No-one can work out why our heating isn't working!

[Last Plumber]

Are the guys you’ve got in actually plumbers

It wouldn't surprise me if they were fully qualified these days to be honest.
I went to a job not that long ago and the customer said I was the fifth!!!!
Ridiculous!
It was something that any Engineer worth his / her salt would have diagnosed within 5 min too. That is the largest procession of Plumbers I have heard of but it is by no means the only time I've heard it.
They even left tools!!!

The mind boggles.

 

[Harvest Fields]

I’ve lost plenty of grips and screwdrivers over the years. Doesn’t mean anything to do with levelnof Workmanship.

 

[Last Plumber]

I’ve lost plenty of grips and screwdrivers over the years. Doesn’t mean anything to do with levelnof Workmanship.

No, I lose gear myself, it drives me crackers.

I needed a part and the customer laughed and said "that's what they all say, I won't see you again".

I offered to leave my tools to prove I would return and she opened the kitchen draw to show me a pile of Plumbers tools.
"They did that too", she said.

There were pump pliers, adjustable spanners, amongst other things. All decent stuff too.

I don't understand why that's all?

I am by no means saying it's their fault, it must come down to the training/learning process. Not just the colleges either, who they learn with or from makes the biggest difference to these types of occurrences.

 

[Vee]

Pump. Wilo or British Gas by any chance. I will have to stop shaving.

 

[Last Plumber]

Pump. Wilo or British Gas by any chance. I will have to stop shaving.

Pump. Wilo or British Gas by any chance. I will have to stop shaving.

Have you go chin whiskers too Vee?

 

[jtsplumbing]

It wouldn't surprise me if they were fully qualified these days to be honest.
I went to a job not that long ago and the customer said I was the fifth!!!!
Ridiculous!
It was something that any Engineer worth his / her salt would have diagnosed within 5 min too. That is the largest procession of Plumbers I have heard of but it is by no means the only time I've heard it.
They even left tools!!!

The mind boggles.

Totally agree with what your saying I come across the same , simplest of jobs and they cant do it even basic plumbing tasks seem to be beyond them, and they seem to charge stupid amounts of money, and leave the problem worse than it was, God help this trade in 20 years, not that I'm bothered ! be long gone by then fixing the boilers down below

 

[Riley]

The thing is it’s the simple things I’m seeing wrong more and more often. I don’t claim to never make mistakes But at least I’m human and know what I’ve done wrong and fix it. Usually it’s something really daft on a Friday afternoon😀

 

[Vee]

Have you go chin whiskers too Vee?

I usually just pluck them. No enough for a beard.

 

[sammathias]

If upstairs rads get hot but downstairs rads dont, pump is literally first thing id be looking at. I would be pulling out the old trusted flathead screwdriver within minutes. My guess is they are 'plastic' plumbers and dont really have a clue. Saying that your system could be sludged leading to the failed 5 year old pump.

 

[Riley]

It could still be a goosed pump because of sludge but the problem as said above will likely be the pump in terms of no corculation

 

[jtsplumbing]

Thank you. Thats exactly what I thought but my partner was adamant that it couldn't be that because it was a new pump i.e 5 years old. So I'm going to push the pump theory with the plumber.

Is it possible for you to put a photo on of the Pump ??

 

[Last Plumber]

I usually just pluck them. No enough for a beard.

Ah! The wirey ones like mi nan used to have?

 

[Zippymark]

It sounds like a flow problem, as in the heat isn't getting pushed around the system. And i'd agree with everyone else and say the pump is probably the first place to look. I just wanted to add that it's possible for the pump to still be spinning making you think it's working, but on its way out and only pushing at half the power it should be, hence only heating half the system up (Y)

 

[Snow Queen]

Hm. I realise this photo isn't exactly helpful. Our latest plumber has installed this yesterday- It's a Grundfos Type UPS 2 15-50/60 230V. Whatever any of that means. he's coming back on Tuesday and is working on the "try everything and see what works" principle. Which is going to turn out expensive I think. He's also flushed Sentinel X4oo in somewhere. And done lots of twiddling and frowning. They are now beard-stroking over the controller. Meanwhile I sit there (wrapped in blankets) saying nothing. Thank you for the facial hair jokes- I was about to make a joke about waxing, but thought it might steer this post in a dodgy direction.

 

[Zippymark]

So it's still not working i take it? It might be worth having a look at the smaller tank in your loft to make sure there's water in it

 

[bttone]

You say you have an immersion heater, so I'm guessing you are on an open vented old style system.
If upstairs works and downstairs doesn't then the first thing most plumbers would look at is the pump.
Your hot water cylinder will be upstairs so will get heat, but without the pump working it will take a lot longer than usual because the boiler will only be running in short bursts due to overheating as the pump isn't dispersing the heat.
All downstairs valves aren't going to block at the same time.
A system clean doesn't have to be done in the summer, whoever told you that was either lying or doesn't have a clue.
Where did you get your 'plumbers' from?

I would agree it's the pump ,and I'm no plumber ,it would benefit from a flush with fernox too ,you can check your pump operation by undoing the slot head bung at the front of the pump ,to see if it's moving ,also try turning the pump speed up ,you should have 2 or 3 speeds ..but if this doesn't improve things ,maybe the vaines in the pump are shot ,so new pump tine

 

[jtsplumbing]

And make sure the Pump is facing the right direction

 

[jtsplumbing]

I would agree it's the pump ,and I'm no plumber ,it would benefit from a flush with fernox too ,you can check your pump operation by undoing the slot head bung at the front of the pump ,to see if it's moving ,also try turning the pump speed up ,you should have 2 or 3 speeds ..but if this doesn't improve things ,maybe the vaines in the pump are shot ,so new pump tine

Looking at photo pump seems to be on max speed

 

[Zippymark]

To be honest though if a pump has only lasted 5 years there's probably another problem too, even if a new pump got it going. I had one recently where like yours, only some rads were heating up and they didn't have as much hot water as before. The pump was still spinning but with no real force, I put a new one in and it still didn't heat everything up, and the pump just didn't sound right. I spent ages trying to get air out but it ended up that the 30 odd year old boiler was so full of sludge that it was slowing everything down. A powerflush sorted it. My guess is just running a cleaner through and draining wouldn't have, you need the force of a powerflush to lift all the sludge out.

 

[dan_the_plumber]

I’m suprised no one has suggested that the pump may have been fitted the wrong way around. Or that the flow and return might be plumbed the wrong way around onto the boiler. Or that the pump setting might be too low. Or that the system might not be correctly balanced. Or that the bypass might be wide open. Or that there might be air trapped in the System.