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Discuss Heating system vent pipe pushing water into header tank. in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

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Peter1

Hi,
The vent pipe on our heating system pushes hot water into the header tank , usually in the middle of the night and quite noisily. Is this normal?
A couple of years ago we had a new boiler fitted. With the old boiler hot water was gravity heated. The new system is fully pumped with a Y valve. The vent and cold water feeds to the heating circuit are still the same as when it was gravity fed. Vent pipe comes off the feed pipe to the cylinder heater coil , just before the pipe connects to the hot water cylinder and cold feed is connected to the cylinder heater return pipe again near where it is connected to the cylinder. Is this correct? All the diagrams I've seen of fully pumped systems have the vent connection between the boiler and the pump and the cold water feed to the return close to the boiler. Also should there be a bypass circuit and valve in the system.

Another change is that Hive heating controls were fitted 2 weeks ago. Previously the hot water was left on all the time and we turned heating on and off with the room thermostat. The overflow problem from the header tank has started since the controls were fitted and hot water heating is no longer on all the time.
 
Welcome.
Yes the system will need altering, or you will always have a problem with air and the system will be getting full of sludge.

The vent needs to be connected in before the pump and on the flow from the boiler. Or. Would it be possible to remove the header tank and make it a sealed system?
 
Thanks! Also am I correct in thinking that as the vent pipe is taken from the water heating side the CH side will be unvented when the Y valve is open for CH and closed for water heating?
 
It really does need sorting as chalked said.
Why did the individual who changed the boiler not sort it ?
 
It really does need sorting as chalked said.
Why did the individual who changed the boiler not sort it ?

All I asked was install a new boiler with pumped instead of gravity hot water. If I'd known the venting needed changing I'd have asked him to change it. In other words it wasn't sorted because of my ignorance about how heating systems work.
 
All I asked was install a new boiler with pumped instead of gravity hot water. If I'd known the venting needed changing I'd have asked him to change it. In other words it wasn't sorted because of my ignorance about how heating systems work.

You're not expected to know.

But the monkey who fitted your new boiler should've and should've advised you accordingly.

The system was flushed wasn't it?
 
Well, speaking as a Heating Engineer myself, I always listen to my customers requirements of course but when it comes to the job itself that is my domain. I would have looked it over and given advice and priced accordingly. I wouldn't do the job at all if I wasn't going to be allowed to complete it properly. It's not really up to the customer to be the knowledgeable one !
 
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Well, speaking as a Heating Engineer myself, I always listen to my customers requirements of course but when it comes to the job itself that is my domain. I would have looked it over and given advice and priced accordingly. I wouldn't do the job at all if I wasn't going to be allowed to complete it properly. It's not really up to the customer to be the knowledgeable one !

If he'd told me it needed doing I'd have said do it. Would it be reasonable to ask him to do it now at a reduced price?
 
If he'd told me it needed doing I'd have said do it. Would it be reasonable to ask him to do it now at a reduced price?

Yes, it would be reasonable to ask him to sort it now at a reduced price, or literally free of labour charge because your plumber should have known this needed sorted at time.
But can you trust him to do it properly now, when he didn't do it right first time? Your call, - depends if you think the plumber is a decent bloke who just slipped up through a bit of ignorance, or whether he is uncaring
 
All I asked was install a new boiler with pumped instead of gravity hot water. If I'd known the venting needed changing I'd have asked him to change it. In other words it wasn't sorted because of my ignorance about how heating systems work.

That's one way of looking at it LOL! Completely disagree with you, though. You paid him not only for his labour but his knowledge. He should have changed the pipework around at the time.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he hasn't had experience of dealing with semi-gravity systems (although they are still part of the City & Guilds Tech Cert and NVQ syllabus). Certainly he should come back and rectify FOC as he's already been paid for the job..
 
As Mas said. You wanted a job doing, you don't need to know what's going on in the detail side of it, but when employing somebody to do the works then you should expect it to be done competently and completely. Sounds like it needs some mods, for which I wouldn't expect to pay.

Was it a cheap job? Did you have other estimates?
 
As Mas said. You wanted a job doing, you don't need to know what's going on in the detail side of it, but when employing somebody to do the works then you should expect it to be done competently and completely. Sounds like it needs some mods, for which I wouldn't expect to pay.

Was it a cheap job? Did you have other estimates?

I had 3 quotes with 500 quid between the top and bottom. I chose the one in the middle.
 
But can you trust him to do it properly now, when he didn't do it right first time? Your call, - depends if you think the plumber is a decent bloke who just slipped up through a bit of ignorance, or whether he is uncaring

Well if he can fit a boiler he should be able to do it. What's it involve - cutting the existing vent pipe, capping one end and then connecting the other end to 3 or 4 metres of 22mm pipe running down to the boiler room and splicing it in between boiler and pump.
 
If he'd told me it needed doing I'd have said do it. Would it be reasonable to ask him to do it now at a reduced price?

Yes. It narks me TBH. I lose out to plumbers like that because I see the job as a whole and price for doing it and leaving it right !

Then along comes Mr I'll do it cheaper, takes the job and then leaves a lot of unhappy customers in his wake needing extra work done
 
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Well if he can fit a boiler he should be able to do it. What's it involve - cutting the existing vent pipe, capping one end and then connecting the other end to 3 or 4 metres of 22mm pipe running down to the boiler room and splicing it in between boiler and pump.

Yes, perhaps something like that, - but he didn't do it in the first place because he is ignorant of what proper way to do it, or didn't want to be bothered, but knew how to. Either way, he did it wrong, so will he be okay second time?
 
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