Paranoia with my CH System....

[Andi88]

Hi guys.. I'm losing amounts of sleep (hard not to) over my CH system.

I live in a small 1 bed house with the missus. In total we have 5 rads in the house. On Saturday for some reason I decided to change out the rads to new ones with new valves). I drained out the system and fitted the new rads valves eventually, (there were leaks and broken pipes but we'll shant go into that ) anyway, My CH system is Open Vent (I think) with a little tiny black tank in the loft and I have an Ariston Megaflow (125ltr) as a HW tank. The boiler is very old I think and its a Baxi Solo.

Couple of things..

I have bled the rads and 1 in the living room by the front door only seems to be 'warm', the towel rad in the kitchen is boiling, the one by the stairs is also hot. Upstairs is fine also.

However, from the boiler, I'm getting a sloshing noise after it goes out. House seems to warm up nicely, but I've bled and bled the rads, CH Sloshing has calmed down, but as its in a small house, I can hear it from anywhere!

My disadvantage is that my pipes are 8mm microbore. I know everyone frowns at this dia pipe but hey ho, I have to live with it as I cannot afford to tear the house down to change the pipes.

So a couple of things then.. The rad I think is the furthest is only warm, and sloshing from the boiler AFTER its fired up..

The cold rad is solved now as I used Sentinel X400 in the system (its the 3rd day) and the rad is lovely and hot. However, the sloshing is still there. I've also noticed that when the boiler turns off, a spurt of water comes out the vent pipe in the loft, is this normal?

I'm really stressed out, cant eat or sleep properly if I dont solve this problem, the missus says its only CH, get it fixed etc, but its really bugging ME.

Sorry for the long winded story, but I'm hoping to be as detailed as possible.

I really do hope some of you good peeps on here can give me advice.


Thanks for your time

 

[Burnerman]

Have you bled the circulating pump - the large screw in the middle?
I think you still have air in the system which should eventually work its way out, but check this pump first. If its noisy too, consider its replacement.
John

 

[Andi88]

Hiya John

Well, I've undone the screw and it reminds me of the 'pi$$ing' boy from belgium statue lol. Its just a stream/jet of water. Before it got messier I have only screwed it back in. i.e. didnt wait for any longer.

Pump should be 'off' right?

 

[Burnerman]

I usually bleed them when they are running, too.
If the pump is noisy, the impeller inside could be broken, but if its quiet we can assume its ok, I think.
The spurt of water could indicate that the pump speed is a bit high, so turn it down a setting if you can. The spurt could also be a release of air.
Make sure the small F/E tank in the loft has about 4" of water in it, and it should be cold.
John

 

[Andi88]

Pump is quiet, When its off, it'll pi$$ out a stream of water, when its running, its dribbling out is this correct?

Theres plenty of water in the tank, so its normal for it to spurt when the CH turns off? I havent much paid attention to my CH system since I fitted the rads etc...

 

[Burnerman]

That sounds ok for the pump, I think.
The expansion pipe shouldn't pass water in normal use - either the pump speed is too high or its a burst of air - or steam if the boiler temperature is too high.
John

 

[electronicsuk]

Almost certainly it's a simple case of balancing the rads, see the FAQ section. With so few radiators, you could probably get away with turning the lockshield valves on all the ones currently getting hot to 1/4 open, and the ones failing to warm up left fully open.

EDIT: Should point out that the above is with ref. to the cold/lukewarm rads, not the sloshing noise.

 

[Andi88]

Oh sh!te.. I remembered I put the pump to #3 as X400 instructions said to crank up the pump speed. Shall I'll dial it back down to 2 then? or wait for another couple of weeks till I drain out the X400?

However sloshing noise, Drip drip and like sloshing fuel tank noise..

Its really bugging me!

 

[Burnerman]

Thats the next step!
John

 

[Andi88]

Almost certainly it's a simple case of balancing the rads, see the FAQ section. With so few radiators, you could probably get away with turning the lockshield valves on all the ones currently getting hot to 1/4 open, and the ones failing to warm up left fully open.

Hi Matt

The 'warm' rad is sorted.. Roasting this morning.. So I think the X400 is doing its job.. Its the sloshing in the Boiler pipes that bug me.. I normally work from home and it feels like Brighton beach and I cant concentrate!

 

[Burnerman]

Run the pump at a slower speed, and see if the noise decreases. Presumably the system was ok before, so we have to back track to see what could have been altered - i.e the pump speed, TRV's on the flow (if fitted) and the position of the lockshield valves, for balancing.
John

 

[Andi88]

Hiya John

So its ok to notch it back to 'normal' speed even with the X400 stuff in it?.

I didnt even know about balancing the rads until I read up about it since problems lol..

No flashy TRV's on the rads.. just simple lockshield thingys and a couple of drain off ones..

Also about the pump speed.. its a tiny house. which speed is ideal? How can I figure that one out?

Its always been set on 2.. even when I had the Ariston put in.

It started sloshing on # 2 after i changed the rads, the #3 when i put the X400 in.

 

[Burnerman]

For any sort of cleaner to work, the faster the water flows, the better really.....however for normal use, just keep the pump speed as low as you can, keeping an eye out for continued good circulation, i.e the rads keeping hot.
John

 

[Andi88]

Nice one John

I'll give it a whirl tonight..