please desperate

[debbie]

Hi please help if you can, very worried have a baby, will try & keep it brief..

moved into property 3 months ago, had plumber round from landlady least 5 times (its her friend)

problem is all the radiators keep messing about, couple will get hot, when i say hot you can easily touch them (my mums radiators feel a lot hotter), theyre hot at top but halfway down theyre cooler/cold to heading to the bottom (the plumber says therye the best theyre ever going to get) so weve got them all on full blast & boiler on full blast to get house some warmth
sick of getting told by landlady to bleed them or balance them etc, its not our job to do that were not plumbers but she said she cant afford to keep sending plumber round or she might sell the house, she only bought it 6 months ago, we pay our rent on time etc

plumber took of rads downstairs not upstairs ones, flushed them through in the garden with water, put a solution in prior left for 2 weeks.. no blackness came out so minimal you would need glasses to see it.. (ive seen black gunk come out in rads before) so i dont think its blocked by gunk?
he was going to put new pump on then changed his mind saying didnt need one
combi boiler, pressure gage set at 1 1/2 never moves

please were cold, having to slog everything to keep warm, can anyone help?

 

[Best]

What sort of pipes are to rads? Are they very small bore?
If you only turn a couple of rads on, do they work well? If they do then you might have something wrong with the boiler or circulating pump.

 

[MrMeek]

as above, and how many rads roughly do you have?

 

[debbie]

as above, and how many rads roughly do you have?

3 bed house/ 6 rads 1 towel rail
yes rads get hot if turn others off
small pipes/ not the plastic ones

hope this helps.

 

[Barry98]

Small as in the width of a pen or your finger ?

 

[debbie]

hubby said 10mm pipes?

 

[debbie]

finger

 

[Guest123]

If you post your location (not your full address!) Debbie, perhaps someone on the forum might offer to help by at the very least going round to have a look and then giving you a written report to give your landlord.

 

[debbie]

Lincoln hun, i am appreciating all of your replies, i made myself so poorly over christmas worrying like crazy about it.

 

[diamondgas]

Honest advice would be to look for another place to live long term debbie Short term would be to buy some alternative heat coz it sounds like your heating system isn't going to be repaired soon? Not unusual unfortunatly! Not meaning to sound harsh! Alternative heat is your best and quickest form of heat in my opinion! ASK YOUR LANDLORD TO SUPPLY AS IT IS THEIR DUTY! see part (1c) here Section 11, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985

 

[chas347]

Microbore is a nightmare to balance. But if you want to give it a try, close off all radiators at outlet of rads and then open them one quarter turn. Run heating for a while, then any cold rads open them up quarter turn at a time. Chances are rads closest to boiler/pump will get hot first then return hot water to boiler. Hence those further away will be cold. Do this until all rads are getting hot at same time. There is a chance that the microbore pipes could be sludged, restricting flow.

 

[debbie]

I was thinking if i could give them ANY advice to try instead of guessing they might mend it?
when we do the balancing we start with doing 1 then turning it off then doing 2nd etc etc, but it doesnt give us heat in all rads all the way down them, but if we put 1 on it does, so they cant be blocked as they work?
could it need a new pump?, but other plumber said we didnt need one as he thinks getting half heat is better than nothing.

 

[debbie]

yes we did that quater turn thing tried few times, but still ends up only some of the radiators are luke warm at top cold halfway down & still have to have boiler/rads turned on full

 

[SimonG]

Sounds like a circulation issue, possible pump. But I think Diamongas's advice is the best.

 

[Barry98]

Have you bled them all ?

 

[Dotty]

Then that plumber needs shooting. Can you (or hubby) check the pump speed please Debbie? Should be be at 1 or 2 at the most.

 

[debbie]

the landladys plumber said your stealing from peter to pay paul with balancing but its either half heat or have rads on downstairs but cold upstairs as it seems it cant cope to heat them all at a hot temp & all the way down the rads

 

[debbie]

Then that plumber needs shooting. Can you (or hubby) check the pump speed please Debbie? Should be be at 1 or 2 at the most.

is that the pressure thing? its at 1 1/2

 

[debbie]

Have you bled them all ?

yes about 50 times now, we know to check the pressure on boiler after incase needs topping up, we get air from the little rad in the little bedroom, but water from all the others everytime

 

[diamondgas]

I was thinking if i could give them ANY advice to try instead of guessing they might mend it?
when we do the balancing we start with doing 1 then turning it off then doing 2nd etc etc, but it doesnt give us heat in all rads all the way down them, but if we put 1 on it does, so they cant be blocked as they work?
could it need a new pump?, but other plumber said we didnt need one as he thinks getting half heat is better than nothing.

Sounds like you have a circulation issue which is either the pump or a restriction of some sort or another? replacing the pump is an option but it depends on several factors ... Appliance make and model and system design being the main considerations....! Microbore pipework, in and of itself, is a good design. However it needs to have been installed correctly. Issues with radiators not working together tend to say it hasn't! I've never known of a 'quick fix' when it comes down to circulation alas

 

[Guest123]

Any of you boys based in Lincoln fancy doing someone a good turn and popping round?

 

[migoplumber]

ime sorry you have probs, but seriously you on wrong forum.
you need to be in touch with citizen advice bureau straight away or your local council.
after that ring your landlady and tell her the outcome and you will be able to insist it gets sorted immediately.
you can also insist on temporary heating, you could also move into a local hotel and your landlady would have to pay for that
i know this cos ime a landlord and by gum do tenants have rights !
good luck.
ps friday gonna be real cold, get the help you need tmrw !!

 

[Dotty]

He's no plumber. Balancing doesn't rob peter to pay paul! I'm hoping your pump is external to the boiler. If you look at the top of it you'll see a wee switch that sits in one of 3 positions, 1 lowest speed and 3 is the highest. What boiler do you have poppet?

 

[diamondgas]

the landladys plumber said your stealing from peter to pay paul with balancing but its either half heat or have rads on downstairs but cold upstairs as it seems it cant cope to heat them all at a hot temp & all the way down the rads

Landlady's plumber doesn't know enough about system design IMHO! A good design system will heat all the radiators evenly! red hot top and cold bottom isn't even...!!

 

[debbie]

its a vokera compact boiler if that helps?, my baby could touch the rads & not get burnt

the one in his bedroom is quite hot, little bedroom luke warm, our bedroom quite hot, towel rail luke warm, entrance way quite hot, kitchen quite hot, front room luke warm to cold

when i say quite hot you can keep your hand on them without moving them quickly

 

[debbie]

ime sorry you have probs, but seriously you on wrong forum.
you need to be in touch with citizen advice bureau straight away or your local council.
after that ring your landlady and tell her the outcome and you will be able to insist it gets sorted immediately.
you can also insist on temporary heating, you could also move into a local hotel and your landlady would have to pay for that
i know this cos ime a landlord and by gum do tenants have rights !
good luck.
ps friday gonna be real cold, get the help you need tmrw !!

they said they will hopefully come see us over weekend for a chat.. hubby said to me a chat isnt going to keep us warm

 

[Guest123]

Hope you get it sorted Debbie. If I was 300 miles closer, I'd have come round for a wee look. Let us know how you get on.

 

[Dotty]

I'm afraid you can't do anything regarding the pump, nor can he if he's not gas safe registered as the pump is within the boiler casing.

I'd go down the citizens advice route Debbie.

 

[diamondgas]

they said they will hopefully come see us over weekend for a chat.. hubby said to me a chat isnt going to keep us warm

Please take note of your rights 'debbie' ... I carry a fan heater as matter of course and offer it to anyone this time of year if i can't sort out their heating! Keep yourself warm...!

 

[Dotty]

Hope you get it sorted Debbie. If I was 300 miles closer, I'd have come round for a wee look. Let us know how you get on.

Same here but I'm 300 miles plus the Irish sea!

 

[Barry98]

Poor excuse

 

[debbie]

Hope you get it sorted Debbie. If I was 300 miles closer, I'd have come round for a wee look. Let us know how you get on.

thank you so much really appreciated everyones help, my uncle worked for british gas for 15 yrs, i would have turned to him but unfortunatly due to a terrible fall he is in wheelchair & doesnt communicate that good at times

 

[Guest123]

Same here but I'm 300 miles plus the Irish sea!

And all because the lady loves Milk Tray. Kind of springs to mind when reading that John.

 

[Barry98]

Debbie look at the top of the screen where it says notification , its orange for a reason

 

[REDSAW]

have the rads got trv's on them?

 

[debbie]

Debbie look at the top of the screen where it says notification , its orange for a reason

sorry didnt see that, new to all of this, ty

 

[debbie]

have the rads got trv's on them?

is that the dial with numbers 1-5? then yes, we have tham all turned up to 5, weve tried turning some down to see if it makes a diff to heat others but it doesnt really, so cos we have snow now we kept them all on 5, the boiler is turned on full as well, 14 hours a day min

 

[Barry98]

Have you a thermostat any where

 

[michael c]

hi debbie, with regards to your landlord saying she cant keep paying for the engineer tell her get a good one and you wont have to. Further more if you recieve housing benefit they can help you with this as it is your landlords duty. You also say your landlord has threatened to sell that is her problem not yours, you are what is known as a sitting tenant, she would be forced to sell the property as a rental property and you could not be evicted (if you have a contract) May i suggest witholding your rent, you are legally allowed to do this and it would take atleast 6 months for your landlord to forcefully evict you.

 

[debbie]

Have you a thermostat any where

no you turn it up or down on the front of the boiler, no numbers just a curved line

 

[debbie]

hi debbie, with regards to your landlord saying she cant keep paying for the engineer tell her get a good one and you wont have to. Further more if you recieve housing benefit they can help you with this as it is your landlords duty. You also say your landlord has threatened to sell that is her problem not yours, you are what is known as a sitting tenant, she would be forced to sell the property as a rental property and you could not be evicted (if you have a contract) May i suggest witholding your rent, you are legally allowed to do this and it would take atleast 6 months for your landlord to forcefully evict you.

others has told me this now, but im frightend as i really like it around here, she took a very large deposit & 1 months rent up front too, my contract runs out end of april, i dont have the money for more deposits, rent vans etc, i am on housing benefits yes due to disability, i just dont like the idea of not paying as ive always been a good honest person & not to owe people

 

[michael c]

if you do not pay, you can show her you are keeping the cash to pay her once you feel the home is adequate. Having your heating on for 14 hours a day however will mount up very quickly perhaps it would be best to pay for your own independant inspection (shouldnt cost too much). Good luck with this, i hope you get some help soon.

 

[diamondgas]

others has told me this now, but im frightend as i really like it around here, she took a very large deposit & 1 months rent up front too, my contract runs out end of april, i dont have the money for more deposits, rent vans etc, i am on housing benefits yes due to disability, i just dont like the idea of not paying as ive always been a good honest person & not to owe people

Passing you a :chillpill:

If you have circulation issues then I'd advise turn all the radiators off to the rooms that you don't use and try and heat those you do! ........... £10-15 buy's you an escape from hypothermia via a fan heater..!!! Why worry about loosing your home when you pay well? A good Landlord wouldn't hold that kind of threat over you surely? ......!!!

 

[debbie]

Passing you a :chillpill:

If you have circulation issues then I'd advise turn all the radiators off to the rooms that you don't use and try and heat those you do! ........... £10-15 buy's you an escape from hypothermia via a fan heater..!!! Why worry about loosing your home when you pay well? A good Landlord wouldn't hold that kind of threat over you surely? ......!!!

theres only 1 room we dont use little bedroom, but if theres no heat in there it gets freezing, double glazed yes too
the landlady said she cant afford to keep sending in plumbers & will have to sell house, its a cruel thing to us yes, but its her house

 

[M77]

Hi Debbie, are there any temperature readings on the front of the boiler? Also you mentioned that the rads weren't getting very hot. What about the pipework itself are the pipes at the boiler to hot to touch?

 

[debbie]

Hi Debbie, are there any temperature readings on the front of the boiler? Also you mentioned that the rads weren't getting very hot. What about the pipework itself are the pipes at the boiler to hot to touch?

no temperature readings, just a dial to turn up/down you'd have to guess for a temp on it, theres the pressure bar thing 0-5 its set at one & a half
ive turned heating of now as cant afford to run through the night, so pipes not hot, theres 5 pipes from boiler, 2 are warm others are cold

 

[diamondgas]

but its her house

NOPE! It's yours!! They may own it but you live in it! They sell it with you as resident! They can't touch you as long as your lease is relevant! Citizens advice, as mentioned before, can help you as can many charities etc! In the mean time get yourself some heaters there's a cold snap about haven't you heard? -4 here in Newcastle right now!

 

[debbie]

NOPE! It's yours!! They may own it but you live in it! They sell it with you as resident! They can't touch you as long as your lease is relevant! Citizens advice, as mentioned before, can help you as can many charities etc! In the mean time get yourself some heaters there's a cold snap about haven't you heard? -4 here in Newcastle right now!

yes its been -6 here all day

 

[M77]

no temperature readings, just a dial to turn up/down you'd have to guess for a temp on it, theres the pressure bar thing 0-5 its set at one & a half
ive turned heating of now as cant afford to run through the night, so pipes not hot, theres 5 pipes from boiler, 2 are warm others are cold

Two of the larger pipes will be your heating flow and return. If one of these gets very warm almost to hot to touch and your rads are still cold then as has been said sounds like a circulation problem. Pump/blockage but the plumber should have been able to establish what pretty quickly.
If neither are getting particularly hot then could be something else to do with the boiler.

 

[Whl4852]

Just read through previous posts, hope you get this sorted :sunny: