discussion Second bite of Covid

[Tim Marlow]

Been there, got the t-shirt.
At last (touch wood) after several years struggling with our system, it seems to be working alright - we had it powerflushed (no difference), a new boiler to fix some leaks, all the radiators changed (no difference), a filter fitted (no difference), changed from a vented system to sealed and pressurised (no difference except I don't have to keep bleeding the rads) then eventually a chap came who had a car footpump fitted with an adaptor to connect to the radiator pipes - he blew back through the pipe to the kitchen radiator, and cleared a partial blockage, which seems so far to have fixed the problems.
Oh, and 3 out of the 7 thermostatic valves fitted with the new rads were faulty!
Pete

Blimey that sounds rough Peter. We’ve had most of that done as well now, but not all due to problems.…….
When we moved in our system had a very old boiler, no thermostat (the previous occupants just turned it on and off), and pretty much an unlagged hot water cylinder, but we knew all that from the survey.
First thing I had done was got a thermostat fitted, so at least we had some control. After that we were OK for about six months until the boiler started failing. We then had that replaced, along with the cylinder and had thermostatic valves fitted while the system was drained. This was done by a plumber who was also fitting bathrooms for us. Things were OK for a while, but in the summer the oil storage tank started failing, so we had that replaced. During our second winter the radiator output started reducing, some having little output, and we started getting a lot of air in the system. I thought the pump was stating to fail, so got a heating engineer in to review and replace whatever needed doing. The pump appears fine, and is relatively new (I was very surprised) so he thought it was system blockage in the microbore pipes causing overpumping and so introducing air. He has now spent two full days flushing and pumping through blockage after blockage trying to restore flow to the system, and has had to replace most of the header tank because it was badly corroded and putting rubbish into the system. He’s back again today, bringing a plumber with him to get a second pair of eyes on the problem. The loops appear pretty clear now, not much rubbish is being pulled out by the large mag filters we’ve had temporarily fitted for a fortnight, but we are still getting very poor flow.
If I’d known then what I know now I would have simply had the whole lot repiped with 15mm pipe when we moved in. The design (hesitate to call it that really) of our system is pretty poor, with little head pressure. We can’t really go to a pressurised system because we don’t know the state of the pipes between the floors. With what I’ve learned over the last year I could probably design it better myself :disappointed2:

 

[adt70hk]

Hope you're doing ok Tim....my better half is currently isolating in Junior's bedroom having tested positive yesterday.... At the moment it's like a very nasty cold, with a very bad headache... :sad:

 

[stillp]

Tim, I was worried about the possibility of leaks if we went to a sealed system too, but we'd tried everything else. The pressure isn't much - 1 to 1.5 bar, about 15 - 20 psi, so not a great deal more than the head from the header tank.
We had all the upstairs carpets replaced last autumn, before going to a sealed system, and the circulation in the heating was a lot better afterwards. Of course the carpet fitters had been hammering the grippers and the carpets down, and the vibration must have loosened some of the crap in the pipes, but the effect didn't last very long.
Repiping wasn't really an option for me as there wouldn't be enough access without stripping the house!
Are you in a hard water area? At one time we had a blockage in the 22mm primary system, which I managed to locate as being near the 'cold junction', where the primary, expansion pipe and cold water inlet come together. I cut out a section of pipe and found it was completely furred up, the whole in the middle was no more than 1 or 2 mm diameter. I had to drill the scale out of a part I couldn't replace as it went below the floor, and put a new section to replace what I'd cut out.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hope you're doing ok Tim....my better half is currently isolating in Junior's bedroom having tested positive yesterday.... At the moment it's like a very nasty cold, with a very bad headache... :sad:

Hi Andrew. Mine started exactly the same way, and I didn’t test positive for three days…….the cough didn’t start until I tested positive….it’s pretty much gone now after six days, just a residual occasional cough and tiredness. Mind you, herself now has the same symptoms, started yesterday, and is also not testing positive yet…

 

[Tim Marlow]

Tim, I was worried about the possibility of leaks if we went to a sealed system too, but we'd tried everything else. The pressure isn't much - 1 to 1.5 bar, about 15 - 20 psi, so not a great deal more than the head from the header tank.
We had all the upstairs carpets replaced last autumn, before going to a sealed system, and the circulation in the heating was a lot better afterwards. Of course the carpet fitters had been hammering the grippers and the carpets down, and the vibration must have loosened some of the crap in the pipes, but the effect didn't last very long.
Repiping wasn't really an option for me as there wouldn't be enough access without stripping the house!
Are you in a hard water area? At one time we had a blockage in the 22mm primary system, which I managed to locate as being near the 'cold junction', where the primary, expansion pipe and cold water inlet come together. I cut out a section of pipe and found it was completely furred up, the whole in the middle was no more than 1 or 2 mm diameter. I had to drill the scale out of a part I couldn't replace as it went below the floor, and put a new section to replace what I'd cut out.

Definitely a hard water area, and we have both a plumber and a heating engineer on the case now. They’ve just repiped the feed to the header tank because it was poor, so we’ll see…..
Good call about the carpet fitting. Just before this we had a bedroom and stairs carpeted so that could have dislodged crap that has subsequently bunged up the pipes….all our heating pipes run under the upstairs floor…..

 

[Jim R]

Hi Tim
First off I'm glad you're on the mend. This problem of negative tests in the early days of being infected is probably why the number of cases is on the rise. Even with the best of intentions people will not stay home if they've tested negative and so think it's ok to be out and about with what they think is just a cold.
Anyway take it steady.
Jim

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Tim
First off I'm glad you're on the mend. This problem of negative tests in the early days of being infected is probably why the number of cases is on the rise. Even with the best of intentions people will not stay home if they've tested negative and so think it's ok to be out and about with what they think is just a cold.
Anyway take it steady.
Jim

Me too Jim :smiling5: Agree completely about testing as well. Whatever change it was that made it easier to catch probably makes it harder to identify in the early stages. You take it easy too mate:thumb2:

 

[Tim Marlow]

Just for info….tested negative today. Just got to wait for the RA meds to kick back in and I’m back to as normal as I get :thumb2: Heating is working as well as it can now as well…….probably going for a pressurised system in the Autumn though.

 

[Jim R]

Just for info….tested negative today.

:thumb2: :smiling: :thumb2: :hugging-face:

 

[PaulinKendal]

Missed this thread completely, Tim. Read through it to offer my condolences (I know, you were only ill, not dead), and discovered you're out the other side already!

Good for you, but consider my sympathy retracted entirely

 

[Tim Marlow]

Cheers lads….and thanks for the retraction Paul. After all, I don’t want commiserations and sympathy for getting better do I LOL….