central heating - small pipes

dandowding

I'm looking to buy a house, and when looking round I noticed the size of the pipes running to the radiators is very small. I would guess they are 10mm .. or maybe even 8 !! I'm not sure if they are micro bore or just small (or is that one in the same?) - the radiators look reasonably new, although the boiler is pretty ancient. If I get the house, I would look to get a new boiler fitted, and as redecoration and new carpets would be going in it would be a good time to do any pipe work if needed. What is the difference in having these small pipes? does it affect efficiency ? would they need to be changed ??

If anybody has any ideas on this I would be very grateful for thier input.

Thanks
DD

economiser

I would think you have a mircobore system. Each radiator is probably fed individually from headers near the boiler. The new boiler should work OK with this system.

rheme

If you did have any problems e.g. radiators taking some time to heat up you could put a second pump part way through the system to help push the water through. Much cheaper than replacing all the pipework.