Firstly, please excuse my lack of any knowledge on these matters!

Scenario:

Large victorian house, has combi boiler, and VERY old radiators fitted in rooms.

I decide to have radiators updated. Get these guys to replace all existing rads with new ones. Job is done reasonably well. 13 rads, charged £600 for labour (this included putting two rads in where there wernt any previously)

Now when we fire the sytem up, it take AGES for the rads to warm up, like about an hour for them to begine to get LUKE warm.....they now tell me that it is becuase of the way the system has been piped up...apparently it is all on one 'loop', rather than having a return loop...or something like that!

The upshot of it is that they now say they will rectify the piping at a cost of £300 (plus cost of copper piping etc)...

Does this sound realistic, or are they just taking me for a ride..

I hate this kind of stuff!!

I think they are having a laugh with you as a 1 pipe system is easy to spot before any work is started and also when thay put the additional rads in the pipework would have been obvious.
I would also say that new modern rads sized correctly for a room will never work on a old 1 pipe system as the original pipe sizing won't support them.
It sounds like a repipe of the heating is required.......but £300 Labour won't buy that so you need to ask exactly what they are proposing for that money.

Mog

Thanks for the reply MOG....

I think they did spot the one pipe system when they first quoted me for the job, but it was merely an observation on their part..

They say they will somehow rectify the pipework for the £300......ie put in a return loop or something....they are confident that this will remedy the problem....is £300 far too little for this job?......

I guess I have no expertise/knowledge of this area, and therfore am prposing that they do one floor at a time to 'prove' that this is the correct way forward....

It is feasible to put a return pipe in but alot of agro and probably not much more trouble to put a new flow pipe in as well, which would be sensible considering the age of the existing 1 pipe system.

And £300 is too little for the work.

Mog

Im not complaining at the £300!! I think they have taken into account the fact that I pretty pissed off that the system didnt work well at all after their installation...

They are cash in hand workers, so maybe £300 is ok for them..anyway, thanks for the help. and I shall let you know how it goes...........

Be a bit careful. Mog knows what he's talking about, and he's a genuine guy! If he says £300 is too little, I think you'd be VERY wise to ask EXACTLY what they propose to do before letting them loose on it.

It's your money though.............

Alcazar

Be very careful here...

Myself and MOG are both in the heating business and to hear about these "cash in hand" people sends shivers down my spine. £250 is what I charge for a days work without materials and we are one of the cheapest installers in the area.

I would ask for a written breakdown of everything they are going to do. At least then you have some comeback.

Who are these people and are they even CORGI registered?

Be very careful here...

Myself and MOG are both in the heating business and to hear about these "cash in hand" people sends shivers down my spine. £250 is what I charge for a days work without materials and we are one of the cheapest installers in the area.

I would ask for a written breakdown of everything they are going to do. At least then you have some comeback.

Who are these people and are they even CORGI registered?

I totally agree with this thread...! be very careful. Also for your info, depending on how old, and the style and condition of your old rads, they might be worth a lot of cash... can you post some pics fella?

I had a loop system in my last house and it knackered the rads up with silt due to the slow flow rate.Best to replumb using the correct size pipe.no more than 2 to 3 rads on a 15mm flow/return leg....22mm from boiler to tee points..£300 is a bit cheap but if you can be specific and oversee what they do then who knows

**UPDATE**

I know you are going to go hmm......

Well, my 'workers' have repiped the ground floor so that each rad has a return...

BUT now the radiator keeps cutting out when the system is fired up....

Guy reckons boilers thermostat has gone......got a Corgi regd guy to take a look at it, and he says that MAY be the prob...

Bit of a coincidence me thinkgs that the boiler has gone on exatcly the same time as they are working on the system...

Dunno whether or not I should get the same guys to finish off the piping on the other 2 floors, as the corgi guy reckons the piping looks sound....

and then get the corgi to repair my boiler...

Advice please!!

(yes the moral of the story has firmly been learnt thanks!!)

more like the system is piped up wrong and the boiler is just over heating,try resetting the boiler

An easy way for a corgi guy to test this is to pull the thermostat phial out of its pocket and then the boiler wont cut out and the rads and stat can be proved.

Mog

An easy way for a corgi guy to test this is to pull the thermostat phial out of its pocket and then the boiler wont cut out and the rads and stat can be proved.

Mog

Thanks for that tip!!

The Corgi guy I called out didnt test anything and just said I oight to try replacing the stat.....and since then hes faiuled to return any of my calls, and failed to ring me back when he promised to call back in2 mins!!

Why on earth are trademen so damn unprofessional....let them Poles in, and lets give the market the good shakeup that it needs!!

Any of you peeople work around the Bradford area?(nice part of it!!)

There's a nice part of Bradford? ;)

There's a nice part of Bradford? ;)

Well...............the capital "B" at the beginning looks OK..........:wonder:

Alcazar

There's a nice part of Bradford? ;)

Cheeky!! If you live in West Yorks Im sure you will know that Bradfords rep is not deserved!! Its no scummier than any other city really!!!

Has to be better than scummy Scunny:(

Probably less Easter Europeans anyway:( You just don't hear English spoken on the High Street any more:(

Alcazar

Ang on dont start blaming the english workers here
Didnt Mogsy warn you 300 notes was to little
And you never answered if they were corgi registered
Mogsy myself and many others would have done a decent job
We dont need the poles

Cheeky!! If you live in West Yorks Im sure you will know that Bradfords rep is not deserved!! Its no scummier than any other city really!!!
i m from Bradford..the better part and its no worse than any other major city...honest:thumb:

Ang on dont start blaming the english workers here
Didnt Mogsy warn you 300 notes was to little
And you never answered if they were corgi registered
Mogsy myself and many others would have done a decent job
We dont need the poles

Errm, dont think I blamed anyone....I was merely commenting how a SIGNIFICANT number of tradesmen are totally unreliable and unprofessional..I dont think thats a moot point, its a widely recongnised fact.

The point I was trying to make is that if the Poles pose some competition for the UK tradesmen then maybe the UK tradesme will start working in a more professional manner, rather than the opportunistic and unreliable manner in which may operate.