An elderly couple I know live in a house that was constructed in 1990 - the builders used microbore pipe for the central heating. Need to help them remove a blockage which fernox ds40 hasn't shifted. All the walls downstairs are solid brick and the floor is concrete. For the downstairs radiators where would the pipe work have been routed for the feed and return pipes - would it have been chased vertically into the wall? Any ideas?
Sentinel X800 is my perferred cleaner, but with any cleaner it will not in most cases remove a blockage. With microbore piping, it could be in the floor or wall. Can you describe the problem in a bit more detail, is it jut one section, one radiator, ground floor/first floor?
No probs. Open vented system. Boiler downstairs in garage, central heating pump upstairs in airing cupboard. TRV pin seems to be moving up and down ok. All radiators fine upstairs. 6 out the 9 radiators downstairs are working ok. The one in the lounge is lukewarm and then the 2nd one in the lounge is stone cold...then the one in the kitchen (opposite side of the house to the lounge) is also lukewarm at best,
Hi As kiab says, more information needed, how do you know it's a micobore system? Just because the tails to the rads are 8 or 10 mm, it may be a normal system, not 22 mm supplying manifolds? Try to dianose what's really happening, or not as the case may be Regards Peter
Why not take off affected radiators & take them outside & flush through with hose. Tried turning off all upstairs.
It's definitely a microbore system as the neighbour said he and others who had houses from the same builder had a similar issue down to microbore piping and inhibitor not being put in despite them being told it had. Some got the whole thing repiped many years ago...but he was sketchy on the details. I have checked the TRV pins and they seem ok. I turned off every TRV and Lockshield on the working rads - as a result one of the 3 dodgy rads heated up, the one next to it didn't seem to change that much and the one in the kitchen moved to lukewarm. I have taken one of the rads off and flushed out in the garden with a hose, doesn't seem to have made any difference.
Kiaora: Do you reckon putting some more cleaner through system like Sentinnels X800 for a few days would help,(I've alway found it a very effective cleaner, & better than Fernox) after flushing through affected radiators with a hose. https://www.sentinelprotects.com/uk...systems/sentinel-x800-jetflo-ultimate-cleaner
Hi I trick I have used many times and will help prove the supply or not to the radiators.... All rads off except in this case the kitchen, run system, is it working now? No? Next, isolate radiator by closing both rad valves, remove air vent, and use a ballofix with some ptfe on one side and a bit of hose connected the other.... Screw in to where air vent was. Open flow, and run water out to drain, or bucket. This will flush out the flow pipe work. Then close flow, open return and repeat exercise. This will prove if the pipe work is clear or not... to that rad. If it's clear, rad full of ****, or system out of balance or pump u/s Regards Peter
Yes it's a good idea, then if no improvement, try my system, it will prove the problem. With most things, finding the problem is hard, fixing is easy?..
Awesome, thanks Peter and Kiab - really appreciate the help. It's not my house but the elderly couple have gone through a very rough time over the last 2 years will illness...so if I can help them with your advice that would be once less thing for them to worry about! I will try this out tomorrow or on the weekend and report back!
Good luck, NTS. I'd follow Kiaora's post #12 above. If you go to a huge amount of effort only to find it's a sticking TRV then you will feel very silly and we will all laugh at you even tho' we don't know who you are. You don't initially even need to go as far as wot Kiaora says to check for blockages, I don't think. Go to the rad wo'ts stone cold and shut off both valves (ALWAYS note down EXACTLY how far open the lockshield ends are, so that you can return them to the EXACT same position afterwards). Get a bucket and open the bleed screw fully until the flow stops - it should do so after a few seconds (when the pressure inside the rad has fallen). Now open one of the valves and see what happens - a good strong flow? Then repeat on t'other. Ditto? If you are getting a flow from both ends - even a poor one - then you should hopefully have success using a powerful cleaner like X800 (I like that stuff too). Ideally you should also fit a Magnetic filter on the return before the boiler to catch all the released sludge, or else it'll remain flying around the system. It'll cost them about £100 for the filter - are you up to fitting it (very straight forward if you've done any plumbing). If you surmise that the cause is down to partially blocked pipes, then good chance you can rescue the system over a few months by using the filter and cleaners - just turn up once a week and clean it out. If necessary leave some of the 'good' rads shut off - or turned right down - and open the lockshields and TRVs on the poorest ones right up to boost flow through them. (But, record the starting positions of the every lockshield you touch!) Good luck - please report back
Magnaclean Pro 2 is my favourite filter, others cheaper, but not so good. https://www.plumbnation.co.uk/site/...ter---black/?gclid=CMzA0pGNwdACFbEW0wodYQ0NdQ
KIAB - right on cue I thought I heard some horse's hooves approaching, and a "YEE-HAAW!" outside my window...
Thanks so much and I will report back Quick question, how fast/powerful/quantity of water should be coming out of the flow and return pipes, should it be like a sink tap but only when turned on just slightly or should it be gushing?
Hmmm so I isolated the 3 problematic rads, then took the one off in the kitchen to drain the header tank. Cleaned the header tank as it was horrible and put in 2 litres of X800 - put the cold water back on and bled the kitchen radiator. I then ran the central heating for 40 mins and nothing got even warm, so I then opened all the rads upstairs and downstairs. The kitchen one now warms up, but some of the other rads that were working are now stone cold? I left the central heating on and said I needed to come back to research! There is a gurgling sound at times near the central heating pump and some whining noise from the pump. Any ideas? Air - but the rads I checked bled water straight away. Or maybe the blockage has moved to the other rads instead?
Forums
Facebook
Twitter
You Tube
Instagram
Shop