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I have a central heating system that runs from a stove burning wood mostly and smokeless fuel overnight in Winter. I fitted the system about 25 years ago but the stove was changed about 10 years ago.
Problems started over year ago when the radiator in the extension, which is used as a store room only, wasn't getting hot. I found if I turned the flow valve on and off a few times it then worked. After a while it only worked if the pump was turned up to 3 as well. Now it doesn't get hot at all. But it isn't a living area so it isn't that important.
Now the same thing has happened in the kitchen, which is teed off the same feed.
I changed the kitchen radiator but not the valves and did not drain down the system. That made no difference but the water seemed to fill up in no time.
As the pump was 25 years old I had bought a spare as I imagined one day fairly soon it would suddenly not work. So I changed that yesterday but there is no difference.
I am thinking about this for a while before I do anything else. The kitchen is next to the room where the stove (20 kw) is, so if the door is open, it is not really cold, but I want it working again soon.
I can see the pipes that feed these radiators as they cross the top of the cellar. They seem to get warm but not hot. Ironically this is the newest part of the system with 15mm plastic feeds teed into 8mm copper near the radiators.
The old part which is 15mm copper into 8mm copper is fine. The spare room and the bathroom both are fed by the same 8mm pipes and both work by gravity if the pump is off. The whole system has worked well for years.
Any ideas? Why did turning the valves on and off work before?
Finally the new pump seems a lot noisier. I must have let a bit of air into the system in the fitting process but I would have expected it to be gone by now. OR is it that these cheap chinese pumps are noisy. I still have the 25 year old one which in retrospect was OK.
 
I fitted the plastic. If that part of the system is blocked with sludge why not the longer older 8mm sections which are working fine? When i fitted a new radiator it filled up with water quickly - there didn't seem any blockage.
 
Shouldn't be fitting plastic piping on a solid fuel system. Plastic loves to block on a dirty system, especially when theres pipe inserts involved.
 
I have a central heating system that runs from a stove burning wood mostly and smokeless fuel overnight in Winter. I fitted the system about 25 years ago but the stove was changed about 10 years ago.
Problems started over year ago when the radiator in the extension, which is used as a store room only, wasn't getting hot. I found if I turned the flow valve on and off a few times it then worked. After a while it only worked if the pump was turned up to 3 as well. Now it doesn't get hot at all. But it isn't a living area so it isn't that important.
Now the same thing has happened in the kitchen, which is teed off the same feed.
I changed the kitchen radiator but not the valves and did not drain down the system. That made no difference but the water seemed to fill up in no time.
As the pump was 25 years old I had bought a spare as I imagined one day fairly soon it would suddenly not work. So I changed that yesterday but there is no difference.
I am thinking about this for a while before I do anything else. The kitchen is next to the room where the stove (20 kw) is, so if the door is open, it is not really cold, but I want it working again soon.
I can see the pipes that feed these radiators as they cross the top of the cellar. They seem to get warm but not hot. Ironically this is the newest part of the system with 15mm plastic feeds teed into 8mm copper near the radiators.
The old part which is 15mm copper into 8mm copper is fine. The spare room and the bathroom both are fed by the same 8mm pipes and both work by gravity if the pump is off. The whole system has worked well for years.
Any ideas? Why did turning the valves on and off work before?
Finally the new pump seems a lot noisier. I must have let a bit of air into the system in the fitting process but I would have expected it to be gone by now. OR is it that these cheap chinese pumps are noisy. I still have the 25 year old one which in retrospect was OK.
I think your system might well be sludged up, progressive lack of heat in rads is typical. I dont really rate your pipe system its a miss mash , clean the whole system out with loads of fresh water at mains pressure inc. the rads one by one...if you want to do this reply and we will explain how to do it
centralheatking
 
In its favour this "mishmash" has lasted 25 years. How long do condensing boilers last? The system was all 8mm copper at one time but I was given the plastic coil by a plumber and the easiest way to fit another radiator was to use the Speedfit pipe. I have changed the pump and one radiator but as it turns out I didn't need to.
I am going to drain the system down and have a look at the plastic section but will wait til it's a bit warmer.
I was coming round to the idea of using mains pressure on any blockages.
AND I will fit a filter on the system. There isn't a lot of room so I need the smallest one I can find that is any good. Anybody know the size of these from valve end to valve end?
 

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