ?
The engineer s Vat registered so all figures are inc Vat.
Any advice appreciated.
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