water pump with back boiler question

[chrisbonnie]

how's it going lads

just moved into a new house, well, its an old house, but i just bought it

anyway, it had a fully functional fire, and oil burning central heating

i finally got the fire going today, and after a while i heard the water in the back boiler bubbling up like mad, i ran the hot tap to release the water ,then searched a bit, and found the WATER PUMP underneath the floorboards close to the fire.......... the plug was snipped off, so i just put a new plug on and plugged it in,....the pump seemed to work fine, and the noises stopped (much to my relief),

but the only thing is, the rads didnt seem to heat up, how are they not heating up if its pumping the water around????

the pump is a myson if that matters

cheers lads

 

[payney1974]

is it gravity hot water? is there a summer valve in the airing cupboard? are rads full of air?

 

[chrisbonnie]

is it gravity hot water? is there a summer valve in the airing cupboard? are rads full of air?

the rads are working fine with the oil heating, no probs there, so that rules out an airlock right?

summer valve?

gravity, now, this could be something, i had the fire running yesterday, not for long though, and i noticed the radiators upstairs where warming up, but nothing downstairs, i just put that down to the pump not working....

how would i know if its a gravity style system?

im not a plumber, but i am in construction, so im not a complete gimp, but i dont want to bite off more than i can chew

 

[payney1974]

gravity hot water, there will be 2 28mm pipes going to your HW cylinder in the A / Cupboard? did your hot water heat up without the pump plugged in? if your upstrairs rads are ok but downare no good you may need a new pump? why was the plug cut off anyway?

Just read your post again. Is the fire your talking about a coal fire by any chance?

 

[chrisbonnie]

gravity hot water, there will be 2 28mm pipes going to your HW cylinder in the A / Cupboard? did your hot water heat up without the pump plugged in? if your upstrairs rads are ok but downare no good you may need a new pump? why was the plug cut off anyway?

Just read your post again. Is the fire your talking about a coal fire by any chance?

yep, coal

i have no idea why the plug was cut off, but im guessing it was done whenever the oil central heating was installed, i only bought the house 2 weeks ago, so these teething problems are starting to surface

i think you're right about the two 28mm pipes in the hot press (airing cupboard), but ill check to make sure in the morning

 

[oldplumber]

could be you have an old back boiler in the fireplace that hasnt had a fire in it since oil heating installed, dont go lighting the fire until you are sure the system is still safe to use ie its not been capped off ( turned into a bomb), which would explain why the old pump was cut off from the electic supply!!

This happened to me in my last house, lit a fire in the dining room to warm up the house a bit more for xmas, loud banging noise a short while later until a plug blew out of a 1.5" pipe in a cupboard we hadnt noticed before. The cupboard was filled with orange rusty water/steam, and ruined the wifes plates etc.
I removed the remnant of the back boiler xmas eve, and then installed a new fire hearth ready for xmas day, soot and s*** everywhere, still house was nice and warm.

 

[chrisbonnie]

ok, latest update

i ran the fire tonight again,

2 radiators upstairs are heating up fine, 100%

but nothing else

i then plugged the pump in, the fire had been burning for about an hour or so, so it was well warm....... but it ddnt heat any of the other radiators ,i just cant figure it out

no banging from the back boiler tonight, so obviously no blockage, the pump is working, well, when you put your hand on it, it is vibrating

is it possible its just the pump isnt strong enough to heat all the radiators in the house? there is 9 rads all together, so quite a few

 

[WHPES]

The boiler may only be connected to a couple of rads. I assume that the oil boiler doesn't heat those ones?

 

[Blackcatgas]

could be you have an old back boiler in the fireplace that hasnt had a fire in it since oil heating installed, dont go lighting the fire until you are sure the system is still safe to use ie its not been capped off ( turned into a bomb), which would explain why the old pump was cut off from the electic supply!!

This happened to me in my last house, lit a fire in the dining room to warm up the house a bit more for xmas, loud banging noise a short while later until a plug blew out of a 1.5" pipe in a cupboard we hadnt noticed before. The cupboard was filled with orange rusty water/steam, and ruined the wifes plates etc.
I removed the remnant of the back boiler xmas eve, and then installed a new fire hearth ready for xmas day, soot and s*** everywhere, still house was nice and warm.

There has been several deaths caused by this, scary stuff.

 

[chrisbonnie]

The boiler may only be connected to a couple of rads. I assume that the oil boiler doesn't heat those ones?

no, the oil boiler heats everything

the even weirder thing is the pipes going into 2 of the rads are piping hot, so where the valves are, the ones to turn the rad on or off, they are hot, but the rad isnt heating up,

odd or what

 

[buffy27]

is the trv's on the rads ..space ship looking things with numbers on them !!i came acrosss old ones that only allowed the water through one way and not the other !!and your oil is working and not the b boiler!! little idea ??? there could be a non return valve in the wrong place also maybe !! have a plumber have a quick look if all else fails its probably something simple.

 

[chrisbonnie]

is the trv's on the rads ..space ship looking things with numbers on them !!i came acrosss old ones that only allowed the water through one way and not the other !!and your oil is working and not the b boiler!! little idea ??? there could be a non return valve in the wrong place also maybe !! have a plumber have a quick look if all else fails its probably something simple.

thats the plan, as i said, im handy enough around the house, but this is baffling me

and to add insult to injury, my oil ran out yesterday, so im sitting here with electric fan heaters trying to keep me warm,

ill have oil tomorrow though, so happy days

 

[Schmerg]

I know this was yonks ago but I have exact same problem, what was your fix?

 

[thompsonbrown]

If you recently purchased the house ask the previous owner on how the system works. other than that get a heating engineer out to give your system a check and show you how it runs. I only say this because having a pump with wires cut too me say the system needs checked out

 

[Sparkgap]

Thirty years ago I did a number of police houses. Most were converted from Parkray solid fuel boilers to oil but a couple of coppers wanted a new Parkray put in. The trick with getting the rads hot is to put the pump on slowest speed then screw down a lockshield or circuit valve on the flow or return to the boiler to reduce the flow more. That way you get hot water circulating out the back boiler. Just putting the pump on means the water goes through the boiler too fast to be warmed up.