Micro bore central heating question

[Holly D]

Mum lives in a 3 story house. C/H has been run in plastic micro bore ( I believe 10mm ) Boiler ( Potterton suprima HE, recently serviced and informed in good order) in ground floor kitchen. Grunfloss 15/60 pump in a/cupboard on next floor up, with a large extended lounge on lower ground floor. There is a manifold on top floor feeding 6 rads, and manifold on lower ground floor feeding 5 original rads, and 2 add-ons. One has it’s own feed on the manifold, and the other must have been added on to an existing (rad run) all run under the hardwood flooring. Upstairs heating is good.

The problem is the rads on the lower floor just about get luke warm. The add on with no dedicated manifold connection only getting luke warm after heating has been on for about 3 hours.

From previous posts I have read from the past 10 years, I realise there are a variety of reasons for this problem which need to be looked into.

However my question is, would for example a W/Bosch system boiler, or similar, being sealed and pressurised provide better circulation than the existing open vented system.

I realise curing the problem should be the first course of action.

Thanks.

 

[Agile]

You seem to be looking for problems which are not there.

I expect that the existing boiler could be fitted on a sealed system. But that is irrelevant to your problem.

Read on the FAQ all about balancing and try it yourself or get a pro.

Tony

 

[Holly D]

Thanks Tony,
The gas safe eng who serviced the boiler did balance the rads, but with no improvement. He did mention flushing, re piping and something else ???, but he did impress upon her the time and cost with no guarantees of great success.
After reading the forum and the many possibilities, I just wondered "would for example a W/Bosch system boiler, or similar, being sealed and pressurised provide better circulation than the existing open vented system". Thanks.

 

[Agile]

No, not normally.

It seems to be a flow problem and that would be the same regardless of the brand name on the boiler.

Some are not very experienced at balancing. Maybe he had little interest in it. Particularly if he was trying to sell a power flush. Did he charge for balancing the rads or just do it within a low boiler service fee?

Balancing a microbore system is quite time consuming. Probably two hours, did he really take that long?

You could turn off all the upper manifold rads and see if the lower ones get hot then.