central heating and hot water not working again..

[mad_cereal_love]

Apologies for the long post, but need to explain everything...

OK, so I've had some problems with my heating and hot water. First the heating stopped working, then the pump died and so no hot water. My system (useless and old) has 3 radiators downstairs, 3 upstairs (each room), boiler behind a disconnected (?!) gas fire place downstairs, thermostat next to it on wall, and above it is the water tank, in the spare bedroom. So this isn't a combi-boiler or closed pressurised system, the pressure comes from the gravity of the water in the tank. So really it should be up in the loft...but its not!

So the initial problem was thought to be sludge blocking up the pipes. It needed a power flush - this was done, along with acid and then neutraliser. It also needed a new pump fitted, done, and 2 new ball-valves, both done. The heating and hot water started working then, however one of the radiators (in the spare room, same as where the tank is) just doesn't work at all.

So about 1-2 weeks after this work was done, the hot water stopped working as did the heating, even though I turned it on all night. I have 2 pipes running through the floor downstairs I can feel, one is the hot water and the other to the heating, and both were cold (when the heating wasn't working before alone, one was hot and the other cold). Called plumber out again, said it was air in the boiler/tank?? however, what he showed us to do was to turn a little valve/screw right next to the water tank, connected to a pipe coming out of the tank, and keep it open until water comes out (I think when he did this some air came out first for a little bit).

Since then, the hot water worked, and heating sort of...the radiators took forever to warm up and some didn't warm up downstairs. So last night I came back from work, and felt the rads downstairs. The bottoms of some of them were hottish and the tops were cool - this normally signifies air. So I bled them. The first one I bled I did so for about 3 minutes long until finally water came out. Note, the air didn't really come out fast and didn't seem under loads of pressure (only at very first did you really hear the air hiss). I bled another one, that took about 1 min to bleed until water came out. I tried to bleed the ones upstairs, but having it open for like 5 minutes and I couldn't even hear air coming out, certainly no water was making it - not enough pressure??!

Then I felt the pipes that come downstairs - my hot water is currently always "on" - and both pipes were cold. So I went up to this valve by the tank, and I unscrewed it - a 2 second hiss of air came out, then nothing, but my tank (sounded like the tank!) started to make a noise. I kept it open for about 2-3 minutes and still no water.

I had to go to bed then, fed up and cold, and in the morning I felt the pipes - still cold, so I opened that valve by the water tank again, and had it open for 15 minutes and still no water came out!!

So I'm sick of calling out plumbers, I can't keep taking days off work. I know I need a whole new system, but I was told that the boiler scrappage scheme comes in April 1st so I should wait til then?! Its going to cost a lot anyway - I need a new combi-boiler, valves, rads and pipes as well (as they may have some sludge in them still and don't want that getting into the boiler). Plus I guess while they do that it will make my house a bit unlivable as they have to rip up the floorboards to get to pipes etc??! So was hoping to be able to do it on a week I'm away on holiday or something.

ANY ideas on what is the problem, and how to get at least the hot water working reliably for a while??! I can live without heating, just not hot water!

Thanks a lot for any help...I'm really at the end of my tether with all this (plus all the other bills hitting me right now eg. £1100 on the car etc etc...)

mcl

[WHPES]

Sounds like the system is airlocked. Close all but one rad, set the pump on setting 3 and leave it running. Rad should get hot. Repeat for all the other rads, then put back to how it was.

[mad_cereal_love]

Thanks for the reply. However would such an airlock affect my hot water as well as the heating?! And if so, how would I overcome this?

And sorry as I'm not technical, what is "setting 3" ? Is that hot water + heating both on at same time?

Thanks,
mcl

[moony]

yes it could effect the hot water as the water is not circulating around the boiler hence not heating the water up