Plumbing (central heating) quiz. A beer to the person who helps me figure this out successfully.?

In my previous post I described how I've messed with my current CH & HW system to make it fully pumped (S plan). I think I've messed up a perfectly good system but it is totally undo-able. What I need to know is from the following information would the old system have worked successfully so I had HW only when I needed it, CH only when I needed it, and or both. And would it have been fully pumped?

The diagram: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90...

description, information and questions are in the same album, just different piccie. (I couldn't think of how else I could do it sorry!). can anyone label pipes 1-3, where they are going/coming from...

cheers,
Paul.

pebbles,

Thanks a lot for your reply. You have confirmed what I thought last night. It isn't normal to have the valves on the return though is it? But I presume it's safe to do so because the previous owners must have been runnning this system for at least 17 years and maybe the owners before them.

I think you're right about the build up of air as well. There does seem to be a lot of noise generated in a couple of rads and I'm always bleeding them (although this is with my current layout!). Can I fix this easily?

I am right in thinking that not all boilers need a pump overrun though do they. My boiler is a Glow-worm Space Saver 50. I can't find any info on this at all. Again, it never had a pump overrun so I presume it's safe to run without. (I know I'm doing a lot of presuming!)

Is it an easy/cheap job to scrap the header tank and pressurise the system? Is it a job for the pros or can I attempt it myself. (I have no problem paying for experts - I just enjoy a challenge!)

hi paul,again first what i think the pipes are.

1. return from ch
2.return to boiler
3.flow from boiler.

the system seems like it was put in by someone who did not fully understand the workings of a ch/hw system.It looks like some form of solid fuel appliance was used to heat the water at one time. The cold feed from the header tank should not tee into the expansion in the attic as this can cause circulation in the header tank,oxidation the water and causing a build up of air in the system leading to rusty rads. The by pass at the pump is wrong it dose nothing. The idea of a by pass is to clear the boiler of boiling water after motorised valves close.This is achieved by the pump overrun (normally a stat in the boiler) that runs the pump until boiler cools down so avoiding "kettling" of the heat exchanger. the by pass should be placed between the flow and return before the valves. Getting back to your question i think the set up would have worked ,but ineficently.My advice to you would be to get rid of the header tank and pressurise the system