Central Heating behaving oddly

hello, new house less than 6 mths old - GFCH problems! The heating seems to have a mind of its own, i.e. sometimes the radiators do not come on downstairs - and radiators upstairs are so hot you can barely put your hand on them. Boiler is upstairs - tank etc. is downstairs. Usually turning timer on and off solves the problem. Now towel rail in my ensuite has stopped working, and radiator in adjoining bedroom dosen't heat up enough, while outside in the hallway the rads are on fire! Am gonna get builder back in but just wondering has anyone advice as I don't know if he'll believe this "odd" behaviour!! as probably if i turn on heating while he is there everything will work perfectly - as this are intermittent issues. thanks.

Hi Pinkie,
It sounds like your system has never been balanced and commissioned, most plumbers will balance but for commissioning you need an commissioning engineer. If you need help finding one let me know.

thanks - can you explain that to me in non-plumber speak?

Have you a pressurised heating system? How many room thermostats do you have? Can you have heat on upstairs/downstairs only? I.E is heating system in broken into different zones?

there are 2 thermostats - one upstairs and one downstairs. I don't know if its pressurised. There are also solar panels which heat the tank for H20.

afah it's not zoned heating - you can't have upstairs on and downstairs off.

pinkie123 said:

afah it's not zoned heating - you can't have upstairs on and downstairs off.

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You probably do have zoned heating. If you turn upstairs room stat down to 0, this should shut down motorised valve and you will have heat downstairs only and visa versa with down stairs.

Motorised valves are valves with a box on top, a cable comes off this box. You down stairs motorised valve (which may be in hotpress or under boiler) may be sticking.

Balancing system means that all radaitors reach the same temperture and you have proper flow and return temp differance at boiler.

i think i know the box you mean. I will get builder in as it is a new build - just wanted to seem like I might know what i'm talking abt and not be the hapless female thanks 4 advice

i had a problem with my heating only recently and like you it was a new build the rads in some of the room werent working at all and downstairs was perfect turn out to be a problem with the manifold,in the end the plumber had to take a seperate feed for the 3 rads

Definitely get the builder in, he should at least get the plumber in to set up your system properly. With Commissioning I mean that your boiler is set up properly, efficiently, and running to the best of its ability, also emmission wise etc. this ususlly does not get done with new builts as it involves getting a commissioning engineer. Keep an eye on your running costs for a few months if it seems excesive. You may need to get your boiler commissioned. Also get the plumber to explain the system to you and ask for manuals of your boiler, burner, thermostates, solar system etc. you should get them and put them away safely. This is a standard thing that mostly gets forgotten about. Ask all the questions no matter how insignificant you may think they are ask, and get them answered. That is your right. I know how plumber can react and esspecially if you are a woman ( I know as I am a female in this business and get this on a dailey basis) ignore the ignorance make a joke about it and get him to explain whatever you need to know. Good Luck, if you need help pm me.

Also check your rads don't have TRV knobs on them. Thermo radial valves or something. This means they turn off when they sense the room has reached the required temp and shut it off. HOWEVER, I found out on this site that the pin inside these can stick and so the Rad stays off. Classic symptom is rad that comes on fine, heats up lovely then goes off and stays off, as the pin inside which should be free moving has gotten stuck. If you google TRV you should find the solution, you can take off the knobs replace them or oil them and try and get the pin free moving again.

have u checked the rads aren't airlocked