Solid fuel heating system problem

[chook1976]

Thank you, will have a look.

Hopefully will be able to get someone out to sort it, just waiting on someone to get back me.

 

[Ric2013]

I think you can even get non-metal tanks that are suited to high-temperature water. Which may give you more choice.

Basically, if your boiler can run some of the radiators and/or the cylinder without the pump being on, and is open-vented, I cannot see that it is likely to be especially dangerous, particularly as it has been tested for thirty years; although I agree the F and E may not be suited to high temperatures. The fact that the pump is on a simple timer is not a safety issue. More than anything, the concern is the system may need the pipes cleaning out as they may be heavily sludged up, especially the cold feed pipe.

Hopefully your new plumber will prove more helpful than the last.

 

[chook1976]

I think you can even get non-metal tanks that are suited to high-temperature water. Which may give you more choice.

Basically, if your boiler can run some of the radiators and/or the cylinder without the pump being on, and is open-vented, I cannot see that it is likely to be especially dangerous, particularly as it has been tested for thirty years; although I agree the F and E may not be suited to high temperatures. The fact that the pump is on a simple timer is not a safety issue. More than anything, the concern is the system may need the pipes cleaning out as they may be heavily sludged up, especially the cold feed pipe.

Hopefully your new plumber will prove more helpful than the last.

Thank you Ric.

I agree, the system does need a good flush through and clean out.

I was going to ask the bloke if he could do that at the same time as changing the header tank.

I did change the small rad for a new one about 4/5 years ago and did put some of the stuff in at the time,
I'm sorry I can't remember what it's called, it was left to run through for a couple of days, then drained out.

There was some black sludge at the bottom of the old rad, but not as much as I thought there would be and there's no cold spots.

 

[chook1976]

Little update.

Thanks for all the advice, after a lot of being messed around.

I decided to have look myself, the tank and pipe work were fine and seemed in good condition, no leaks etc.

The ballcock however wasn't and there was a load of crap in the tank, unfortunately there's some damage to the chimney breast and bits of brick had blocked up the tank.

I've completely cleaned it out and changed over the ballcock and connection, had to cut the plastic nut off, as it wouldn't buget.

That all seems fine now, filled it back up and kept a chck on it, no leaks at all so far.

Fire is back in and i can actually hear water going round the system now, just waitingfor it all to heat up and then will do a check of the rads etc.


I have bought some of the sludge cleaner and totally forgot to put it in, I want to change the central heating pump anyway to a more updated one, was thinking the evo 3, as have currently got an older evo model.

So can drain the system a bit and put it in when I change the pump.


The bloke that originally wanted to condem the system, has actually emailed me yesterday and today, still to reply to him, he's asked me to contact him as he's misplaced my number.

 

[Ric2013]

Good work. There is often no substitute for time and patience.

 

[chook1976]

Good work. There is often no substitute for time and patience.

Thanks, think I just need the confidence to get in there and have a look, the loft isn't an easy place to get in and out of, as you have to climb between two major beams as you get torough the hatch and there's not a lot of room.


Everything still seems to be working fine today and have noticed rads arnt getting as hot as they were before, they are hot, but before it was like they were boiling and you could hardly touch them, they didn't need bleeding at all yesterday.

I did bleed the pump, as it's still rattling a bit, I've a feeling the pump is probably on its way out, so will get the neone sooner rather than later.