heating probs

[blahheed]

i have problems with the central heating in the house.

thermostat temperature dial is on full(30 degrees)
radiators are open
hot water tank temp sensor is on 60 degrees
boiler unit setting is on full

but still the house is freezing.
downstairs radiators are not hot and some are cold
there is hot water

any ideas how to fix this?

[TQ]

Bleed the radiators?
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[blahheed]

[Ichy]

Is there a square metal box with three pipes and a length of wire going into it near to the tank?
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[yen_powell]

[kitty kat]

3 port valve or it may have 2 zone valves one for hot water and one for heating. Should have a override lever on to temp overide but may need a new head or just a motor if a honeywell.

[stinkwheel]

Is it wireless?

If so, turn the whole lot off for a minute. Take the batteries out of the sender. Turn it back on. Stand next to the receiver and put the batteries back into the sender.

Fucking wireless thingy on mine is the bane of my life. I'm having it taken out and replaced with a normal one with a wireless thermostat and a manual override.

Are any of the radiators hot? If some of them are hot and not others, it's probably not the valve. If they are all cold, it's probably the valve.

Is it a combi boiler? How's the pressure? Does it need more water in the heating system? There should be a pressure guage on the boiler somewhere. There usually wants to be about 1 bar (or more) in the heating system.
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[Al]

If the upstairs rads and hot water are getting hot just not the downstairs I'd check the pump first. Also if the upstairs/downstairs rads are controlled as separate zones check that the motorized valve for downstairs is operating correctly.
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[Ariel Badger]

What kind of boiler? If it is a combi is the pressure set ok?
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[blahheed]

https://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd26/szbiker/th_Picture224.jpg

its a normal boiler with a hot water tank system.
thermostat is normal electric type
the down stairs radiators eventually came on.

but the whole system is making a right noise when its running.
sounds like air in the system?

the pump shown in the photo(blue circle) this has 3 settings and its on the 3rd one, sounds like air is in it

[kitty kat]

if system is noisy then it could need a chemical flush and clean.
The 3 port valve is above the pump with the white box make sure that the lever is moving from side to side when asking for heating or water. If this is not happening the powerhead needs changing ie the white box. Also check the heating tank has water and is not air locked.

[blahheed]

the white box lever is moving to the correct sides when hot water/heating is selected


how do you check the tank has water and not air locked?

[weasley]

There could be a small header tank in the loft which keeps the heating water circuit topped up. Ages ago I had a problem with the heating circuit running low on water and eventually seizing the pump. I discovered that the pipe from the header tank had become blocked so the heating circuit was not being kept topped up with water. I had to cut the offending pipework junction(s) out and reinstall a reproduction.
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[blahheed]

can flushing and cleaning the system be done easily ?

[Ichy]

Turn off the heating on the controller or set the thermostat to zero. Leave it for a minute and then put your hand on the pump, it may be hot! Turn on the heating. Can you feel the pump working?

When ypu checked that the valve was working did you touch all three pipes to check they were getting hot?

Have you tried bleeding one of the upstairs radiators?
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[kitty kat]

locate the small heating top up tank as opposed the large cold water storage tank for the hot water. look inside, is there at least 3" of water (100mm), if not and it has a ball valve check if ball valve is stuck if no ball valve fitted using a pan & a bucket of water fill tank to 3" deep. There should also be a vent pipe that loops over the tank try blowing up the pipe and see if water in tank rises. If this works and system still noisy a chemical flush will be needed and this should only be done by an expert, however you could get from a plumbing merchant, some Sentinel cleaner and sludge remover and follow the instructions.

[Al]

The pump looks pretty old and if its also noisy I'd check that its not simply the pump that's given up (hot rads upstairs, cold rads downstairs is a classic symptom, google it)
The large brass flat head screw on the front of the pump is an air bleed screw so you could try undoing it a 1/2 turn to make sure air isn't stuck in the pump. The screw also comes out and you can put a screwdriver inside the pump to make sure the impeller turns freely. Make sure the pump is off when you do this and you will get a small amount of water coming out so have a towel or container underneath.
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[blahheed]

check all points you gave,

water is in attic small water tank,

might be the pump,
there is also round the copper piping joints green mould,

might be time to get a plumber in to sort the pump and flush the system through

[kitty kat]

Changing the pump is a job that is quite easy and anybody that can wire a plug should be able to do it Most plumbers tend to just change the power head as you have isolation valves either side of pump and the connections for cables are marked up inside L N E
Dont worry about the mould on pipes its just verdigre which is natural in copper look at any copper roof. try the pump first....

[blahheed]

the valves either side of the pump started to drip,
so a quick loosen and tighten seems to have sorted that for now.

the pump is now hot but seems to be working,
will have to keep an eye on it.

will have to check where to get a replacement if necessary.

this hard water i guess does not help the pipework

[G]

Had a similar issue here, though the other way around (no hot water in taps, but central heating worked fine).

Each circuit had it's own electronic valve which was controlled from the main central heating controller. I did test it to quite as much detail as I could have, but it seemed that this valve was busted (it was possible it was an electrical fault further up, but switching it on/off did provide a current to it as expected.)
In this case the valve was closed with a spring and opened by the electric motor, so I just took the springs off to leave it open all the time as it was on all the time anyway - if it was my house, I'd have replaced it, but as it's not I merely informed the owner of the house it needed doing.

I partly worked it out by feeling which pipes were hot and which weren't (after trying a hell of a lot of other things, it should be added). It seemed that up until that point, the pipe was reasonably hot, but after it wasn't. It helped that there was a T a little below it I suspect.

[Skudd]

[kitty kat]