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