Gas engineer or sparky?

happybiker

Radiator balancing is a sore point with many engineers. They take ages to set a system up and the first ignorant decorator to work in the house messes it all up!

I am assuming that your radiators have pipes at both ends. Each should have a valve and they are both the same item but only 1 will have a valve capable of being turned on/off via the handle. The other valve should have a smooth cap on it, this is called the lockshield valve (l/s for short) . one of pipes should get hotter (flow) in use than the other (return)

On the upstairs radiators , locate the l/s valve (which should be on the return) and , using a spare valve handle or spanner, turn the valve spindle to either open or closed ( clockwise/anticlockwise) and then turn it in the opposite direction, counting the turns as you do this. On each of the upstairs radiators , set this valve at the halfway point between open and closed as a starting point.

Are you following me so far?

pinkteapot

Yep - those are exactly the valves we have. Currently half the upstairs rads are completely off (both valves closed) as it was the only way to kick water into the cold downstairs ones. I'll try opening them back up to halfway. What we found last winter was that with the smallest amount of 'open', the upstairs rads get REALLY hot (turning them up further then doesn't make any difference).

In my defence, the system was horribly unbalanced when we moved in last summer (we realised in the winter) so I only played with it because it was already broken.

lovinituk

pinkteapot wrote: »

Gas engineer or sparky?

We had a gas cooker replaced recently. The gas engineer stood scratching his head for 5 minutes before saying he couldn't fit the new cooker as it was electric. I then pointed out that the plug was for the electric clock/timer and that it was clearly a gas cooker (pointing to the gas connection on the back!). The plug/wire had to go through a wire size hole in the side of the unit so needed the plug removing so the wire could be fed through. As a gas engineer he said he wasn't allowed to touch it so I did it myself.

So in answer to your question - most probably a sparky.

happybiker

Ok. Now it doesn't really matter how far open those valves end up as long as hot water is getting through the system.

From your start point as my previous post, turn the system on and note how quick or hot the radiators get. The first one to get hot should have the l/s valve turned down a bit , then move on to the next rad and do the same. repeat until all the rads get to a similar temperature at the same time. Some L/S valves may be barely open when you have finished (1/4 turn?)

The starting point for downstairs is fully open and the procedure is the same. Then go round all the rads and do a final fettle (Sorry, I'm a northerner). This could possibly take weeks for you to get it right, experience (and a good flow thermometer) counts for a lot

Once the balance is achieved, its a case of do not touch these valves again. Use the on/off tap as precisely that, it is not a regulator.

The biggest thing to remember is, if you take a radiator off the wall to decorate, count the number of turns to off for the lockshield valve, write it on the back of the radiator and turn it back on the same number of turns, otherwise the whole system balance can be messed up.

As to persuading OH to change the boiler, only you can achieve that

Hope that helps...:D

happybiker

lovinituk wrote: »

We had a gas cooker replaced recently. The gas engineer stood scratching his head for 5 minutes before saying he couldn't fit the new cooker as it was electric. I then pointed out that the plug was for the electric clock/timer and that it was clearly a gas cooker (pointing to the gas connection on the back!). The plug/wire had to go through a wire size hole in the side of the unit so needed the plug removing so the wire could be fed through. As a gas engineer he said he wasn't allowed to touch it so I did it myself.

So in answer to your question - most probably a sparky.

GAS ENGINEER????????????? I think you mean GasSafe qualified operative. They do vary tremendously in quality, training and experience.

pinkteapot

Thanks happybiker. I have a confession to make which will make you bang your head on your keyboard... When we first got the house, before I understood the heating system, I did some decorating. Rads were left on the walls but I took the valve covers off (they're all so loose they fall off if you touch them - most of the non-lockshield ones are broken inside so a spanner is needed even to turn that side). Anyway, I can't actually be entirely sure that they went back on the right way round. At the time, I didn't realise that one was lockshield and one was +/- so the covers may be incorrect in that regard. Going to get or borrow some pipe thermometers so I can work out which pipe is the warmer and therefore which way round the valves are.

Have recently redecorated all the bedrooms and my brother taught me how to take rads off (and clean them out while off). He didn't mention about noting how open/closed the valves were... I'll have words.

Canucklehead

pinkteapot: Have you considered the pump might be failing? You may well also have a very dirty CH system and the pipework around the pump, motorized valve etc. is blocking/reducing the bore. When your problems have been sorted have TRVs fitted.

Canucklehead

lovinituk

happybiker wrote: »

GAS ENGINEER????????????? I think you mean GasSafe qualified operative. They do vary tremendously in quality, training and experience.

Sorry, he was a 'GasSafe qualified operative' (from a large local company) but still wouldn't touch the electrics.

And I did say 'most probably a sparky' as I appreciate some will be qualified in both.

Canucklehead

lovinituk wrote: »

Sorry, he was a 'GasSafe qualified operative' (from a large local company) but still wouldn't touch the electrics.

And I did say 'most probably a sparky' as I appreciate some will be qualified in both.

No need to apologise...according to Gas Safe Register the phrase is Gas Engineer. You'll find some know nothing about plumbing or electrics as you can only cover so much in a short-course..:think:


Canucklehead

happybiker

Canucklehead wrote: »

No need to apologise...according to Gas Safe Register the phrase is Gas Engineer. You'll find some know nothing about plumbing or electrics as you can only cover so much in a short-course..:think:


Canucklehead

Sorry, I nearly fell off my chair laughing at this one. GasSafe are almost as good at Bulldust as CORGI was......

So a 'GAS ENGINEER' who cannot tell the difference between a gas and electric cooker is worthy enough to be called an 'Engineer'. There are some very good gas engineers about but there are also a lot of others who are not worthy of the title. GasSafe like it because it sounds professional

In some peoples dreams maybe. I've taught and assessed sorts of people through the CORGI modules and some of them were so mechanically inept as to be dangerous. Unfortunately they were able to absorb the theory and it's impossible to fail someone ( they just get referred and resit until they get fed up or pass)

The situation is slightly better now due to the ' being employed in or prior experience of the industry' requirement prior to training became the rule about 10 years ago.

Alongside the GasSafe modules, the NVQ (Not very qualified) is a good grounding for an engineer but training and experience still need to be built up on that.