House not as warm in Winter as before

Daddy Ireland

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House is 30 years old. Oil central heating. Double glazing. Really noticing this year that a lot of the rads in house are not as warm and some are only lukewarm and they have been bled.

The only thing we have done in past two years is put in a larger cylinder and put in a pump as power to a new shower pressure was poor. The old shower just gave up and I thought replacing it would be fine but as the pressure was so low I had put in a pump.

Had a plumber out servicing a boiler recently and mentioned the cool rads and he said I needed to replace a certain part on the rads (cannot recall what part). Have to get a quotation on this but I would like to get the house in order for next winter.

Can anyone suggest anything on this or anything that might help.
 
Are any of the rads reaching the proper temperature? If some are OK and some are only warm, it may just be a balancing issue. If they’re all cooler than they should be, it could be that the circulation pump is failing or it’s possible when the new tank went in no restriction was put in-place so your hot water from the boiler is just shining around the tank heating coil and not bothering to go out the much harder route through your rads.

I’d say you need to get a plumber in to take a look at the issue tbh.
 
Thanks. Some are hot, some lukewarm. Downstairs are warmest but conservatory are only warm. Upstairs is a mix of hot and only lukewarm. I'm hoping its something to do with new pump. I'll get in a plumber.
 
The only replaceable parts on a rad are the valve and the lockshield. The latter is just a valve that is set to balance the system so that all rads get a sufficient flow to they all give off decent heat. It's rare that these parts would fail, so I'd question that plumber's advice.

I assume the new pump is just to increase the pressure for the shower? If so, it's not directly affecting radiator performance. However, it is likely that you are now using a lot more water showering, and so a lot of heat from the boiler is spent heating the larger hot water tank. The plumber who installed the new tank may have left the inlet to that wide open affecting overall balance. If you have a thermometer, you could look at balancing the system yourself.

Does your system have a valve that would allow you to close the heating loop to the hot water cylinder? You could also just try closing that off to see if the rads heat effectively. Another option is a powerflush. Over time corrosion debris builds up in the system as a sludge that leads to poor performance.
 
I was just going to say about sludge in the system, I am no expert on plumbing but my sister had the ever cooling radiator problem in a house easily 30 yrs old, got that powerflush thing done and they are all roasting again. A couple did need replacing though due to leaks.
 
Some oil boilers have a "winter" and a "summer" setting. It is usually a lever in the boiler. It's a longshot, but worth having a look at.
 
A couple did need replacing though due to leaks.

Yeah, power flushing can speed up a developing leak. But better discover it then and replace than have it happen some time later when you are away on hols.
 
I was just going to say about sludge in the system, I am no expert on plumbing but my sister had the ever cooling radiator problem in a house easily 30 yrs old, got that powerflush thing done and they are all roasting again. A couple did need replacing though due to leaks.
Yeah, power flushing can speed up a developing leak. But better discover it then and replace than have it happen some time later when you are away on hols.

Is it not usually the case though that the radiators will heat at the top and not the bottom rather than just being lukewarm? This was certainly the case in my mother's house some years ago. The rads can appear to need bleeding but after this being done they still continue to stay hot at the top and cold at the bottom which I understand is caused by the sludge in the system? In Daddy Ireland's case they mention the rads just being lukewarm.
 
Thanks for all replies. It helps me a good deal and I will have to call in a plumber as DIY is not a strong point of mine.
 
We had a couple of replacement rads installed recently and afterwards while those 2 were roasting, some of the others were much cooler than they had previously been. The plumber had mentioned balancing them so my husband then went around one by one to get them balanced correctly. After an evening of mild frustration tweaking the balancing knobs, they were all back on track.
 
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Maybe the rads need to be balanced. The first rad from boiler needs to be open a tiny bit and the last rad open nearly fully. This is done on the lockshield valve and not the manual valve.
 
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