SHOCKED This Heating System NEVER WORKED! Matt's Problem

This heating system NEVER worked. Follow me as I TRY to get it fixed!
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[@plumberparts]

Few notes: I forgot to do the cold flush through the magnacleanse and therfore fluished a load of black gunge into the garden, which we only saw when we'd finished! *_LEARN PLUMBING ONLINE IN MY STRUCTURED COURSE_* 🚀 Perfect for DIYers, future apprentices and those who want to perfect their plumbing skills and get a good base of knowledge. Starts in March👉 www.learnplumbingonline.com 🛠 *_AMAZON TOOL STORE:_* www.amazon.co.uk/shop/plumberparts 🥾 *_10% Off my workboots + workwear Use Plumberparts10:_* elwoodworkwear.co.uk/?ref=Plumberparts10 👓 *_10% Off Safestyle Sunglasses Use PLUMBER10:_* safestyle.com.au/?ref=PLUMBER10

[@CommercialGasEngineerVideos]

Thanks for the helpful and convenient links. Good idea to put them there. These days, if a system isn't blocked I'm shocked

[@42RHD]

I couldn't find the thermometer/heat camera thing you used in that video on your Amazon links. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough, but that looks like the business.

[@dantevxv1501]

Scouring sponges with white rather than green rough are for non stick pans, special so they dont scratch the non stick coating.

[@j4zzx297]

What i learnt from this video is to not leave a plumber alone with a pen or pencil. They will draw on anything 😀

[@aserta]

I restored a 1924 house with indoor heating, cast iron everywhere and copper piping. When we took the radiators off their mounts, we found the plumber master's drawing for his apprentices. Full sketch, complete with calculations and numbers, all in that nice writing that everyone used to have.

[@livedandletdie]

This applies to all, handymen, not just plumbers. Carpenters, Painters, Electricians, Plumbers, etc.

[@jaybands11]

honestly the truth or we talking to ourselfs never leave us alone 😂

[@INFLICTEDPAIN213]

​@@livedandletdieyou'd be surprised what some painters will put on your wall before painting over it

[@TheChipmunk2008]

@@INFLICTEDPAIN213 again, sparky... painters hate people who use sharpies instead of a pencil,. right?

[@timphackett6046]

Speaking as someone who had furred up CH pipes, the easiest check to do is put a magnet against the copper pipe, if it sticks you’ve got a problem. Easier than chopping the pipes out to look👍

[@drcl7429]

Good tip.

[@plumberparts]

Good tip!

[@jayseabie215]

Houston we have a problem. 👍

[@garystuart226]

Plus 1 as was also taught that many years ago when I was a heating engineer apprentice some 30+ years ago , indeed those small tips really help , if the boiler had a high limit would combine the cold feed and vent , really made the world of difference cutting out a H system of airseps, or if the system was ok would pressurise it , normally doing 1/2 bar per floor , also done the same with back boilers after fitting the high limit kit, another thing I couldn’t get my head round for ages was the wring , then all of a sudden one day it clicked , blimey it made a huge difference when fault finding , alas had to stop working due to a severe back injury , all the heavy lifting caught up a and ended up with plates , screws in my back, really miss the industry , another reason I really enjoy watching these videos , blimey I’m waffling again, lol, thks again, stay safe and well

[@blackadder1966]

Great tip, but I've seen a lot of old systems with cast iron radiators.

[@relaxreflect5888]

I’m a plumber and I have a rule to myself that I can’t watch other plumbers on KZbin, it’s just too painful 😰 BUT I can watch you, your good, very good my mate! Keep up the great work

[@plumberparts]

Haha! Cheers man! 🙏

[@snake21ab]

is too good

[@brianwgDK]

17:23 love that he uses the analogy of the arteries, and the doctors uses the analogy of the pipes in your heating system 🤣😂🤣😂

[@davidelliott5843]

Even a small amount of scale (or cholesterol) can have a serious effect. A 15mm tube will flow 16x as much as a 7.5mm tube.

[@livedandletdie]

@@davidelliott5843 The only difference is that Cholesterol is good for you, for as long as the bloodsugar levels aren't too high. Scale however is never good.

[@ducky_y_]

Most certainly not in your arteries.@@livedandletdie

[@TheNervousPilot]

Thank you so much for your wonderful videos. My son is a newly qualified plumber out there experimenting on peoples’ houses and even though I don’t understand what you do we watch your videos and both learn and laugh along. Wish I’d had teachers like you at school. Really great. Thank you. 😊 Richard, Oxfordshire.

[@MrRyanLofty]

Having moved out of plumbing a couple of years ago, I still love your videos mate and I’d rather watch these longer videos than anything on Netflix!

[@jordanm5674]

Watching this has given me the balls to upgrade my CH to a pressurized system. Why the previous owners didn't do it when they had the HW changed to an unvented cylinder I don't know.

[@demonkey123]

Nice to see a real tradesman who knows what he’s doing for a change! Loved watching the video! 👍😁

[@garylaycock]

“Nice bit of copper pipe Max” I love these bit, cracks me up 🤣🤣🤣

[@RossReedstrom]

Yeah, he goes into his "Artful Dodger" voice, for sure!

[@nsp8124]

This channel is one of those hidden gems that are so helpful

[@geoffroberts3065]

Nice video delivered with a smile from you and your customer. Wish all customers would watch this and see the effort and time it takes just to explain the fix to them..

[@GIBLETTS]

Been plumbing for 50 years, love James videos, what is there not to like about the guy, he's still teaching me a trick or two😊

[@riptiz]

Great video. Sure it will help many when they have heating problems.

[@kevwatson3661]

Really well explained James . Even though it’s not an issue I have ..(at the moment anyway ), just find your videos incredible addictive 😁… funny , witty and hopefully I’m learning something. How you keep calm with water everywhere and smoke alarms going off , take my hat 🎩 off to you 😁😁😁

[@plumberparts]

Cheers man. If you like this you’ll love the online course!

[@connoraxelson1]

For the towel rad, for adding cleaner, a mamometer hose through the top bung and siphon it you can empty the rad really quick and painlessly

[@adriancross4]

wet vac works a treat

[@willbradbury3698]

Knew i couldn’t have been the only one to do it this way!

[@connoraxelson1]

Hahaha, the day I thought hang on couldn't I just do that, I was like why have I never thought to do this before 😂

[@neeleshparbat952]

Or siphon out the magnaclean?

[@stuartandrews4344]

Another superb video James,I use to hate messy pipe work,especially in airing cupboards.

[@MrLePlums]

Really enjoy these fault finding on the job videos. Brilliant 👍

[@Recessio]

Great video. You're extremely knowledgeable and a great explainer

[@fattoamanowoodwork3638]

Brilliant video as always but also brilliant timing as I did the same system clean and the3 same procedure to a combi pressurised system and was wandering how to do it to an S vented system. Thanks a mill mate

[@plumberparts]

Nice one!

[@fattoamanowoodwork3638]

@@plumberparts I still need to figure out in details what to do despite you give me a great start. I need to research or figure out fully the plumbing of the expansion vessel. Loft part pretty clear obviously. Anyhow, thanks man

[@taherakhan7044]

Inspiration. Thank you for your videos - comical ones too - that turn a subject into so simple that I can understand. Thank you again and keep up the videos/good work you do. We need more of you. x

[@sygad1]

wow, awesome work and I bet the homeowner is well happy

[@johnwarwick4105]

Cracking video. Should be compulsive viewing for apprentices just starting out ( and some old hands 😂) was honestly shocked at the build up in those pipes 😂

[@ohandanotheronebitesthedus6247]

I think you'll make an awesome dad mate just relax and enjoy every minute brother

[@MSeroga]

As someone who knows close to nothing about plumbing... this channel is GOLD!

[@trust_plumbing]

Cheers James, really helpful vid mate. Good luck with the new baby!

[@TheChipmunk2008]

trades like to give each other a hard time, but as a spark it's fun to see a person who knows their trade, working stuff out... warms the cockles of my electrical heart :)

[@monkeyflyer410]

My favourite place to dose a system is a nice towel radiator like you used, but I've found it easier to siphon the water out from the top using a length of narrow hose. It's really clean and controllable that way.

[@Flyingdogturd]

We need a white board on the van back door for teaching diagrams. It’s a lot to learn all this plumbing stuff . 👍

[@worthexcellence9163]

some awesome soldering job, man Also, the video editing just keeps improving, it is great.

[@AshGoldn]

Would love to have seen the clear tube as you were agitating the rad. Something to think about next agitation! Great video. Cheers lads

[@ashvanbro9329]

Great video James

[@plumberparts]

Cheers bro!

[@johnadams1976]

great, clear explanations.... enjoyed the video cheers

[@bobrose7900]

Very good! Those DIY break in taps are horrendous things, but you've found a good use for them! Open vent header tanks should be barred, they are a terrible time bomb with all the issues compounded - blockages causing pumping over the top, air constantly being introduced an so on. Great video.

[@daves4026]

Super skills thank you for sharing

[@GrahamReid34]

My heating had the same issue, older house new combo boiler old radiators, ended up running Fernox F8 for 3 days, flushed the system, replaced 8 radiators as they were original and the cause of the rust and sludge, replaced pipe work and fittings and changed the boiler heat plate. Works perfectly now. All about prevention and honest heating engineers like this 👍🏻 cracking video.

[@laurencelagden]

Really interesting video. I’ve just done very similar to my sealed system. I bought a magnacleanse filter and left in connected with 2 bottles of MC5 running round it for 6 days. Everyday I agitated a few of the downstairs rads then on the last day whacked the boiler flow rate up to 80 for 2 hours while again agitating the rads. Dumped it all and refilled with clean water. Ran system for half an hour then dumped and refilled again with 2 bottles MC1 inhibitor. System so much better but not perfect. I’m making my own thoroughflush gizmo to mains water flush with the ability to reverse the flow rapidly. Might make a video if it works. FYI, I’m not a heating engineer or plumber.

[@Spoutinwyze]

Thoroughly enjoyed the video. As a Canadian, it baffles my mind seeing radiator heating. Only old houses still have them. We use forced air heating (natural gas) and sometimes baseboard electric heaters for an older house that had an expansion that didn't use ducting work.

[@testtest8399]

I all of those options have their advantages and disadvantages. I'm surprised you are baffled by radiators of all things.

[@MarkJones-gt2qd]

Forced air boilers are very expensive to buy or maintain in Blighty. We had one... took out all the ducting, vents, and painful maintenance, put in radiators, no real problem since. Boiler is twenty years old though, not sure how long it's going to keep going. One issue with air is dust, or particles. Probably modern systems have posh filters, but old ones will kill your asthmatics off the first day, especially in spring.

[@gracebateman777]

Wow! ❤ Thank you for this fantastic video 👏 I thoroughly enjoyed it and learnt loads! Ta 🙏

[@qualitykez]

Great videos mate, very informative and explained in a way that is easy to understand! I have one question… when talking about TRV’s you said they work off room temperature but I’ve always been led to believe they monitor the water temperature and that’s why it’s essential they go on the flow side of the rad to work effectively, am I wrong or are there different types? Thanks again for the tutorials 👌🏻

[@garystuart226]

Fantastic video as always , indeed useto hate the H systems or airseps, would either combine the cold feed and vent or pressurise the system if there was a high limit stat , plus of course dependant of age of the system , thks again for sharing , useto be a heating engineer for 30+ years and really miss it, that’s another reason I enjoy watching ur videos so much , thks and have a great week, keep safe and well

[@nomebear]

I experienced the same thing with a heating system in Alaska. We used a pump, tubing, a plastic tank, and acid to clean the system and flush built-up scale that was inhibiting the system. We neutralized it once finished. Running the boiler over 130 degrees was the cause of the buildup.

[@owentbruno9977]

Brilliant video as a young plumber this has helped me massively. Whats that tool that goes in the drill to clean pipe?

[@Hellsong89]

If you mean the agitator tool, you camn take hammer drill bit, weld a round bar in, turn the end to snuffle fit into bearing, turn plate with holder for the bearing and then make silicone etc surface for it. Bra stuffing or what ever you can find should work too.. Works even if hammer drill does not have jackhammer only option. If it does then you dont need bearing for that.

[@jayc1140]

This was a great video. Informative and jokes too😂 James cracks me up. So random but a proper likeable fella

[@MikeKafes]

First time finding your videos. I'm a Yank, and I think your presentation is AWESOME!! GREAT PERSONALITY! - GREAT PRODUCTION! ❤

[@michaeld_aus_b]

nice documentation of your work. I learned a lot again. My plumber always tries to explain me everything, but he draws on a piece of paper. 🤣 Man I hope I do not have this sludge thingie in my pipes 😉 Over here we never use tap water inside the heating system: always distilled/soft water. My plumber has a special device/cartridge for cleaning the tap water, if he needs more than a few liter. Usually houses here do not have an automatic refill system and heating systems are not connected to fresh water directly. I nearly need no refill (in a pressurized system), the yearly plumber inspection was sufficient. If I wanted a refill system, I would buy a system with a softener for the tap water, still operated manually after checking pressure. With only infloor heating and no radiators, I hope to not have a lof of rusting potential in the system. Cheers from Berlin

[@donaldduncan6017]

You r definitely a MASTER PLUMBER no doubt about that 😊😊😊

[@braddofner]

Wow. A video of a tradesman who actually knows what he is doing! Amazing! Great job, friend!

[@pawcook]

Great Video. Really enjoyed watching that one.

[@Stevesmith-df2oh]

Always great watching your videos, I tend to stick wet vac over some copper pipe and it siphons towel radiator far quicker to add treatment (time is money) 😂

[@42RHD]

Good stuff! Thanks!

[@daves4026]

Great video possibly an opportunity for stopcore 2 installations ve used them on 3 properties based upon your video. Definitely works as a lot less if any rusting

[@plumberparts]

Great to hear! Good point too.

[@jwkmpli]

excellent video , thanks

[@peterwalton1502]

Excellent video 👏👏

[@neil5006]

What a thorough tutorial 👍

[@erhantimur]

As a diy'er I understood all of that, great explanation. Cheers!

[@richardlewis5316]

A really informative video. It showed very clearly why sorting a system can cost so much money because finding the problems takes time and experience. People often only judge a job on the time taken. I too hate working on tanks in a loft - because the loft hatch is so small and always dreading putting a foot through the ceiling!! Paste? no comment!! (never use)

[@crazy4rc]

I did alot of cable install for tv here in canada, i have seen many different styles of water heaters and in various locations, one time i went to a couples house and we got onto the topic of places ive been too being cooler then it should be for the time of year vs ac useage. Guy showed me the tank he had in a closet just like this, he put a screen door on the door hinges.. he said it warmed the place up tremendously.

[@petecroxford3277]

Top man, and I must say a very good plumber and a very knowledgeable plumber⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍👍👍👍👏👏👏👏🍺🍺🍺🍺🇬🇧

[@Azabajam]

Love a bit of boss white / PTFE paste on the fibre washer. Used to get asked all the time white i used ptfe and boss white on rad fittings. over the 6 years i was plumbing never had an issue with a single rad.

[@ianbird6997]

Nice one James 👍

[@GadgetRobb]

Another quality video sir!

[@martyc5674]

Good vid- given you “lightly pressurized” the system what did you reduce the pre charge pressure to?

[@wildcamping7344]

Great video, some great tips,

[@stanmuffels7873]

Nice Work.

[@michaelodonoghue9385]

Brilliant stuff!

[@firstlast3507]

Another great video 📹 👏🏼 👍🏽

[@nathanbishop5037]

I remember the video you made about the auto air vent you changed on a Friday! You said it was one of the biggest floods you’ve had nice to see you put valves in for the ones you installed 😂

[@MuckSpreader99]

Only needs a bit of crud to stop the inner valve working and a broken heat expired plastic cap to cause a leak. Get ones with a metal venting cap. Mind you. if isolation valves are fitted, no problem...

[@BasedBidoof]

I'm from Florida so I've had no experience with whole house radiators. Really interesting video. I wonder how much that big gravity fed tub in the attic effected the humidity levels

[@fionnan2811]

I once had the same issue and put a second circulation pump in as a test. Works perfectly now

[@davidelliott5843]

I used a thermal store in my house. Boiler heated water in the cylinder with its own pump. Heating (with separate pump) circulated hot water to the radiators. A high performance coil in top of cylinder provided hot water at mains pressure. It just worked and the thermal store cylinder halved the gas bills. Only snag was balancing some radiators. The valves would whistle. I fitted in line ball valves to restrict flow rate. No more whistles.

[@dazmatic]

Nice one James!

[@KG-ic1zf]

I always paste up the fibre washers, so fully on your side for that matey, I find it doesn’t let the fibre washer stick to the metal when it’s been there for a while

[@stuartandrews4344]

Very old trick,taught that nearly 50 years ago by a old plumber.

[@plumberparts]

Cheers mang!

[@ldenorio]

that is so cool you guys have towel warmers

[@christopherpope8093]

Top tip, quicker way to drain your towel rad, bleed vent out, manometer hose in, siphon out. Great work figuring that head scratcher out!

[@nedloh17]

Great video. Did you balance the hot water tank ?

[@kieranokeeffe1363]

Congratulations and good luck with your new baby

[@tonysadler5290]

About the jointing compound - I do it all the time, can't see anything wrong in it. Also use ptfe tape and other habits that will probably send me to plumber's purgatory! But then, I cannot remember the last time I had any leeks - years ago! 🤞🤞 Brilliant videos. Thank you.👏👏👏

[@clooperman3745]

The Welsh have leeks, plumbers have leaks !

[@tookitogo]

Leeks are delicious, you should give them a try again! :p

[@david-iandawson]

How do u know which size pressure vessel to use as there's many different sizes? Love ur channel & ur passion 🤩

[@gmac8032]

Thanks

[@pedrosmits]

37:47 we use vents with an automatic close valve, when you remove the automatic vent. Flamco has some good ones. 1/2” size with 3/8 vent.

[@plumberparts]

Nah mate! I’ve had the Flamco ones fail and flooded an office once - NEVER AGAIN! 😂😂

[@pedrosmits]

@@plumberparts lol, never had that happened to me. But other companies make the same kind of stuff. BTW, like you flooded the toilet last week 🤣. Hope you feel better now, great video. 👍. We never install without a magnet filter, especially when the systems containing a fine mashed heat exchanger.

[@Lizzard-t]

Had flamco AAV Brand new out of box.lasted 2 weeks then it decided it didn't want to be a AAV anymore. Rubbish!

[@bertfromnz9069]

why do plumbers use rough multigrip pliers on chrome hex nits! even in NZ! damages the nuts if you find they are tight

[@dinendale666]

You should get a small strong magnet and go around the flow pipes in the AC , blockages or restrictions are usually magnetite so not to hard to find.

[@Finglesham]

I am surprised that you still use a blowlamp and solder. When I had a boiler change and moved to a pressurized system the guys had a pipe join machine using heat. Very neat and quick. They only soldered one joint all day. Frightening how such a modern house was so crapped up! Thanks.

[@tookitogo]

“…using heat”. Well that’s how all soldering/brazing works: you heat up the joint and melt in the solder. A flame is one way to introduce heat. I don’t know what device you mean, since your description is so vague. There are machines to fuse plastic pipes, but presumably you mean metal pipes. Are you sure it wasn’t actually a crimp system? In continental Europe and USA, crimped pipe fittings have significantly displaced soldered copper pipe for new installations (and for some repair work too).

[@Brian77766]

33:38 onwards absolute gold, cracked me up!

[@hvacrwrld1402]

Can't beat a good problem system video. Thanks James.

[@plumberparts]

No worries broooooo!

[@martinhansen6802]

Sold. Great content

[@plumberparts]

Cheers!

[@paulrobinson3528]

In 1998 i had a new central heating installed, all the old back boiler system ripped out. I had a condenser boiler fitted in the loft as there really wasn't room in the kitchen. The condenser boilers had really been out that long but it was a gravity feed system. After a year i noticed the radiators getting cold a the top which was sorted by bleeding them but noticed the water was brown which i though was strange considering the guy who installed it added inhibitor to it. One day i went up the loft to look inside the plastic tank and found it to be full of rust so drained and cleaned it etc but it kept happening. Now i've watched this brilliant video, i understand why which brings me to my next question. Why didn't the heating installer make it a pressurized system? Maybe you can answer that?

[@nineteen-sixty-nine9373]

Excellent job. The only downside is that now your gas bill goes through the roof. My bill went up by removing air from the radiators.In theory the air takes up space so now your boiler is heating up a larger amount of water!

[@garethswaffs]

Better the gas bill than paying for electric rads!

[@robincurwood]

As a retired heating engineer,my boiler (which is a viessman compact, which I seal the system 8 years.) It seems to had magnetite baked in. So I power flushed it with Fernox ds40 on day 1 then on day 2 with sentinel x800. I wanted to make sure that it was verturualy sterilize it. I don't want to touch it again.

[@OnusofStrife]

Fascinating. American here, who is not a plumber. I don't think I've ever seen gravity feed systems here in the US. I've only ever seen pressurized hydronic systems. You also see lots of steam systems here as well.

[@MrPaulpph]

steam systems?! in housing? pls show me an example 😮

[@tookitogo]

@@MrPaulpphThe first apartment I ever rented had steam heating. It used baseboard radiators that would get scorching hot, controlled by wall-mounted thermostats. From looking at it, one could easily have assumed it was electric, but the baseboards had very hot pipes connected to them instead of electrical conduit. (Well, that and that I knew it was steam because they said it was. The apartment complex used a central steam plant for all of the buildings.)

[@MrPaulpph]

@@tookitogo Hilarious, thanks for the insight. I only know them from ships, but even there you'll have condenser heat exchangers for a separate HVAC-heating system.

[@tookitogo]

@@MrPaulpph Why is it funny to you? I think they’re fairly common for large buildings or complexes built before forced-air systems became common (which only happened once air conditioning started to come down in price in the 1950s and 60s). It’s not something you’d find in a single family home, where hydronic systems are dominant (for non-forced-air systems). One big advantage is that the radiators for steam systems are much, much smaller, and probably cheaper (they’re basically built like car engine radiators, with lots of thin fins).

[@MrPaulpph]

@@tookitogo I just could not imagine this being in use for normal buildings w/o specialised personnel operating it. I know quite a bit about steam systems but where I am from this is pretty much purely for industrial use since >100 years.

[@paulpothier658]

drawing on the walls walking around in old muddy work boots on the carpet what a piece of work this guy is

[@dfslicker1]

Can't understand why anyone would want to cover up there radiator with those Rad covers, take them away and let the heat into the room. Good Video.

[@croc131]

Great vid

[@bradhaughton6698]

I would say one thing about the UK you guys definitely have a crazy hodgepodge of systems in this house when it just comes the heating.

[@plumberparts]

You’re not wrong Brad! 😂

[@johnoreilly4408]

"heat never worked the 5 years we lived here" "I think it all started when we got the bathroom done 3 years ago"

[@tomporter114]

Need to find one of those fold up tables!

[@jimray4210]

Entertaining as all get out. Bravo Zulu!

[@MarkJones-gt2qd]

That seems like a big ask for such a tiny boiler, all other issues aside. My first thought was circulation of course. I'm impressed the boiler ever got up to 70 normally.

[@no-ic3rg]

Does it matter if the balancing valve is on flow or return to the coil? And can you use a gate valve. Just having a similar issue when heating and hot water on at the same time.