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Discuss 1 or 2 pipe central heating system diagram in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

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C

ckyens

Hello all

Came across these two diagrams for the central heating system currently installed in the house.

Its an old system design by the look of it, there doesnt seem to be any cold pipes fitted onto the radiators.

It appears as if all the radiators are connected in series and only to the hot feed from the boiler & cylinder i.e hot water goes into a rad then back out to feed the next inline.

There are 7 radiators in total fitted. Its possible there may have been another drawing showing the extra 4, but unsure.

The boiler in the system is an open flued Glow worm Ultimate 40 cf.

Now if I want to upgrade to a combi , is it best have to repipe the whole system (cold & hot water pipes)?

I know cylinder & header / feed tanks will be removed.

Can anyone shed any light on the diagrams?

Cheers for reading
 

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I love the drawings.....
You basically have, Gravity hot water, with a towel rail/rad? On the gravity circuit. Then a mixture of one pipe and reverse return.
As most is undersized, I would be inclined to replace th lot. It will be sludged up too.
It will be worth the effort/cost, as it will all heat up quickly and evenly.
 
Aye, I think the drawings date back to the 70's. Found them amongst all the paperwork that was left by the last longstanding house owner. Theres a lot of lead pipes in the system too. All the radiators are mismatched in size and age etc. I took a couple off and your right the water that came out was pure black!
 
Aye, I think the drawings date back to the 70's. Found them amongst all the paperwork that was left by the last longstanding house owner. Theres a lot of lead pipes in the system too. All the radiators are mismatched in size and age etc. I took a couple off and your right the water that came out was pure black!

Me thinks it is older than the 70's.
It is best to start again.
 
I'm keen to have the system redone as soon as possible. Unsure if new rewiring loom should run so near to the central heating pipes (see pic) but I guess if it was done in the 60's / 70's maybe it was the norm?

Looking at it, it doesnt seem right.
 

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Probably 50' or early 60's. Designed as a fully gravity system. It will have been altered to pumped heating when the glow worm went in or possibly before.
If you are putting a new boiler in it would be better to replace the full system.

The conex fittings in the pic above are from the 60's
 
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Ideally I want to start with getting the mains cold water supply switched from 'lead pipe' to a more upto date material. The utilities company say its the house owners job to have the cold water mains pipework upgraded i.e they're responsible upto the property boundary wall.

Does anyone know what it would cost?
 
They ( in my area) are responsible to your boundary i.e. where your land boundary is and not your house wall, if that's what you meant ?
 
The utilities company say its the house owners job to have the cold water mains pipework upgraded i.e they're responsible upto the property boundary wall.

Does anyone know what it would cost?

You will need to get someone in to give you a price as there are so many variables, hand dug, moled, type of ground to cross etc.
The pipe is laid from your boundary to the stopcock position.
The utilities company will give you a new connection for free and connect to the pipe at the boundary.
 
Yes, anything from inside the garden wall to the property stopcock and further into the property I'd have to replace.
Big job as I'd have to dig the front garden up. I dont want to do that.
May be better to just replace the internal mains water pipe from the stopcock. The stopcock is at the front door area. The kitchen / bathroom are at the rear.
 
Get rid of the lead mains pipe. Have it decided on the best place for new stopcock position inside the house and straight route to boundary and have it dug up. Or get someone with a mole to do any parts that you don't want dug up, or that are impossible without.
Most important pipe in your property is the water mains
 
Yes, anything from inside the garden wall to the property stopcock and further into the property I'd have to replace.
Big job as I'd have to dig the front garden up. I dont want to do that.
May be better to just replace the internal mains water pipe from the stopcock. The stopcock is at the front door area. The kitchen / bathroom are at the rear.

You can get it moled without having to dig too much. It doesn't cost anymore than digging it unless you can get someone from the pub to dig it for 50 quid.
Dig a hole at the boundary, one at the wall of the house, one every change of direction and if you are unlucky maybe maybe another hole or 2.
It is stupidity to leave the old lead in.
Would you still run around in a cortina? Bet yer next car to that cost more than your home comforts will.
 
Got to be careful the gas mains and electricity and water all come into the house along the same path. The gas meter, electric meter and water mains stopcock are in the front door area. And sods law its all lead pipes!!
So paying some chimp from the pub to play 'bob the builder' to dig a hole or two for ÂŁ50, no chance.
I'l make inquiries into having it moled out.
 
The boiler is in the fireplace and the external grundfos pump is situated sub floor by the side of the fireplace.
I have a couple of questions to ask. I drained the system down and removed a few radiators to flush the black sludge out. (there was quite a bit). Refitted, refilled and rebled radiators. The horstmann c27 timer started its program and the HW / CH worked ok. However the day after, there was only HW working , no CH. The programmer controls HW / CH at the same time, you cant select one or the other.
So I drained the system again, refilled, rebled the radiators and the HW / CH worked again. Day after no CH only HW in the cylinder tank. Both plastic feed and header tanks in loft both fill correctly.
I appreciate its an old system and it will be getting changed in the near future.
I also notice that when the boiler is off and the programmer is off. The boiler fires up on its own.
Can anyone shed any light as to why the system works for a day, then doesnt the day after?
There are no zone valves anywhere on this system either.
 
Turns out the wiring from the external pump and the boiler wiring to a junction box was incorrectly wired. Resulting in all wiring from the junction box to the external wall programmer was totally wired wrong, so when the boiler fired up for CH & HW the pump wasn't wired to run.
Looks like it'd been like this from original install. Corrected it iaw wiring diagram, all working properly now.
Took everyones advice and gone for a moled replacement mdpe pipe.
Thanks for all replies.
 
Turns out the wiring from the external pump and the boiler wiring to a junction box was incorrectly wired. Resulting in all wiring from the junction box to the external wall programmer was totally wired wrong, so when the boiler fired up for CH & HW the pump wasn't wired to run.
Looks like it'd been like this from original install. Corrected it iaw wiring diagram, all working properly now.
Took everyones advice and gone for a moled replacement mdpe pipe.
Thanks for all replies.
 
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