UFH not warm enough

[David78]

6 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Yes - bottom right should be boiler feed. One up is boiler return. 
 

I am wondering how they got this so wrong ..!!!

 

@David78 is there anything on the left end of the manifold..? Or is it just caps..?

Thanks @PeterW for the advice, much appreciated. 

 

Attached is a photo to the left of the manifold, just caps with one spare zone. 

 

[JFDIY]

Which way is pump arrow, should be upwards.

 

The reason the manifolds need to be swapped is that the flow regulators only really allow correct flow in one direction, yours are being blown shut by water passing through them in the wrong direction, probably limiting flow.

 

Is your extension off the same manifold, or a different one?

Edited May 23, 2021 by JFDIY

[Nickfromwales]

Just drain down, swap the two manifold rails over, and reconnect. Should take an hour max with one spanner. 
Isolate the loops with the red and blue taps, towel down to catch the 2 pints of water, or less, and crack on. Everything else can stay as it is. 
Simples. 

Edited May 23, 2021 by Nickfromwales

[Temp]

@Nickfromwales will the mixer work if he does that?  Or should the mixer also be moved?

[PeterW]

1 hour ago, Temp said:

@Nickfromwales will the mixer work if he does that?  Or should the mixer also be moved?

No the mixer is correct if you look at how it is piped, it’s the manifolds that are wrong. On some you can swap the flow meters for the actuators but it’s easier with these to slack off the grey nuts and switch the manifolds over. 

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Temp said:

@Nickfromwales will the mixer work if he does that?  Or should the mixer also be moved?

Yup. Mixer / plumbing to stay as-is. An hours worth of spanner spinning and it’s 100% sorted. ??

[David78]

On 23/05/2021 at 14:14, JFDIY said:

Which way is pump arrow, should be upwards.

 

The reason the manifolds need to be swapped is that the flow regulators only really allow correct flow in one direction, yours are being blown shut by water passing through them in the wrong direction, probably limiting flow.

 

Is your extension off the same manifold, or a different one?

It's the same manifold for both old and new extension 

[David78]

Just wanted to say a big thank you for all the advice I have received from everyone, I really would have been lost without it. Will be swapping over the manifold. 

[David78]

On 23/05/2021 at 18:42, Nickfromwales said:

Yup. Mixer / plumbing to stay as-is. An hours worth of spanner spinning and it’s 100% sorted. ??

Just wanted to check these are the nuts that I need to unbolt after closing the red and blue tap? Then i swap over the manifolds, but once I reattach I probably will have lost some water, is there anything I need to do to ensure the system is refilled correctly and there is no trapped air? 

[PeterW]

So I would turn the valves off then remove the blanking plug from the far right pipe (white one) and then open the blue cap which will vent the pressure out. 
 

Then close the valve, remove the manifolds and the grey connectors and switch the manifolds and reconnect. Looks like someone has used 20 wraps of PTFE so same again to keep from leaking ..!

 

Now open the both valves and let it pressure the manifold and the pipes. Close the bottom red valve and you may need to trigger the heating to open the actuators, but then carefully open the blue valve cap again and let it blow the air out of the pipe stub. When you get water, close the cap, put the blanking plug and reopen the red lever valve, check the system pressure and it should be good to go. 
 

 

[Nickfromwales]

The loops will still be under pressure after shutting off the isolation valves, so expect a bit of water to spray out under force but that’ll only be for a few seconds or so. After shutting off those, probably best to crack the upper manifold connecting nut and manage the escaping water that way. A beach towel / dust sheet folded up and an empty margarine tub etc will be ample to deal with this small amount of water. 
Once the top one has drip dried, repeat with the lower nut but at that point it won’t be under pressure any more, just dribbles. 
When you go to refill, try and top the upper manifold with neat inhibitor, prob half a litre or so, maybe the full 1L, but better than filling with water if possible.

just unscrew the white vent plug at the very end of the upper manifold and remove it to pour in the inhibitor.