Upstairs heating problems

Booter

Registered User
Messages
208
Folks,

Although there are many similar threads, none are quite what I need so here goes with a long-ish story:

Had house (1981 build) renovated and extended year ago. All rads downstairs are the original "gunbarrel" rads, except for one new one in the kitchen*. These all work perfectly well.

Upstairs, as well as adding extension, all the piping has been replaced and new hot water tank fitted. Ever since then we have had persistent problems in getting sufficient heat into the upstairs rads. The 4 in the extension rarely heat at all. With careful re-balancing I can get 3 of these 4 to a reasonable heat, however this means loss of heat in all other rooms.

There is a total of 14 rads on the upstairs circuit, including 3 in a downstairs garage conversion (*plumber advised he could not join onto existing gun barrel downstairs, so ran pipes from upstairs instead - these are permanently turned off as they barely work anyway). Of these 14 rads we currently have decent heat in 2 (in the 2 kids bedrooms), with adjacent ensuite rads, which are very small, throwing out minimal heat, which is fine. Nothing else heats. With re-balancing I have managed to heat some of the other rads, however its always at the expense of somewhere else.
The system has been drained at least 3 times, we had that stuff put through (I can't remember name) to clean out pipes, we had a stronger pump fitted at boiler. I am no plumber however have learned quite a bit from following this through the past few months - other than balancing, is there some fundamental problem that could be the cause of this? ie

- Piping incorrectly routed?
- Upstairs water pressure to low?
- Not enough water (same thing as above)?

Thanks for any advice/assistance which might help us get to the bottom of this

ps. (Have been back to builder & plumber on repeated occasions, process not over yet, however going round in circles)
 
What make and model is your burner/boiler.

Is the system pressurised? or open vented (small tank in attic).

As for pipes incorrectly routed - turn off all valves both side on every rad upstairs. Then one by one check each one by opening both valves before closing and moving on to the next one - this will mess up your balancing work but at least you will find out if they are plumbed correctly.
 
What make and model is your burner/boiler.

Is the system pressurised? or open vented (small tank in attic).

As for pipes incorrectly routed - turn off all valves both side on every rad upstairs. Then one by one check each one by opening both valves before closing and moving on to the next one - this will mess up your balancing work but at least you will find out if they are plumbed correctly.


David,

Burner: Will check the boiler when I get home - from memory I think it is a "Firebird", model to be confirmed.

System: Other than the two main water tanks in the attic, there is a small tank also into which - I think - hot water sometimes flows? I presume from your question this probably means its open vented. (I don't know the significance of this.)

Thanks for the reply.

ps. Don't know if it's relevant, but water seems to be constantly filling into the tanks upstairs (not the small one). It had crossed my mind that cold water might be constantly flowing into the Rads circuit, thereby causing the perpetual re-filling of tanks.
 
Last edited:
Burner update: Manufacturer seems to be "CHAPPEE". Cant' see a model name or number..

Any help?
 
Back
Top