Hi,

I'm soon to move into a house that has been unoccupied for last 6 months
and left in the hands of an estate agent. Just wondering what basic
checks I should be doing to the central heating system before firing it
up for the first time, then what servicing I should be thinking of. The
house was built about 1987 and this is the original installation.

I don't know if the system will have been drained down over the winter
to avoid water in pipes freezing.

The plumbing is all 10mm dia copper pipe. I have heard that this is
prone to fouling up and will need flushing through from time to time.

The boiler is gas fired. I think it's a Myson Apollo.

Thanks

Rockydell

Rockydell wrote:
Hi,

I'm soon to move into a house that has been unoccupied for last 6 months
and left in the hands of an estate agent. Just wondering what basic
checks I should be doing to the central heating system before firing it
up for the first time, then what servicing I should be thinking of. The
house was built about 1987 and this is the original installation.

I don't know if the system will have been drained down over the winter
to avoid water in pipes freezing.

The plumbing is all 10mm dia copper pipe. I have heard that this is
prone to fouling up and will need flushing through from time to time.

The boiler is gas fired. I think it's a Myson Apollo.

Thanks

Rockydell

You might find that the pump is siezed - unscrew the cover in the centre
of it and turn the rotor with a screwdriver to free it.
before you fire it up.

regards

Phil

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 17:30:19 +0000, Rockydell wrote:

Hi,

I'm soon to move into a house that has been unoccupied for last 6 months
and left in the hands of an estate agent. Just wondering what basic
checks I should be doing to the central heating system before firing it
up for the first time, then what servicing I should be thinking of. The
house was built about 1987 and this is the original installation.

I don't know if the system will have been drained down over the winter
to avoid water in pipes freezing.

Obviously check that.

Presumably this is an open vented system, so go up into the loft and
check the small header tank. There should be about 50mm or so of
water in the bottom. check that the float valve works.

Go to a drain point and drain off some water from the system, or take
some from a radiator vent. If it is really black, then you may need
to do a thorough flush of the system.


The plumbing is all 10mm dia copper pipe. I have heard that this is
prone to fouling up and will need flushing through from time to time.

That is only true if the system is not properly looked after and
inhibitor has not been used. I would assume that the previous
occupier has not take care of the system and assume that there has
been no inhibitor.


If there is a sign of sludging - black brown particles in the water,
then a drain and flush is in order. I have posted a method of doing
a thorough job of this by removing and flushing radiators one by one.
Careful because sludge is an indellible dye.
An alternative is to rent a power flushing machine.
Don't pay someone to do a power flush because it is a real rip-off.

If there water is relatively clean, you can use a chemical flushing
agent in the system, run hot for the period recommended - normally up
to a week. This won't work for badly silted systems.

Check that the pump isn't siezed by removing the small cap and turning
the screw underneath with a large screwdriver.

Check that motorised valve(s) are free by operating the manual lever
on the side.

If there is no record of a boiler service, I would be inclined to get
an independent CORGI fitter to come and do one and include a flue gas
test to make sure all is OK with the boiler.

Then you can fire it all up and run the system. Obviously check for
leaks especially at radiaotr valves.

Make sure you add inhibitor !!






The boiler is gas fired. I think it's a Myson Apollo.

Thanks

Rockydell

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Andy Hall wrote:
On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 17:30:19 +0000, Rockydell wrote:


Hi,

I'm soon to move into a house that has been unoccupied for last 6 months
and left in the hands of an estate agent. Just wondering what basic
checks I should be doing to the central heating system before firing it
up for the first time, then what servicing I should be thinking of. The
house was built about 1987 and this is the original installation.

I don't know if the system will have been drained down over the winter
to avoid water in pipes freezing.


Obviously check that.

Presumably this is an open vented system, so go up into the loft and
check the small header tank. There should be about 50mm or so of
water in the bottom. check that the float valve works.

Go to a drain point and drain off some water from the system, or take
some from a radiator vent. If it is really black, then you may need
to do a thorough flush of the system.


The plumbing is all 10mm dia copper pipe. I have heard that this is
prone to fouling up and will need flushing through from time to time.


That is only true if the system is not properly looked after and
inhibitor has not been used. I would assume that the previous
occupier has not take care of the system and assume that there has
been no inhibitor.


If there is a sign of sludging - black brown particles in the water,
then a drain and flush is in order. I have posted a method of doing
a thorough job of this by removing and flushing radiators one by one.
Careful because sludge is an indellible dye.
An alternative is to rent a power flushing machine.
Don't pay someone to do a power flush because it is a real rip-off.

If there water is relatively clean, you can use a chemical flushing
agent in the system, run hot for the period recommended - normally up
to a week. This won't work for badly silted systems.

Check that the pump isn't siezed by removing the small cap and turning
the screw underneath with a large screwdriver.

Check that motorised valve(s) are free by operating the manual lever
on the side.

If there is no record of a boiler service, I would be inclined to get
an independent CORGI fitter to come and do one and include a flue gas
test to make sure all is OK with the boiler.

Then you can fire it all up and run the system. Obviously check for
leaks especially at radiaotr valves.

Make sure you add inhibitor !!






The boiler is gas fired. I think it's a Myson Apollo.

Thanks

Rockydell


..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Thanks, just what I was looking for.

Rockdell

Rockydell wrote:
: Hi,

: I'm soon to move into a house that has been unoccupied for last 6 months
: and left in the hands of an estate agent. Just wondering what basic
: checks I should be doing to the central heating system before firing it
: up for the first time, then what servicing I should be thinking of. The
: house was built about 1987 and this is the original installation.

: I don't know if the system will have been drained down over the winter
: to avoid water in pipes freezing.

: The plumbing is all 10mm dia copper pipe. I have heard that this is
: prone to fouling up and will need flushing through from time to time.

: The boiler is gas fired. I think it's a Myson Apollo.

: Thanks

: Rockydell

You may be interested in our experience when my wife and I
bought our present house. It had been empty over a very cold
winter. We were assured that the water systems had all been
drained. The estate agent (spit) would not let us in the
house at all until completion, except for one occasion when,
under extreme pressure, he did accompany us for one visit. The
house was left unoccupied for about 8-9 weeks. At the end of
that period the weather got seriously cold and the temperature
inside the house was around -4C. Actually, it had condensation
on the outside of the windows when the weather warmed up a bit.

The day we took possession, the weather warmed up and the house
started to thaw out. That day, I repaired 17 burst pipes and
removed two split radiators. The split in the boiler heat
exchanger was not to serious and it only dripped slowly.

The estate agent subsequently claimed that the house had
in fact been drained properly and that *we* had insisted that
he should turn the water back on sometime prior to completion.
We never did manage to recover anything from that. Even with
threats of legal action, the EA (double spit) firmly stuck to
his (lying) story.

The house itself was full of dead-legs that could not be drained
without removing pipework. The drain point for the boiler was
at the top of the heat exchanger. The whole system was appalling
and it took three weeks of constant 24 hour per day heating
to get the house up to 55F inside. Most of the hot water system
was so furred up from years of that sort of running that the
bath water ran at about a large cupfull per minute.

The moral of this story is that estate agents don't always
tell the truth!

-------------------------------------------------------------
The opinions expressed are personal. They do not necessarily
represent those of my employer.

Bob Walker, BBC Research and Development Department.
Kingswood Warren, Tadworth, Surrey, UK.
bobdotwalkeratrddotbbcdotcodotuk

Bob Walker wrote:
Rockydell wrote:
: Hi,

: I'm soon to move into a house that has been unoccupied for last 6 months
: and left in the hands of an estate agent. Just wondering what basic
: checks I should be doing to the central heating system before firing it
: up for the first time, then what servicing I should be thinking of. The
: house was built about 1987 and this is the original installation.

: I don't know if the system will have been drained down over the winter
: to avoid water in pipes freezing.

: The plumbing is all 10mm dia copper pipe. I have heard that this is
: prone to fouling up and will need flushing through from time to time.

: The boiler is gas fired. I think it's a Myson Apollo.

: Thanks

: Rockydell

You may be interested in our experience when my wife and I
bought our present house. It had been empty over a very cold
winter. We were assured that the water systems had all been
drained. The estate agent (spit) would not let us in the
house at all until completion, except for one occasion when,
under extreme pressure, he did accompany us for one visit. The
house was left unoccupied for about 8-9 weeks. At the end of
that period the weather got seriously cold and the temperature
inside the house was around -4C. Actually, it had condensation
on the outside of the windows when the weather warmed up a bit.

The day we took possession, the weather warmed up and the house
started to thaw out. That day, I repaired 17 burst pipes and
removed two split radiators. The split in the boiler heat
exchanger was not to serious and it only dripped slowly.

The estate agent subsequently claimed that the house had
in fact been drained properly and that *we* had insisted that
he should turn the water back on sometime prior to completion.
We never did manage to recover anything from that. Even with
threats of legal action, the EA (double spit) firmly stuck to
his (lying) story.

The house itself was full of dead-legs that could not be drained
without removing pipework. The drain point for the boiler was
at the top of the heat exchanger. The whole system was appalling
and it took three weeks of constant 24 hour per day heating
to get the house up to 55F inside. Most of the hot water system
was so furred up from years of that sort of running that the
bath water ran at about a large cupfull per minute.

The moral of this story is that estate agents don't always
tell the truth!

-------------------------------------------------------------
The opinions expressed are personal. They do not necessarily
represent those of my employer.

Bob Walker, BBC Research and Development Department.
Kingswood Warren, Tadworth, Surrey, UK.
bobdotwalkeratrddotbbcdotcodotuk

The sort of experience one could well do without on moving day!
Rockydell