Underfloor heating Not Working upstairs!!

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Hjalali

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Hello

I wonder if someone can help me with this :

we just moved to a new home which has an old UFH on the ground floor and first floor , but it is not working in the first floor , just learned today the the UFH we have called "Kee Triple Tube UFH" (no manual handed to us from previous owner).
does anyone has past experience with this system who can help?
I've already called a couple of engineers to have a look but no success in resolving the issue!

I've included some photos from UFH system in the ground and first floor

Thanks!
 

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The word is it's prone to leaking and the company (based in ROI) disappeared years ago.
AFAIK it has no oxygen barrier in the pipe wall and hence the green bronze pump and plate heat exchanger to separate it from the boiler circuit.
Nuheat used the pipe for a while so it might be worth talking to them regarding expected life.
Looks like it was installed by an eco nut with no regard for maintenance.
Need a lot more pics to work out the circuits...

What's the boiler make/model?
 
yes , each room has a programmable thermostat ...the boiler is " Keston System S30" apparently was installed a couple of years ago !!
 
It's highly possible that it hasn't worked for ages (if ever) and (if you are in England) very little recourse to previous owners.
Have a look see if you can spot any way to check the water level in the ufh system- if it is low then upstairs would definitely struggle, given the plate hex etc. the boiler will still be happy. Not sure what you'd top it up with (ref @Gasguru s comment)
Or it may be something very simple. How useful are you with a multimeter- first job is to check the motorised valves driving upstairs, make sure they're actually getting power, opening and the internal switch is functional.
Next one, switch one room on at a time, note which valve operates, see if the pump fires, see if the relevant feed and return pipes get warm.
 
Not so fast :)

Now many years ago Keston made the worst boilers in the industry and very few gas engs. would even touch them (just not worth the agro).
Some design aspects were absolutely dire. Originally Keston had a manufacturing facility in Romania of all places and they were an assortment of parts.

They were much favoured by architects that loved the long flexible flueing options and the company plied their boilers at all the naive eco new-builders & eco-warriors (who
were clueless when it came to good design and the history of Keston).

Several years ago Keston were taken over by the equally useless Ideal boiler group (who also had a terrible track record).
Ideal/Keston were then taken over by a French holding company..Groupe Atlantic.
Ideal then launched a new range of boilers (the Logics etc) and things improved greatly.

All the modern Kestons (inc. the System S30) are just rebadged Ideal Logics with the added option of twin flueing.
 
Looks like there's only a single motorised valve for all the heating (the other one is the cylinder).
What's the pressure gauge showing just above the large orange overheat thermostat?
 
Gasguru said:
Looks like there's only a single motorised valve for all the heating (the other one is the cylinder).
What's the pressure gauge showing just above the large orange overheat thermostat?
Click to expand...
Are those numbered white things in the pic not 2 port valves?
 
Yes 2 port valves (with a thermal actuator I'd guess) for each zone...2 downstairs and 5 upstairs by the look of it.
But overall a single Honeywell for the entire heating zone.
I'm guessing the prog stats operate the thermal zone actuators, when they open their end switches operate and they energise the Honeywell valve (and bronze pump) and then it's end switch fires up the boiler.
No relays required...but it's so old and unique for the time it really is a guess.
 
Gasguru said:
Looks like there's only a single motorised valve for all the heating (the other one is the cylinder).
What's the pressure gauge showing just above the large orange overheat thermostat?
Click to expand...
thanks alot for your help, much appreciated ...it shows 1 bar pressure...
 
oldbutnotdead said:
It's highly possible that it hasn't worked for ages (if ever) and (if you are in England) very little recourse to previous owners.
Have a look see if you can spot any way to check the water level in the ufh system- if it is low then upstairs would definitely struggle, given the plate hex etc. the boiler will still be happy. Not sure what you'd top it up with (ref @Gasguru s comment)
Or it may be something very simple. How useful are you with a multimeter- first job is to check the motorised valves driving upstairs, make sure they're actually getting power, opening and the internal switch is functional.
Next one, switch one room on at a time, note which valve operates, see if the pump fires, see if the relevant feed and return pipes get warm.
Click to expand...

thanks alot for your help , the motorised valves upstairs seem to work , the thermostat send the signal , there is power as one of the engineers checked. how can I check the water level in the system, there is a pressure gague in the ground floor which reads 1bar...
 
Gasguru said:
The word is it's prone to leaking and the company (based in ROI) disappeared years ago.
AFAIK it has no oxygen barrier in the pipe wall and hence the green bronze pump and plate heat exchanger to separate it from the boiler circuit.
Nuheat used the pipe for a while so it might be worth talking to them regarding expected life.
Looks like it was installed by an eco nut with no regard for maintenance.
Need a lot more pics to work out the circuits...

What's the boiler make/model?
Click to expand...
thanks a lot , the Nuheat is the supplier of the red rubber UHF pipes? I will contact them for sure... I dont even know what should be the maximum operating temperature and pressure of theses pipes...any idea?
 
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