Central Heating Woes....please help!

[dave]

Hi all,

Does anyone know anything about Central Heating?

Last year, just about the end of last winter the whole central heating system in my house was replaced.

Turning it on now, it doesn't seem to work very well at all.

There is pressure on the boiler, the rads have all been bled and the pipes leading to the main rad is red hot - as is the one in the kitchen which doesn't seem to be being fed by the main one.

....but the rads themselves are, at best, lukewarm.

I have bled them, turned the thermostat up, but I cannot for the life of me work out why the radiators are not heating up - like I say, lukewarm at best.

It's a new pump, (well, new everything), and I can feel the pump pumping when I put my hand on it.

Does anyone who knows about these things have any idea what I can try next?

It's getting bl**dy cold in there at night lately!

[jowalshy]

Try these things:-

Bleed rads with thermostat turned off.

Check the pump is pumping at a good speed.

Make sure motorised valve is opening when central heating clock and thermostat are calling for heating.

Make sure header tank is at correct water level and if not make sure ball valve is working correctly.

[jowalshy]

Also make sure the motorised is seated properly on the valve because if it is loose it won't turn the valve.

[dave]

Woooah - thanks for the advice, but where will I find the motorised valve?

[pinkduchess]

spoke to OH who works with boilers. he thinks with the filter on the boiler...there may be a block on the return. system will need draining to rectify this.

or system may need balancing, (throttling down??), adjusting valves on radiators to ensure even heat distribution throughout system.

both of these should be done be a professsional

[dave]

Yeah, I paid a b***dy professional over 5k to do it in the first place!

Now it doesn't work!

If you want something done......etc...

[jowalshy]

Motorsied valve will be near the boiler or up by the immersion heater.

(Hi PD, looks like we are both asking our OH's . I have absolutely no idea what I am tallking about )

[dave]

It did work the first time he turned it on (over a year ago now), and then it stopped. I phoned him and he came round and showed me how to build up the pressure and told me 'it will settle down'.

...but it never has.

[jowalshy]

My OH also agrees with PD's OH if my OH's solutions dosen't work.

[jowalshy]

Originally Posted by dave

It did work the first time he turned it on (over a year ago now), and then it stopped. I phoned him and he came round and showed me how to build up the pressure and told me 'it will settle down'.

...but it never has.

I have just told my husband this and he snorted (funny sort of laugh). If your heating was installed properly it should work properly staright away. None of this settling down period.

[dave]

Cheers guys.

I'll have another look tonight and see if I can't get it working.

Something needs to happen as the electric heater I had has also packed up!!

I had to put the cooker hobs on, on Saturday to heat the place up.

(which of course has now melted the cooker hood and made the cupboard doors warp from the heat!)

[dave]

Originally Posted by jowalshy

I have just told my husband this and he snorted (funny sort of laugh). If your heating was installed properly it should work properly staright away. None of this settling down period.

Yes, I'd never heard of it either.

I also had to go around and tighten all the rads up myself, as every single one of them (bar one) was leaking water.

[jowalshy]

Maybe you could use a hairdryer, then just warm up the bits that are a bit chilly

[pinkduchess]

Originally Posted by jowalshy

I have absolutely no idea what I am tallking about )

me neither. but at least they agree!! its quite difficult to diagnose like this

[Castlebest]

It sounds like a blockage or an air lock somewhere... if you have a standard heating pump it also has an air bleed valve on the top of the motor housing.... also look for sections of pipe that could trap air (going over doors etc) but these would need to be rectified by whoever installed it.

pete

[dave]

Yeah I understand. I get this at work, people expect me to debug someone elses code, in a language that I rarely use over the phone, and then get upset when I can't fix it instantly without actually seeing it!!

I'll have a play around tonight.

It seems as though the heater itself is working as the pipes are red hot, it's just ALL the radiators don't get hot at all. It seems odd that they would ALL be blocked, and that's why I thought the pump must not be working.