UFH flow valves aren't rising and falling

[Chris Bogin]

Hi all, I have an issue with my UFH that I hope you can help with.

We have UFH but have never been 100% sure that it works as it should: the lounge/kitchen (one room) has been fine, but the bedrooms have always been a bit chilly. I've put this down to them being carpeted and it taking longer for the heat to transfer through.

But now we have a baby on the way and really need to get to the bottom of it, so I've been trying to adjust the flow valves to balance the rooms better thinking that this may solve the issue. However, when I loosen/tighten the flow valves only the one for the kitchen rises and falls to show more/less flow to that zone. Can anyone suggest what the issue may be? And is this tied to our flat being cold?

As an example, the heating was on all day yesterday and set at around 18 degrees in the bedroom. When we went to go to bed the thermometer was only reading 14 degrees.

Some additional info:
- The actuators all seem to work - the pins on top rise and fall in line with the thermostats in each room.
- I can tell that water is flowing to zones, even if the flow valve indicator is right at the top (0 l/s) because the pipes underneath feel hot. Likewise, when I close them all the way the pipes feel cold.
- The pump is brand new and was installed by a plumber due to the old one expiring.

Thanks in advance! Would appreciate any advice you can give me.

Here's what the manifold looks like:

 

[Old Mod]

Hi, whilst we do have a few guys who know their wet ufh systems very well, @Chalker

You may well receive a quicker response if you head over to our plumbing forum.

Gas Engineer & Plumbing Advice Forum - https://www.ukplumbersforums.co.uk/

 

[Chris Bogin]

Hi, whilst we do have a few guys who know their wet ufh systems very well, @Chalker

You may well receive a quicker response if you head over to our plumbing forum.

Gas Engineer & Plumbing Advice Forum - https://www.ukplumbersforums.co.uk/

Thanks 3_fall! Will give it a go.

Chris

 

[J Sid]

sorry to hear your old Plumber passed on.

didn't you speak to your new plumber about the issues?

 

[Chris Bogin]

sorry to hear your old Plumber passed on.

didn't you speak to your new plumber about the issues?

It took me a while to get this, but I'm with you now. 🙂

When the old pump gave up/burnt out we got a new one installed and hoped this would solve the whole issue. We're ready to get a plumber involved but want to make sure there's nothing obvious we could be doing ourselves first.

Chris

 

[Waluigi]

Cool system. I must confess that I know very little about the system you have.

Usually when balancing you would restrict the rooms closer to the manifold and open up the rooms further away from the manifold. Doing this allows an even distribution of the heat. On a conventional central heating system you would use thermometers on the flow and return of each room. No idea what you would do on an UFH system. I guess feeling the flow and returns on each circuit and manually adjusting your valves to suit.

Definitely post on the Heating Forum, you might get lucky and find someone who knows that particular system.

 

[Boggs]

If it’s always been like this it may be as simple as air in the circuits as they are in the end of the manifold.