central heating advice: solid floors and old radiators

Mr_Ted

southcoastrgi wrote: »

<<<<<<<<<< sits back & watches, now this could get interesting

:rotfl: SADIST :rotfl:

silvercar

Canucklehead wrote:

EliteHeat! yes i do. Was he OK?

Yes good job done. (Not this house by the way.) As far as I know he no longer works in the industry.

silvercar

Part L guidance here

I don't understand all of that. As far as 2 zones are concerned, we have that because the extension is fed from its own separate boiler etc.

Part L does say you don't have to have TRV where the pipework makes it impractical.

Anyway, I found this, which may answer the argument:

I've seen one pipe systems piped in two different ways, one would be fine to put a TRV on, the other would shut not just every rad after it down, but the whole system. So BE CAREFUL!

The first way, where you could put a TRV on, is every rad is tee'd off a single flow pipe that returns to the boiler. In a manner that if you shut every rad, the heating would still run out the boiler and through the heating circuit and return, this method is fine to put a TRV on.

The second way, is the main flow is INTERRUPTED for every radiator, hence if you shut one radiator, you close the whole system. Making a TRV a no go on ANY radiator I'm afraid!

Mr_Ted

silvercar wrote: »

I don't understand all of that. As far as 2 zones are concerned, we have that because the extension is fed from its own separate boiler etc.
Part L does say you don't have to have TRV where the pipework makes it impractical.
Anyway, I found this, which may answer the argument:

"The second way, is the main flow is INTERRUPTED for every radiator, hence if you shut one radiator, you close the whole system. Making a TRV a no go on ANY radiator I'm afraid! " is as you descibe your GF circuit, so NO arguement

Having a second boiler does not make that a 2nd zone, but it does raise a question as to how efficient and energy saving that would be to have 2 boilers?
No offence but it sounds to me very much like you DO need to upgrade the whole system, in which case you can integrate the 2 boilers and have the extension as a seperate zone, if you feel the need and do the other work necessary at the same time :j
In general terms 2 zones means, in a standard property, 1 heating, 1 hot water, but you can have as many as you like, ie, in your case perhaps have G. Fl, 1ST Fl, Extension, and hot water, each with their own thermostatic/time controller operating zone valves?
If it is a very large property that would be more efficient than 2 boilers!

silvercar

Having a second boiler does not make that a 2nd zone, but it does raise a question as to how efficient and energy saving that would be to have 2 boilers?

From what I've read, 2 boilers is not materially different to having one. I'm strongly of the belief that if its not broke, don't fix it.

The extension has a smaller combi delivering instant hot water to the kid's showers without worrying about emptying the tank. I'm not touching it.

No offence but it sounds to me very much like you DO need to upgrade the whole system, in which case you can integrate the 2 boilers and have the extension as a seperate zone, if you feel the need and do the other work necessary at the same time

All I want is to make the few downstairs radiators better and what I'm afraid of is recommendations to change the boilers or the set up.

Canucklehead

Hi.

As said, start with finding pipework and see what system you have and take it from there.

Can you lift some boards yourself? Save some time.

silvercar

The problem (other than appearance) is that the last radiator doesn't get hot. I can semi-solve this by turning the upstairs rads off; this seems to get the rad hot, but I can track the heat and it doesn't go much beyond the pipework after this rad. In previous years every autumn I have turned the upstairs rads off and got this one going and then it has worked fine for the rest of the winter.

OH has just commented that maybe getting a water softener fitted has dislodged some scale and that is what is clogging it up?? Could be a red herring. Other interesting thing is that this problem rad gets hot from top to bottom - the bottom half of the rad takes much longer to get hot.

AlexMac

" The problem (other than appearance) is that the last radiator doesn't get hot. I can semi-solve this by turning the upstairs rads off; this seems to get the rad hot, but I can track the heat and it doesn't go much beyond the pipework after this rad." We had this problem -only far worse- the last 6 rads were barely warmed - on a flat we bought. It was sludged up pipes. Cured by replacing a few pipes near the boiler which were so heavily blocked by a mix of sludge and scale that 80% of the pipe was solid, leaving a tiny open core. The rest by loose sludge which had to be power-flushed. One diagnostic trick I learned from the plumber was that while a small magnet will not be attracted by or stick to copper pipes, it will jump out of your hand and stick to pipes heavily contaminated by years of metallic sludge from the rusty insides of the rads and boiler! try it

silvercar

None of the accessible pipes appear to be magnetic.

I turned 3 biggest upstairs rads off and the problem one has heated up. Turning the upstairs rads off and it cools down.

Mr_Ted

the advise has been given on what you describe, its up to you to take the necessary action, we cant