Warm downstairs cold upstairs, anyone any ideas?

[Nixster]

I suppose that if there is any chance of something becoming dangerous then good old health and safety has to take a priority............

Comments noted anyway, thanks

 

[bengasman]

I suppose that if there is any chance of something becoming dangerous then good old health and safety has to take a priority............

absolutely, if you are not sure, don't do it.

it is just that some posters make comments that are not far off the mark, but enough to show they are actually not corgi registered.

no RGI in his right mind would convert a system from open vent to sealed without checking the boiler can handle the pressure, so that is a bit of a no-brainer.

to state that a boiler without an added overheat stat would be classed as Immediately Dangerous is total poppycock.

apart from that, i have never heard of a boiler where the manufaturer specifies that you need to add an overheat stat upon conversion to sealed.
admittedly, i have not seen every model that was ever installed.

 

[namsag]

Any gas boiler fitted on a sealed system must have a form of overheat protection.

And in the past it was not un common to have to order an additional kit for boilers when being made into sealed systems incorporating overheats and some form of pilot interupter

 

[bengasman]

Any gas boiler fitted on a sealed system must have a form of overheat protection.

And in the past it was not un common to have to order an additional kit for boilers when being made into sealed systems incorporating overheats and some form of pilot interupter

you are talking about a good few years ago.

I wonder if there are a lot of those still alive, and if so, if that still would be an approved practice.
my last 2 customers who had an open flue boiler, both had it replaced this year with a wonderful glowworm steamer so it does not look like i will do a whole lot of work on this kind of stuff. would be interesting to find out if it is still allowed, just our of curiosity. would not dream of actually doing a trick like that.

 

[namsag]

In actuall fact it is still avialable on baxi back boilers that are still in production and if done a little further searching i would say there are several other boilers out there that still use it.

So still a present day thing and a totally approved practise.

What trick would it be? its all manufacturers approved parts for there bollers

 

[bengasman]

In actuall fact it is still avialable on baxi back boilers that are still in production and if done a little further searching i would say there are several other boilers out there that still use it.

So still a present day thing and a totally approved practise.

What trick would it be? its all manufacturers approved parts for there bollers

amazing.

it is not something i know a lot about, as there are precious few open vent boilers around here, and even fewer bbu's.

it is a bit of a love 'em/hate 'em thing i guess, and as i certainly don't love 'em, i happily leave these babies to those who do.



does bbu still in production mean they are now in band b version?

 

[namsag]

NA still C or D but obviously a limited market to where they can be fitted now.

 

[bengasman]

NA still C or D but obviously a limited market to where they can be fitted now.

that must mean you can only fit them in a small flat occasionally , or grade 2 listed.

doesn't seem to be worth making them for so little.
little referring to quantity not price. last time i saw them they were about 1500 quid.

 

[WDIK]

To WDIK
I turned the pump down on advice from the diynot site and it seemed to improve the circulation for a while ie the rads upstairs started to get warm and hold their water. Then we had a disaster in the spare room with a washbasin tap fracturing. As it was late at night and we couldnt get access to the loft very easily so we turned all the taps on in the house so that the tank could not fill as quick as it would empty in order to make the repair, which was a success. Since then despite the pump being on lowest the air is back in the radiators. Wil try the lockshields first before the magnet test

the wash basin incident had nothing to do with the heating, so what happened with the heating?

 

[Nixster]

AS I mentioned, I thought I had just got the system to work better, having turned the pump down the rads were holding their water upstairs, not brilliantly but a lot better. But after the water leak, when we had all the taps turned on, the air came back into the upstairs radiators again. I agree they should not be related, but having had power cuts, warm rads when the hot water is on, nothing would surprise me any more.

We are going to do the magnet test this weekend as well as trying to find out why the heating trips the power.

 

[bigbow]

Hi just to let you know that unfortunately there are some installers who will convert old gravity boilers onto sealed systems. I have come across it too often, wether the system has just been changed or if other engineers fail to notice during annual servicing. Like what others have said some people are not corgi registered and don't give a toss when they carry out work. Usually building contractors who try and cut costs by not employing a corgi engineer, and doing the work themselves. Building regulations clearly state all requirements in absence of manufactures insructions, as do the gas regs.

absolutely, if you are not sure, don't do it.

it is just that some posters make comments that are not far off the mark, but enough to show they are actually not corgi registered.

no RGI in his right mind would convert a system from open vent to sealed without checking the boiler can handle the pressure, so that is a bit of a no-brainer.

to state that a boiler without an added overheat stat would be classed as Immediately Dangerous is total poppycock.

apart from that, i have never heard of a boiler where the manufaturer specifies that you need to add an overheat stat upon conversion to sealed.
admittedly, i have not seen every model that was ever installed.

Yes your f***ing right about no registered installer would convert an open system into a sealed one without first checking, but when you have cowboys doing the work or workers from other countries, they are the dangerous ones. Take open ended gas pipes left in kitchens with Emergency Control Valves left half open then the workers run off back to Poland.

A sealed system has 5 requirements for the installation to be deemed as upto standard and therefore safe. Now most modern boiler manufactures design their boilers with these components already installed.

One design of "aftermarket" overheat stat was designed to be fitted inside the boiler and connected to a solenoid valve fitted to the gas supply to the appliance. Bit old now, but alot of people out there would rather try and redesign old system and boiler rather than replace them.

Just a thought

 

[bigbow]

Sorry forgot to mention the flue design has nothing to do with it. Open flue or room sealed. Purely wether the boiler can be installed on a sealed system is down to the heat exchanger and boiler components.

BBU's and BBF's can still be fitted into any property in the UK, providing that the correct SAP procedure has been carried out and that the house has scored enough "points". (as per energy efficiency guides enforced by corgi)

Document L1 of building regs

 

[Nixster]

Apparently the boiler was discontinued the year after we had it installed. British Gas buy up all the spare parts so that they are not available to the general public unless they are second hand on ebay or such. The particular boiler is not able to withstand the pressure of a closed system, so based on all that we had a new boiler installed a week ago and now we have hot water and hot radiators in all rooms.

The system was not sludged up, it was a partial blockage from the F & E tank. Although I was reluctant to have to pay out for a new boiler it was worth it and was done in double quick time.

Thanks to everyone who had a valid suggestion, it was interesting seeing some of you going off at tangents.
Happy Christmas