back boiler and radiator

[thesaint12]

hi , i have just added another radiator to my system, making 3 in total all downstairs, by continuing on from where it enters the last radiator and joining back the return the same way , all pipework is in 15mm, the bit ive added on ive done in push-fit about 4m worth there and back, it is a solid fuel system ,with a pump on the flow , which only has 2 settings off and on, rads and pump have been bled and the water in the rads warms up straight away ,but does not stays warm not hot ,i have not flushed the system because i used push-fit , do you think i need to flush the system or do you think i need a bigger pump or both. the 2 rads worked fine before , fire has been in for days so the water would be red hot , got me scratching my head this any help welcome

 

[Dan Robinson]

Did you plumb them in parallel or series? what is being used as a heat leak?

 

[thesaint12]

hi thanks for the quick reply, they are in a series ,but i dont know what a heat leak is could you explain, its not my house its my mums thanks.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Solid fuel is not my forte...

The heat leak is a rad or HW cylinder that takes the heat away form the back boiler to stop it going boom.


If they are all plumbed in series you may have the first rad turned off, or there could be a mad airlock.

Have you supported the plastic pipe work - no droops or sags.

Is it barrier pipe?

 

[thesaint12]

yep its the last radiator is piped in pex barrier speedfix , everything has clipped up and has no sagging, there is a hot water vessel and the back boiler from the solid fuel heating heats the water for both hw and ch when ch is needed the pump is turned on manually, so the rad vavles are just the basic ones ,not trvs. i have tried turning off all the rads and the pipes dont get hot at all, i am a student training to be a plumber and cant find any reference that would relate to my problem , although i think these systems will be on the increase due to other fuel prices, it would be handy to get to know them i guess, thanks mark

 

[Dan Robinson]

OK, as you plumbed it is series you need to open all the rad valves...

 

[thesaint12]

i opened all the valves bleed the rads , got warm very quickly then stayed at that temp, i then turned them all off to flush out any air trapped in pipe , i then blead the pump , i expected the water to start becoming hot very quickly as i opened the last rad to create an a 1 rad loop, but nothing im either thinking ,flushing ,if that doesnt work new pump, my thinking is its a pressure problem ie not enough. the pump is quite old and does not have the 3 speed settings like modern ones ,its just on or off. I have drawn a diagram ,if i could send it to you to have a quick look, thanks

 

[thesaint12]

i have added a picture of the diagram to my album , ifyou could have a look, cheers.

 

[Dan Robinson]

i opened the last rad to create an a 1 rad loop

But you have plumbed them in series. They all need to be on.


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[mogget]

Have you checked to see that the heat output of the back boiler is enough for the newly increased radiator load?

 

[thesaint12]

no way of knowing its bricked in behind the fire .

 

[thesaint12]

its a two pipe system entering rads on 1 side and continuing to next and then next , ect , return is the same, so i can turn the first 2 rads off and maintain the flow through the last rad, i think that is a series or am i wrong ???

 

[Dan Robinson]

This would be the best way...

 

[thesaint12]

thats the way it has been done apart from the pump is on the flow ,pushing it along.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Then it's parallel?

Look at the pump more.