Underfloor Heat plumber

theaceofspies

Hi,
Hope someone can recommend a good plumber in County Kerry who specialises in underfloor heating systems. I have a problem with my system as one of the loops doesn't heat up. I just want to be careful that I get a plumber who knows how to work on an UFH manifold and doesn't make a mess of the situation. Please only recommend someone you have used yourself and were happy with.

Mike2006

Hi,

If one of your loops on a manifold does not heat but the other loops on that same manifold do heat then it is only one of 2 possibilities:

1. Room temp stat is not calling for the solenoid to open on that loop. So either there is a loose wire in the stat or the stat is faulty.
2. The solenoid is faulty or has a loose connection.

For both of these scenarios you need an electrician, not a plumber.

Very straight forward job for an electrician to troubleshoot.

Mike.

theaceofspies

Thanks Mike2006. Hear what you are saying however when the stat is calling for heat the actuator is rising in the same way as all the others so the communication between the wall thermostat and actuactor is OK.

Mike2006

If the actuator is rising then the flow should pass through manifold.

Is the flow meter on the loop registering a flowrate when it opens?
If it is not, is the actuator screwed tight to the manifold?

In theory once the loop is open it should work because the manifold is one block....


Mike.

theaceofspies

Thanks Mike,
Unfortuantely there is no flow meter on the loop - would have made life a lot easier if there was.
I've checked and the actuator is screwed tight to the manifold.
It might be an air lock?

Mike2006

Possibly but since it is one open system I would have thought that the cicrulating pump would have eliminated the airlock if it was there.

You could close all the other loops, open the 'bad' loop and open the drain valve on the manifold to bleed the system of any air. Just connect a hose to the drain valve at the side of the manifold...

If there are no flowmeters on the loops I would question how the flowrate was set on each loop to start with...

Mike.

Mike2006

This shows what is required:

See the instruction on 'Initial filling of the system'

http://help.tradingdepot.co.uk/plumbing/polypipe/floor-heating-commissioning.asp


Mike.

theaceofspies

Thanks again Mike. Understand the princliple of what needs to be done but I wouldn't have the experience/confidence to tackle it myself; hence the reason why I started the thread in the first place. Would feel happier leave it in the hands of a plumber who knows UFH systems well. It sounds like a problem that the right man could assess and fix fairly quickly. So if anyone knows such a plumber in Kerry I would be very grateful.

Pookie4

We have an underfloor heating system in the house.

There seemed to be a leak in it as pressure kept falling & water missing from heating system, but no obvious water anywhere. Our plumber couldn't find a leak, so he advised us to call in some leak specialists. There is no leak upstairs & we have no other problem with the system

They arrived, put gauges on on the 'manifold' (9 pipes) - I hope this makes sense.... They called on three different days, spent 5-6 hours on each of these days in my hot press and in out to boiler room. This was over the course of three weeks. (I was at work & my hubby was busing minding kids)

They then told me the leak was in the coil in the hot-water tank. Our plumber disagreed & said if it was we'd be smelling inhibitor every time we turned on a hot tap. They told me that when the reconnected the water the pressure would drop, proving where the leak was. They re-connected it and nothing happened. The pressure remained exactly as it should (2-2.5 bar?)

Their response was to shrug, say the leak must have fixed itself while they were trying to find it and gave me a bill for just short of E2,000 based on E80+VAT an hour etc.

Am I completely out of touch to think that this is unreasonable???? Could somebody in the know give me feedback? I just can't afford to be done.... I just have the feeling that they hope I'll put it through the insurance & accept it without comment.....