New central heating/ old pipes??

darrenwis

Hi all.

We have a Baxi back boiler that must be atleast 30+ years and on Wednesday we have having a Valliant combi boiler installed instead.

The workmen will flush the system, add magnetic filters etc but they are going to use the existing pipework that goes under the floors, and to the radiators. This pipework seems to be made of possiblty copper. The only place they are going to take the floor up is where the existing water tank is where they need to take away and tidy up redundant pipework.

Is it ok/safe to use exisiting pipework? I know a neighbour nearby had the same done but resulted in a burst pipe...

Thanks,
Darren

tea-bag

I am thinking this as well, I am taking on a renovation needs all new heating but tempted to keep old pipework and change the rads???? Not sure what to do.

phoenix_w

Copper pipe lasts forever and is currently quite expensive - they are doing you a favour in reusing the pipework where they can - not only is the pipe expensive but the labour in lifting those floorboards and relaying the pipe will be pricey as well.

In the unlikely event the pipe bursts (and it would have to be damaged, have a very dodgy compression joint etc.) it's going to be found after the system is pressurised and found very quickly, so I wouldn't worry too much.

darrenwis

I'm saying their copper, im assuming this as the house was built in mid 1970's i think, would that tally up? Like i say, i just know the neighbour had a burst pipe in their dining room under the floor boards the evening the fitters left.

ariba10

Our first C H was fitted in March 1969.

Since then we have four different boilers and various add ons. Most of the original pipe work and some of the original Rads are still in use.

-No Problems so far

darrenwis

Every finger and toe crossed then!

unclebulgaria

Copper piping may last forever, so long as its environment isn't corrosive (see concrete and plaster in direct contact with its surface), but the soldering may have deteriorated over time. One of the previous posts states that any bursts will be found very quickly, this is not the case. Pressure testing the old pipework to at least 3 bar might be a good start to picking up any weak spots but even this isn't fool proof. Are they powerflushing the central heating system or just putting chemical cleaner in?
With your old system any impacted sludge may be capable of holding a leaky pipe but once the chemical cleaner has moved this you may find it springs a leak.

Zandoni

Copper pipes certainly do not last forever, but they usually last a long time. Unfortunately there was a copper shortage during the 70's and we imported a lot of piping, this copper was thicker walled but of poorer quality and many houses that had it have been developing pin holes.


I've had some pin holes myself so I have had all my piping changed, some neighbours have had problems and some haven't.


At the end of the day it's your decision as it will increase your bill massively if you go down the all new route.

darrenwis

They say its a central heating flush so not sure if that is chemicals or not?

Terry98

We had a Valliant combi boiler fitted last year to replace a 20 year old boiler.

When the fitter was taking out the immersion heater he was shocked at the amount of furing inside the copper pipe near the heater.It was thick hard black stuff which covered at least half the inside diameter of the copper pipe.

The new boiler has made a big difference to our house and we are very pleased with it but I still wonder if the power flush removed the hard black stuff from the rest of the pipes!

Zandoni

Terry98 wrote: »

We had a Valliant combi boiler fitted last year to replace a 20 year old boiler.

When the fitter was taking out the immersion heater he was shocked at the amount of furing inside the copper pipe near the heater.It was thick hard black stuff which covered at least half the inside diameter of the copper pipe.

The new boiler has made a big difference to our house and we are very pleased with it but I still wonder if the power flush removed the hard black stuff from the rest of the pipes!

That furring you describe is probably caused by being in a very hard water area, I doubt you would have that sort of problem in your heating pipe work.