can I add another radiator to my central heating system?

Question

I have a baxi bermuda running the system (very old system), the trouble is the house (3 bed semi) has been extended downwstairs making a very large living room and a utility room and had a porch added that opens direct to the hallway from outside. Upstairs is fine but downstairs only has two radiators and seems to take ages to warm up (open plan) the thermostat is in the hallway which is the last to warm up so the rads upstairs are still putting out a lot of heat when it the correct temp upstairs, until the downstairs warms up.
Should I
A- add radiators in living room and utility room.(will system cope)
B- use controls on upstairs rads to turn them down or will heat just rise from downstairs.
C- complete new system £££s

Answer 1

Your boiler will be either 40,000 or 50,000 btu output as a rule of thumb 10% general heat loss, leaving you 45,000, 10,000 for the domestic hot water leaving 35,000 each rad on average 4,000 that's in lay mans terms allows for 8 and a bit radiators. this is based on a 50,000 boiler.One thing you said was that the hall rad was last to get warm, this would indicate that you may only have a single pipe system, if this is the case it could be more beneficial to replace the full system . Depending were you live you will be looking at £3,500 - £ 4,000 for 8 rads and a Worcester combi. The advantage of this will be £ 150 per year less to run and O' you should be warm.

Answer 2

Two things.(1) never put a thermostat in a hallway, it is usuallt the coldest part of a house. They are actually ROOM stats. and thats where they should be. (2) try turning the upstairs rads down a bit and this will send more heat to the downstairs ones. Before you think of adding more rads to the system, you have to find out if your boiler can cope with the extra, this depends on the output of your boiler. Also check the position of your BOILER thermostat, it could be set too low.

Answer 3

2 things you have to ask yourself 1.do i like to be warm 2. how long do i think iam going to stay in this property .the next thing is look at the facts back boilers are approx 60% efficient but will still be working when modern boilers are in the skip. then how clean is your system (no i dont mean i have my boiler serviced every year )this only checks the efficency/safety of your boiler .if money is a problem .then fit or have fitted a device called a magnaclean or simular this will after adding a desludge chemical collect the debris which you can wash off and replace .then if money is not such a problem then go for a all singing and dancing up grade .which should include a power flush of your entire system and all controls to make your system part 'L' compliant .make sure you get a written quote something written on the back of a *** packet might be difficult to prove if you have a problem .and energy efficency you sould only pay 5% vat .

Answer 4

As baxi bermuda's are only designed to run abot six radiators, if it's an old system, and the gas fire is primarily used to heat the living room, then i would think you are at about your limit with this system,allowing for the fact that i don't know how many btu's your system is designed to produce, then i would suggest going for a new system with a condencing boiler ( wich now is a must when replacing new ) and still keep a gas fire in the living room, and have all upstairs radiators fitted with thermostatic radiator valves to control each room seperately, install cavity wall insulation and a minimum of ten inches of rock wool insullation in the loft, this way new radiators can be fitted in total keeping with the size of your rooms.
Hope this is informative to you, Merry Xmas

Answer 5

Every radiator has got a kWatt or Watt rating and so does your boiler. If you want a quick reference guide on the wattage rating of your radiators you can look at the sizes and look up the wattage of the radiators. If you add it all up and it is less than the output of your boiler you should be able to extend onto the system, but do not go over the output rating of the boiler.

Answer 6

Yes you can add a radiator to your system no dought people will go technical it will only make your boiler work harder which some people say is a good thing,You could always turn the upstairs one down by restricting the flow of hot water throught one side usually the side you don't use to turn them on and off'{feed side}the side where the incoming pipe gets hot first.this will push hotter water around the rest of the system.this is called balancing the system.

Answer 7

Install a separate pump, thermostat, and controls to control the downstairs rads, totally independent of the other thermostat.
The beauty of a boiler/rad system is it is very versatile.

Answer 8

Firstly you may have an old thermostatic rad valve which has been put on the return. The old ones needed to be put on the flow only whereas new ones can be put anywhere. Look to see if theres an arrow indicating flow on the valve. As for the smell, get a fernox cleanser in the system then drain it out after a week,flush it through then put in an inhibitor.

Answer 9

you can add radiator's in both rooms, but try to stem the flow to the upstairs rooms. once down stairs is heated,you can re-adjust the upstairs to suit. hope this helps...

Answer 10

dont mess with it get a plumber before you waste hundreds on an old system he will weigh up the pressures you might not have fernox in the system and you pipes may have furred up