Enough heating output?

[David937]

Do you think that the heating engineers should be called back and told to replace all undersized radiators and all the undersized pipework?

If they refuse to do this, what is the best type of supplemenatry heating that can be utilised on the cold days?

I was thinking of putting a small 1kw oil filled radiator we have on a timer so it comes on just as the house is warming up and goes off after an hour or so.

 

[D_Hailsham]

Do you think that the heating engineers should be called back and told to replace all undersized radiators and all the undersized pipework?

It all depends on what you instructed them to do and whether they have fulfilled your instructions. It might be advisable, before you contact the heating engineers, to speak to your local Trading Standards Department. The work will be covered by the Supply of Goods and Services Act and they are responsible for enforcing its provisions. They may suggest that you get a report from an independent contractor as to what is wrong and what needs to be done to put everything right.

It does show that, even if you use a contractor "approved" by the boiler manufacturer, there is no guarantee that he knows anything about designing heating systems.

 

[David937]

We told them we wanted a new system, we told them that the house never used to get warm and the hot water was pathetic.

They said we needed new radiators but the pipework doesn't need replacing as it is usually in good condition...they mentioned nothing about changing the pipe sizes due to the output required etc.

So, from what I gather they should have done all the required calculations etc to give us a system that works and achieves the correct temperatures all throughout the year.

Does this sound plausible?

It does show that, even if you use a contractor "approved" by the boiler manufacturer, there is no guarantee that he knows anything about designing heating systems.

This was a Worcester approved installer, there was only one Vaillant one locally and the others were to far.

The Vaillant one wanted to install an Alpha CD50 and run the pipework on the skirting boards, although he was going to change some of the pipework to 22mm.

 

[snb]

even though the rad pipe sizes may not be the size that would be ideal it still appears from what you have said that the rads all get piping hot. If this is the case then the only answer to solve this is to fit larger rads.

 

[JohnD]

how many degrees is "piping"?