Puzzled by heating set up

aisr1ofk43dpy5

Hi this is my first time posting but I've done a fair bit of reading and know there are a lot of well imformed posters here.
I recently visited a relative who lives in a local authority house and had oil fired central heating installed a couple of years back. She also has an old stanley which was alwas there and the plumbing was done so this still heats the water in the copper cylinder.
What puzzles me is when the stanley is going the upstairs rads get warm even though the heating system is a sealed system and i didn't think a back boiler could be attached to such a system.
My questions are is this right and if so why is it only the upstairs rads getting warm. They only get warm not hot as I'm guessing the old stanley isn't up to the job. Also is it safe.
Sorry for such a longwinded post hope it can be understood.

JohnnieK

Hi. How do you know it's a sealed system? Can you see a red expansion vessel somewhere?

It shouldn't be sealed unless the system is split. Is there a pump on the Stanley?

There must be reverse circulation going on if the rads get a bit warm.

aisr1ofk43dpy5

JohnnieK wrote: »

Hi. How do you know it's a sealed system? Can you see a red expansion vessel somewhere?

It shouldn't be sealed unless the system is split. Is there a pump on the Stanley?

There must be reverse circulation going on if the rads get a bit warm.

Thanks for the reply, yes there is an expansion vessel in the attic. There's no pump on the stanley.
I have no knowledge of central heating systems apart from bleeding the rads a few times on my own so what causes reverse circulation and is it safe to continue using it.

JohnnieK

Is there chance you can follow the pipes from the Stanley and see where they go? Flow them and see if they are anyway joined to the radiators.

aisr1ofk43dpy5

JohnnieK wrote: »

Is there chance you can follow the pipes from the Stanley and see where they go? Flow them and see if they are anyway joined to the radiators.

Well it isn't my own house and its a fair distance away but I'll certainly try next time I'm there. I know the pipes from the stanley go to the cylinder in the hotpress which is in the kitchen but after that I dont know where they go.

nadiahealy

i take it the range is only used for hot water if so then when range is heating the cylinder it is also heating the coil with the hot water surrounding it,as heat will rise it will continue to go to upstairs rads,the hotter your cylinder becomes the warmer your rads will get,if your rads get really hot when you have range lit then it could be a leak in the coil

aisr1ofk43dpy5

Yes the range is just to heat the water. So your saying this is normal so and nothing to worry about.

aujopimur

If the range only heats water, that part is called direct, ie the water in the cylinder is circulated through the boiler by gravity.
The oil fired side is called indirect, ie the water in the cylinder is heated by a coil in the cylinder.
The upstairs rads may be picking up heat from the coil in the cylinder, when the oil side is off.

aisr1ofk43dpy5

aujopimur wrote: »

If the range only heats water, that part is called direct, ie the water in the cylinder is circulated through the boiler by gravity.
The oil fired side is called indirect, ie the water in the cylinder is heated by a coil in the cylinder.
The upstairs rads may be picking up heat from the coil in the cylinder, when the oil side is off.

Ah yeah that makes sense cheers but as the woman of the house said with the price of oil pity it doesn't heat the downstairs ones too

nadiahealy

yea nothin to worry about,