Octopus to EDF - please help beginner in a pickle

Gerry1

This is a useful hygrometer, the Mebus EM763.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386314710501

Also available from Amazon but not so cheap.  They sometimes appear in the middle of Lidl/ Aldi.

BellaBlondykeTheThird

Very quick video on not turning radiators off and the reasoning behind it

https://youtu.be/hkO-YNve2uE?si=bzMLjoIKpn3dtO2q

stripling

rebeccaqphan said:

Thank you so much for your help all. @Gerry1 - last time my husband breathed nothing came out. So not sure if the radiator is broken or he's done it wrong. I replaced all radiators around 2 years ago to be more efficient and energy saving but the radiator is always cold to touch. Some the entire radiator and others the top half is cold, bottom is warm at best! Hence I never noticed thermostat set to 30

Maybe the water pressure in the system has dropped a little too low? The needle should be on about 1-1.5 when the heating is off. Have a look and see if the system needs a water top up after all the radiator bleeding. It should be simple - a small lever on the water pipe that enters the boiler. But be careful don't let it go higher than 1-1.5 when cold. 

rebeccaqphan

thanks so much for your help @stripling - i've just checked now that my boiler is off and it says 0.7 bar? Is that the same as the needle please?

rebeccaqphan

thank you BellaBlondykeTheThird and @Gerry1 for your help!

rebeccaqphan

Thank you t0rt0ise. My husband bled them and water came out immediately so closed it back up. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.

Mark_d how do you check boiler temperature please? I had the whole system flushed around 1.5 years ago too. So not sure if it needs another one?

I tried that once - left the heating on for 24 hours and the next morning it was slightly warmer but still not burning, like I think it should do. But that day was a really cold winter day so not sure whether that changes things?

Thank you Bobbie320 and Grumpy_chap for your help. I haven’t had the heating system serviced in the past year. 

kimwp

rebeccaqphan said:

thanks so much for your help @stripling - i've just checked now that my boiler is off and it says 0.7 bar? Is that the same as the needle please?

Yep, should be 1-1.5 bar. You can increase the pressure by turning the two taps on the filling tube so they align with the direction of the pipe to allow water through. I turn one fully open and the other just a little until I can hear the water coming through and then can watch the pressure go up slowly. Turn both taps fully back to the closed position after so the boiler is not having pressured water fed into it while working. I think if the pressure goes up too high, there's a mechanism that will release the pressure so you don't have to worry if it goes a little over 1.5 bar.

Qyburn

On the other hand 0.7 bar isn't disasterous especially if that's when cold.  To get that pressure in an open system the feed and expansion tank would need to be around 20 feet above the boiler.

I note all radiators replaced not that long ago. Was the system properly balanced afterwards, by someone who knows what they're doing? Were they replaced DIY, or by a plumber, or a heating engineer?

I'd also be checking the whole design. Is there a bodge somewhere like a vent still in place after supposedly converting to a sealed system? 

amanda1024

Lots of sensible comments, and I might be repeating but:
- it sounds like maybe there’s not enough water in the system, which is why the radiators aren’t getting hot. You might be able to top them up yourself, but it might also be worth getting an expert out to look at the whole system to make sure it’s working properly (should be a lot cheaper than your annual gas bill!) It might be that the boiler is undersized compared with the size of the house/number of radiators, or that the radiators are undersized compared to the size of the rooms (here I’m assuming a six bedroom house also has larger than average rooms)
- agree with turning down (not off) radiators in rooms you’re not using, closing doors (both for cold rooms you’re not using and warm rooms you are). It can sometimes be worth getting localised heating for where you are (eg a fan heater in a living room/bathroom) rather than trying to heat the whole house - but in general electrical heating will cost a lot more
- insulation and draft proofing can make a big difference both to thermal comfort and gas bills. Loft extension has possibly made that trickier but there should still be insulation in the roof
- on the tariffs, I’ve saved a lot switching to the Octopus Tracker tariff for gas - at the moment it’s about half the price per unit compared to the standard rate. The price can change every day so would need keeping an eye on, but most days are fairly similar

Phones4Chris

@rebeccaqphan When bleeding the radiators, turn the system OFF, you don't want the pump to be circulating any air that may be in the system. Make sure the TRV is turned to 5 and check that the lock-shield valve (that's what it's usually called - the one on the other end of the radiator from the TRV) is not fully closed. Note how many turns from where it's set to fully open, so that you can set it back to where it was later on (assuming it wasn't fully closed). Do this for every radiator and leave things to settle briefly before bleeding the radiator. Do them all before switching the system on again.
Once done, switch the system on and wait until hot water is circulating, hot water should start to reach all the radiators. You can then adjust the TRVs for the setting you want for a particular room, and turn the lock-shield valves back to where they were but not fully closed is any were!
If radiators aren't getting hot, and assuming the pressure in the system is correct, then you have either a problem with the pump or significant sludge somewhere, or the lock-shield valves aren't set correctly, and should seek some professional help.
If you don't have cover such as the British Gas Homecare one or similar, mentioned before, then you need a HEATING engineer, NOT a plumber. Whilst some plumbers may know what they are doing, there will be plenty who don't!