Splitting UFH from main boiler circuit.

[R.O.S.S.I]

In the house we have just bought we have a Baxi combi boiler which powers UFH downstairs and radiators upstairs.

One thing i'm not hugely happy with is how it is all on the same "circuit" (thats probably not the right name for it). It's all controlled from a Nest thermostat in the hall but it's a bit annoying how we can't have just the UFH on downstairs or just have the rads on upstairs (if we have the log burner on for example).

It's a wet UFH system and the manifold for that is under the stairs with our boiler upstairs on the landing. Would it be straight forward to change how the heating loops are set up so that we can independently control the upstairs and downstairs heating? Or is it a case of ripping out a lot pipework and starting again?

 

[dirtychinchilla]

That’s strange. Most of those setups I believe use a zoned solution. So you should really have a pair of zone valves and thermostats, one for upstairs and one foot downstairs. Also, they operate at very different temperatures (flow and return), so using the same circuit makes no sense to me.

I don’t know how easy it would be to change it I’m afraid. I work more on the theoretical side of things.

 

[Bat]

It ought to be relatively straightforward depending on current location of components and current design. You may currently have a Y plan system with a 3 port motorised valve that sends hot water to the heating, hot water system or both. That would generally be changed into an S plan where you have individual motorised valves for each circuit. Sounds like you would need 3 zones; hot water, upstairs, downstairs. A thermostat would be needed for each heating zone in order to call for heat for that individual area and operate the relevant zone valve.