Hi Guys

In case the good folks here that replied to my initial post are
interested, here's the full story.

My vented heating system packed up with air in some rads and some
that wouldn't bleed.
The boiler fired, wound up then shut down.

So I called in the plumbers that reconfigured the system in 2006.
The guy inspected the airing cupboard plumbing and said that he
suspected a blocked cold feed make up pipe.
I left him to it and cleared off to work.
Er indoors rang to say that the plumber had gone after 2 hours,
but the heating wasn't fixed.

So I decided to follow up on his diagnosis at the weekend and
replace the cold feed.
When I looked in the airing cupboard I found that he had disturbed
a joint and it was leaking. So I would need to remove a section
of pipe that he had removed and remake the joint -
excellent.

So I removed the section of 22mm pipe on the suction side of the
pump and discovered that the drop loop where the feed connects to
the main was blocked solid!
Also the rest of the feed line back to the header tank had
collected crud such that the 15mm pipe had a usable bore diameter
of approx 3mm!
I seem to remember when I moved into the place that the system was
pumping over. So the constant introduction of fresh air for
however long has caused deposits that the MagnaClean filter would
not see as the feed pipe is not part of the main
circuit.

Anywho, having cleared the blockage and replaced and rerouted the
fresh water feed, the heating system is now working as normal.
Good news as a cold spell is forecast for next week.

Phil
--


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TheChief wrote:

Er indoors rang to say that the plumber had gone after 2 hours

Hopefully without being paid a penny?

You would have thought, if it were that obvious, that the bloke who came
would have sorted it out and actually not made a leaky reconnection as well.
I had a whole ceiling come down due to a so called plumber not checking his
work when replacing a stopcock in the loft. it was only a tiny leak but it
resulted in a waterlogged corner of a ceiling that needed drying out for a
couple of months before being fixed and retiled.
Brian

--
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This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"TheChief" wrote in message
news
Hi Guys

In case the good folks here that replied to my initial post are
interested, here's the full story.

My vented heating system packed up with air in some rads and some
that wouldn't bleed.
The boiler fired, wound up then shut down.

So I called in the plumbers that reconfigured the system in 2006.
The guy inspected the airing cupboard plumbing and said that he
suspected a blocked cold feed make up pipe.
I left him to it and cleared off to work.
Er indoors rang to say that the plumber had gone after 2 hours,
but the heating wasn't fixed.

So I decided to follow up on his diagnosis at the weekend and
replace the cold feed.
When I looked in the airing cupboard I found that he had disturbed
a joint and it was leaking. So I would need to remove a section
of pipe that he had removed and remake the joint -
excellent.

So I removed the section of 22mm pipe on the suction side of the
pump and discovered that the drop loop where the feed connects to
the main was blocked solid!
Also the rest of the feed line back to the header tank had
collected crud such that the 15mm pipe had a usable bore diameter
of approx 3mm!
I seem to remember when I moved into the place that the system was
pumping over. So the constant introduction of fresh air for
however long has caused deposits that the MagnaClean filter would
not see as the feed pipe is not part of the main
circuit.

Anywho, having cleared the blockage and replaced and rerouted the
fresh water feed, the heating system is now working as normal.
Good news as a cold spell is forecast for next week.

Phil
--


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On Tue, 20 Feb 2018 21:17:45 +0000, TheChief wrote:

Hi Guys

In case the good folks here that replied to my initial post are
interested, here's the full story.

My vented heating system packed up with air in some rads and some
that wouldn't bleed.
The boiler fired, wound up then shut down.

So I called in the plumbers that reconfigured the system in 2006. The
guy inspected the airing cupboard plumbing and said that he
suspected a blocked cold feed make up pipe.
I left him to it and cleared off to work.
Er indoors rang to say that the plumber had gone after 2 hours,
but the heating wasn't fixed.

So I decided to follow up on his diagnosis at the weekend and
replace the cold feed.
When I looked in the airing cupboard I found that he had disturbed
a joint and it was leaking. So I would need to remove a section of
pipe that he had removed and remake the joint -
excellent.

So I removed the section of 22mm pipe on the suction side of the
pump and discovered that the drop loop where the feed connects to the
main was blocked solid!
Also the rest of the feed line back to the header tank had
collected crud such that the 15mm pipe had a usable bore diameter of
approx 3mm!
I seem to remember when I moved into the place that the system was
pumping over. So the constant introduction of fresh air for however
long has caused deposits that the MagnaClean filter would not see as
the feed pipe is not part of the main circuit.

Anywho, having cleared the blockage and replaced and rerouted the
fresh water feed, the heating system is now working as normal. Good
news as a cold spell is forecast for next week.

That reads remarkably similar to my own experience a year or three after
we'd had a fully pumped heating and DHW open vented system installed
around 1983 in this large 6 bedroomed Victorian semi detached house (just
over 25 years ago now with regard to the 'remarkably similar problem').

Investigation led me to poke a length of pyro cable down the header tank
feed from the attic to the bottom of the pipe where it teed onto the
pipework in the airing cupboard in the 1st half landing toilet below.
This action seemed to dislodge what I could only guess at the time was a
crust across the bottom of the pipe at the tee joint into the main feed
to the pump since I was able to bleed the radiators successfully from
then on and forever more.

Curiously, shortly after that fix, I'd noticed that the back kitchen
sink hot tap flow rate had started to get less and less over the
following months compared to the cold tap. In the end, I forced an old
fashioned washing machine tub hose over the mixer tap nozzle to try and
force a back flushing action using the mains pressure cold feed by
alternatively blocking the end of the hose whilst both taps were turned
fully on to create back flushing pulses of cold into the hot water feed
pipework.

Rather gratifyingly, this actually cleared whatever was restricting the
flow and, as before with the CH/DHW cold feed, it remains good to this
day even to the extent that the hot water flow still seems ever so just
slightly better than the cold water flow. Brand new plumbing, eh? Don't
you just love it (NOT!)?

As regards our own CH/DHW system, the boiler itself, a floor standing
cast iron monster (Ideal Mexico Super 100), lives where it belongs, in
the basement. The Potterton controller lives in the utility room on the
ground floor with the pump and mid position 3 way valve, hot water tank
and the multiway terminal box and on off switch fed from what was
originally the immersion heater FCU box[1] being located in the
aforementioned airing cupboard (it was CH Central in that airing cupboard!
).

We were able to save some cost on the DHW side of the installation since
the existing immersion heated hot water tank rather curiously already
sported a heat exchanger coil just waiting to be plumbed into our new CH/
DHW system. I guess the previous owners must have had unrealised plans to
install a CH/DHW system when they decided to up sticks and put the
property up for sale. Our good luck as things turned out. :-)


[1] Now swapped with the downstairs immersion heater switch to allow me
to use the once dedicated immersion heater circuit in the basement CU to
power the CH system independently of the now relocated to the airing
cupboard immersion heater switch which had come from the aforementioned
utility room below which had been part of the original kitchen when we
first moved in. The switch isn't quite so conveniently located as it once
was but, since it's now only an emergency backup option, that no longer
matters.

--
Johnny B Good

Johnny B Good Wrote in message:
On Tue, 20 Feb 2018 21:17:45 +0000, TheChief wrote:

Hi Guys

In case the good folks here that replied to my initial post are
interested, here's the full story.

My vented heating system packed up with air in some rads and some
that wouldn't bleed.
The boiler fired, wound up then shut down.

So I called in the plumbers that reconfigured the system in 2006. The
guy inspected the airing cupboard plumbing and said that he
suspected a blocked cold feed make up pipe.
I left him to it and cleared off to work.
Er indoors rang to say that the plumber had gone after 2 hours,
but the heating wasn't fixed.

So I decided to follow up on his diagnosis at the weekend and
replace the cold feed.
When I looked in the airing cupboard I found that he had disturbed
a joint and it was leaking. So I would need to remove a section of
pipe that he had removed and remake the joint -
excellent.

So I removed the section of 22mm pipe on the suction side of the
pump and discovered that the drop loop where the feed connects to the
main was blocked solid!
Also the rest of the feed line back to the header tank had
collected crud such that the 15mm pipe had a usable bore diameter of
approx 3mm!
I seem to remember when I moved into the place that the system was
pumping over. So the constant introduction of fresh air for however
long has caused deposits that the MagnaClean filter would not see as
the feed pipe is not part of the main circuit.

Anywho, having cleared the blockage and replaced and rerouted the
fresh water feed, the heating system is now working as normal. Good
news as a cold spell is forecast for next week.

That reads remarkably similar to my own experience a year or three after
we'd had a fully pumped heating and DHW open vented system installed
around 1983 in this large 6 bedroomed Victorian semi detached house (just
over 25 years ago now with regard to the 'remarkably similar problem').

Investigation led me to poke a length of pyro cable down the header tank
feed from the attic to the bottom of the pipe where it teed onto the
pipework in the airing cupboard in the 1st half landing toilet below.
This action seemed to dislodge what I could only guess at the time was a
crust across the bottom of the pipe at the tee joint into the main feed
to the pump since I was able to bleed the radiators successfully from
then on and forever more.

Curiously, shortly after that fix, I'd noticed that the back kitchen
sink hot tap flow rate had started to get less and less over the
following months compared to the cold tap. In the end, I forced an old
fashioned washing machine tub hose over the mixer tap nozzle to try and
force a back flushing action using the mains pressure cold feed by
alternatively blocking the end of the hose whilst both taps were turned
fully on to create back flushing pulses of cold into the hot water feed
pipework.

Rather gratifyingly, this actually cleared whatever was restricting the
flow and, as before with the CH/DHW cold feed, it remains good to this
day even to the extent that the hot water flow still seems ever so just
slightly better than the cold water flow. Brand new plumbing, eh? Don't
you just love it (NOT!)?

As regards our own CH/DHW system, the boiler itself, a floor standing
cast iron monster (Ideal Mexico Super 100), lives where it belongs, in
the basement. The Potterton controller lives in the utility room on the
ground floor with the pump and mid position 3 way valve, hot water tank
and the multiway terminal box and on off switch fed from what was
originally the immersion heater FCU box[1] being located in the
aforementioned airing cupboard (it was CH Central in that airing cupboard!
).

We were able to save some cost on the DHW side of the installation since
the existing immersion heated hot water tank rather curiously already
sported a heat exchanger coil just waiting to be plumbed into our new CH/
DHW system. I guess the previous owners must have had unrealised plans to
install a CH/DHW system when they decided to up sticks and put the
property up for sale. Our good luck as things turned out. :-)


[1] Now swapped with the downstairs immersion heater switch to allow me
to use the once dedicated immersion heater circuit in the basement CU to
power the CH system independently of the now relocated to the airing
cupboard immersion heater switch which had come from the aforementioned
utility room below which had been part of the original kitchen when we
first moved in. The switch isn't quite so conveniently located as it once
was but, since it's now only an emergency backup option, that no longer
matters.

--
Johnny B Good


Your back flush method came in handy on an old property of mine
many years ago.
This was in the day when washing machines were supplied both it
and cold fill.

Used washing machine hose to link up hot and cold supply valves,
then opener both valves.
Cleared blockage in old lead supply to kitchen.

Phil
--


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On 20/02/2018 23:01, Andy Burns wrote:
TheChief wrote:

Er indoors rang to say that the plumber had gone after 2 hours

Hopefully without being paid a penny?

:-)

--
Adam