please desperate

[debbie]

Hi please help if you can, very worried have a baby, will try & keep it brief..

moved into property 3 months ago, had plumber round from landlady least 5 times (its her friend)

problem is all the radiators keep messing about, couple will get hot, when i say hot you can easily touch them (my mums radiators feel a lot hotter), theyre hot at top but halfway down theyre cooler/cold to heading to the bottom (the plumber says therye the best theyre ever going to get) so weve got them all on full blast & boiler on full blast to get house some warmth
sick of getting told by landlady to bleed them or balance them etc, its not our job to do that were not plumbers but she said she cant afford to keep sending plumber round or she might sell the house, she only bought it 6 months ago, we pay our rent on time etc

plumber took of rads downstairs not upstairs ones, flushed them through in the garden with water, put a solution in prior left for 2 weeks.. no blackness came out so minimal you would need glasses to see it.. (ive seen black gunk come out in rads before) so i dont think its blocked by gunk?
he was going to put new pump on then changed his mind saying didnt need one
combi boiler, pressure gage set at 1 1/2 never moves

please were cold, having to slog everything to keep warm, can anyone help?

 

[Best]

What sort of pipes are to rads? Are they very small bore?
If you only turn a couple of rads on, do they work well? If they do then you might have something wrong with the boiler or circulating pump.

 

[MrMeek]

as above, and how many rads roughly do you have?

 

[debbie]

as above, and how many rads roughly do you have?

3 bed house/ 6 rads 1 towel rail
yes rads get hot if turn others off
small pipes/ not the plastic ones

hope this helps.

 

[Barry98]

Small as in the width of a pen or your finger ?

 

[debbie]

hubby said 10mm pipes?

 

[debbie]

finger

 

[Guest123]

If you post your location (not your full address!) Debbie, perhaps someone on the forum might offer to help by at the very least going round to have a look and then giving you a written report to give your landlord.

 

[debbie]

Lincoln hun, i am appreciating all of your replies, i made myself so poorly over christmas worrying like crazy about it.

 

[diamondgas]

Honest advice would be to look for another place to live long term debbie 🙁 Short term would be to buy some alternative heat coz it sounds like your heating system isn't going to be repaired soon? Not unusual unfortunatly! Not meaning to sound harsh! Alternative heat is your best and quickest form of heat in my opinion! ASK YOUR LANDLORD TO SUPPLY AS IT IS THEIR DUTY! see part (1c) here Section 11, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985

 

[chas347]

Microbore is a nightmare to balance. But if you want to give it a try, close off all radiators at outlet of rads and then open them one quarter turn. Run heating for a while, then any cold rads open them up quarter turn at a time. Chances are rads closest to boiler/pump will get hot first then return hot water to boiler. Hence those further away will be cold. Do this until all rads are getting hot at same time. There is a chance that the microbore pipes could be sludged, restricting flow.

 

[debbie]

I was thinking if i could give them ANY advice to try instead of guessing they might mend it?
when we do the balancing we start with doing 1 then turning it off then doing 2nd etc etc, but it doesnt give us heat in all rads all the way down them, but if we put 1 on it does, so they cant be blocked as they work?
could it need a new pump?, but other plumber said we didnt need one as he thinks getting half heat is better than nothing.

 

[debbie]

yes we did that quater turn thing tried few times, but still ends up only some of the radiators are luke warm at top cold halfway down & still have to have boiler/rads turned on full

 

[SimonG]

Sounds like a circulation issue, possible pump. But I think Diamongas's advice is the best.

 

[Barry98]

Have you bled them all ?

 

[Dotty]

Then that plumber needs shooting. Can you (or hubby) check the pump speed please Debbie? Should be be at 1 or 2 at the most.

 

[debbie]

the landladys plumber said your stealing from peter to pay paul with balancing but its either half heat or have rads on downstairs but cold upstairs as it seems it cant cope to heat them all at a hot temp & all the way down the rads

 

[debbie]

Then that plumber needs shooting. Can you (or hubby) check the pump speed please Debbie? Should be be at 1 or 2 at the most.

is that the pressure thing? its at 1 1/2

 

[debbie]

Have you bled them all ?

yes about 50 times now, we know to check the pressure on boiler after incase needs topping up, we get air from the little rad in the little bedroom, but water from all the others everytime

 

[diamondgas]

I was thinking if i could give them ANY advice to try instead of guessing they might mend it?
when we do the balancing we start with doing 1 then turning it off then doing 2nd etc etc, but it doesnt give us heat in all rads all the way down them, but if we put 1 on it does, so they cant be blocked as they work?
could it need a new pump?, but other plumber said we didnt need one as he thinks getting half heat is better than nothing.

Sounds like you have a circulation issue which is either the pump or a restriction of some sort or another? replacing the pump is an option but it depends on several factors ... Appliance make and model and system design being the main considerations....! Microbore pipework, in and of itself, is a good design. However it needs to have been installed correctly. Issues with radiators not working together tend to say it hasn't! I've never known of a 'quick fix' when it comes down to circulation alas 🙂