Heating Issue

John.G

generalgerry wrote: »

Circulation pump definitely in the right way, I have photos of the old one to compare. There is no electric immersion connection.

Okay I have added in all the other pipes going to the tank. Obviously these are not how the pipes are physically laid out, but I have traced each pipe and tried to make it fit in a 2D image.

thanks,

Don't want to keep beating the same old drum but when you get a new circ pump, 99% of the time the pump label will be the "right way up" with the arrow on the pump body pointing upwards, obviously you just turn the whole pump around to install it with the arrow pointing downwards but then the pump label will be upside down which isn't a problem but some like to have the label upright so they just rotate the pump head through 180 deg but the pump is still pumping in the required downward direction so I assume this is what you did?

Also, have you turned the red knob on the boiler PRV slowly anticlockwise to release any trapped air?.

Curious_Case

generalgerry wrote: »

Circulation pump definitely in the right way, I have photos of the old one to compare. There is no electric immersion connection.

Okay I have added in all the other pipes going to the tank. Obviously these are not how the pipes are physically laid out, but I have traced each pipe and tried to make it fit in a 2D image.

thanks,

Just a thought if you have time to experiment further --

Tie up ballcock in expansion tank, leave a few hours and check to see if water level has dropped.
If not, run system for a few minutes and check again.

Low water might explain how circulating pumps are running but not distributing heat.
Also, an ongoing leak might account for the fact that radiators went first, then the hot water.

generalgerry

punisher5112 wrote: »

Have you balanced the system?

I went through the procedure with the plumberparts guy on youtube, and it seems easy enough, but haven't done it yet.

Curious_Case wrote: »

Just a thought if you have time to experiment further --Tie up ballcock in expansion tank, leave a few hours and check to see if water level has dropped.If not, run system for a few minutes and check again.

Sounds like a good idea. Will try.

John.G wrote: »

Don't want to keep beating the same old drum but when you get a new circ pump, 99% of the time the pump label will be the "right way up" with the arrow on the pump body pointing upwards,

Also, have you turned the red knob on the boiler PRV slowly anticlockwise to release any trapped air?.

Picture of old and new pumps in place attached below. When installing I was conscious about keeping the arrows in the same direction moreso than having the pump upright.

I turned the knob this morning on the PRV and released some water. I will turn on the heating later to see if it made any difference.

generalgerry

I'm just wondering. Since I took out the ground floor radiator on Saturday (and left it out), I have easy access to plug a hose in to the thermostatic valve and drain the entire system. At this point would I be better off just biting the bullet and draining the whole thing. Might be good experience as I will have to support this central heating system going forward.

CoBo55

generalgerry wrote: »

I'm just wondering. Since I took out the ground floor radiator on Saturday (and left it out), I have easy access to plug a hose in to the thermostatic valve and drain the entire system. At this point would I be better off just biting the bullet and draining the whole thing. Might be good experience as I will have to support this central heating system going forward.

Why drain the whole system? I wouldn't do that tbh. It's a circulation problem and inviting air into the system would create more problems.

wiz569

Is that second pump the wrong way around?

Surely the two pumps are pumping against each other!

punisher5112

wiz569 wrote: »

Is that second pump the wrong way around?

Surely the two pumps are pumping against each other!

Arrows show both are same direction....

One is the old the other is new the op fitted as replacement.

wiz569

punisher5112 wrote: »

Arrows show both are same direction....

One is the old the other is new the op fitted as replacement.

I mean looking at the image in post 30

Curious_Case

wiz569 wrote: »

Is that second pump the wrong way around?

Surely the two pumps are pumping against each other!

They are opposing each other all right but they're also supplementing each other from the point of view of that pipe going down from the left hand tee.

I don't know if it's by design or if the layout evolved to solve problems.

John.G

Can't understand reason for the pipe stat on the primary cylinder coil starting the second pump which is then pumping back into the cylinder return and also going upwards and downwards?, is this pump returning the water to the boiler return or what, also would be nice to see the rad circuit drawn out as a schematic on a simple line diagram.

generalgerry

I released about two buckets of water from the PRV (seemed to be a bit of air in it) and I kicked the new motor up to three and we are now getting luke warm water to all the radiators. It's a start but I need to improve the circulation.

John.G

If you could circulate water around the rad circuit only first by using one pump (new) only it may help. I think you said the second pump starts on rising temperature so you can prevent that by turning the stat up to max, if it starts on falling temperature, turn the stat to minimum. If you can get a direct circuit around the rads it may prove something.

Also ensure you are not circulating water up to the F&E tank with that very high pump setting.

generalgerry

I'm just carrying out a few test runs to see if the circulation improves.

Fun fact: If I turn off the secondary motor the tank warms up fully, and the rads get nothing. With the motor on the tank stays cold and the rads warm up.

John.G

Can't really suggest anything else without a line diagram of the whole system.

Curious_Case

generalgerry wrote: »

I'm just carrying out a few test runs to see if the circulation improves.

Fun fact: If I turn off the secondary motor the tank warms up fully, and the rads get nothing. With the motor on the tank stays cold and the rads warm up.

Just a guess - why not try closing off that gate valve a few turns to see if any water gets redirected to the rads without the secondary pump running?

Also, separately or simultaneously, you could try reducing the speed of the secondary pump?

generalgerry

Hi everybody, just checking back in. Since we've been here I've done a couple of things.
1. I drained out a good bit of water in order to put in some inhibitor in the F&E tank earlier in the week - I know this is normally done through a rad but this way was just easier for me.
2. I took off another radiator, in one of the more prominent rooms, cleaned it out and refitted.
3. I ran the heating for a couple of hours every night since.

It's been getting progressively better each night and we're back in action. Just want to say thanks to everybody here who helped. Really enjoyed the learning experience.

I've donated a hundred euro to Crumlin Children's Hospital on your behalf