1 or 2 pipe central heating system diagram

[ckyens]

Hello all

Came across these two diagrams for the central heating system currently installed in the house.

Its an old system design by the look of it, there doesnt seem to be any cold pipes fitted onto the radiators.

It appears as if all the radiators are connected in series and only to the hot feed from the boiler & cylinder i.e hot water goes into a rad then back out to feed the next inline.

There are 7 radiators in total fitted. Its possible there may have been another drawing showing the extra 4, but unsure.

The boiler in the system is an open flued Glow worm Ultimate 40 cf.

Now if I want to upgrade to a combi , is it best have to repipe the whole system (cold & hot water pipes)?

I know cylinder & header / feed tanks will be removed.

Can anyone shed any light on the diagrams?

Cheers for reading

 

[Chalked]

I love the drawings.....
You basically have, Gravity hot water, with a towel rail/rad? On the gravity circuit. Then a mixture of one pipe and reverse return.
As most is undersized, I would be inclined to replace th lot. It will be sludged up too.
It will be worth the effort/cost, as it will all heat up quickly and evenly.

 

[Last Plumber]

As above.

 

[ckyens]

Aye, I think the drawings date back to the 70's. Found them amongst all the paperwork that was left by the last longstanding house owner. Theres a lot of lead pipes in the system too. All the radiators are mismatched in size and age etc. I took a couple off and your right the water that came out was pure black!

 

[Last Plumber]

Aye, I think the drawings date back to the 70's. Found them amongst all the paperwork that was left by the last longstanding house owner. Theres a lot of lead pipes in the system too. All the radiators are mismatched in size and age etc. I took a couple off and your right the water that came out was pure black!

Me thinks it is older than the 70's.
It is best to start again.

 

[ckyens]

I'm keen to have the system redone as soon as possible. Unsure if new rewiring loom should run so near to the central heating pipes (see pic) but I guess if it was done in the 60's / 70's maybe it was the norm?

Looking at it, it doesnt seem right.

 

[snowhead]

Me thinks it is older than the 70's.
It is best to start again.

Metric pipe came in in 71/72
As the drawing is all in Imperial it must predate 71, unless it was planned in Imperial and installed in metric.

 

[tamz]

Probably 50' or early 60's. Designed as a fully gravity system. It will have been altered to pumped heating when the glow worm went in or possibly before.
If you are putting a new boiler in it would be better to replace the full system.

The conex fittings in the pic above are from the 60's

 

[ckyens]

Ideally I want to start with getting the mains cold water supply switched from 'lead pipe' to a more upto date material. The utilities company say its the house owners job to have the cold water mains pipework upgraded i.e they're responsible upto the property boundary wall.

Does anyone know what it would cost?

 

[Last Plumber]

They ( in my area) are responsible to your boundary i.e. where your land boundary is and not your house wall, if that's what you meant ?