Why the heck won’t our heating work? It’s freezing!!

[Poppysball]

Moved into our house 18 months ago. Discovered the heating wasn’t great last winter. Had someone out who flushed the system and it improved a bit or at least enough to get us through until spring.

Now this winter it’s bloody freezing again! One or two radiators upstairs get properly hot but the remainder are only ever slightly warm even when the dial is on no.6 (individual heat settings on each radiator).
We have lots of wooden and tiles floors and quite a big hallway and the house is just so cold.
DH has bought 2 electric (tiny) heaters and we’re basically huddling around these.

We had a man out a few weeks ago who said the rads needed balancing so he did this and they were even worse! Paid him £30 and now he’s saying it will need a power flush which will cost £800!!

Just don’t know what to do. It’s such a lot of money and I don’t know who to believe. Can’t afford to pay that and it still not work!

At the moment we’re paying electric for the heaters, gas to heat hot water which isn’t getting to the radiators and we’re still cold!

Does anyone know anything about this stuff or have any advice?

Have you done the basics - ensured the system is a maximum pressure and bled all the radiators? Also, do the radiators have theur own individual thermostatic valves as these can be temperamental when they're old and can seize.

Yes, check radiators and system pressure. Old radiators get bunged up with crud, it might be worth replacing them - I think you should get advice from another plumber (a second opinion) re flushing out the system. £800 would buy a few new radiators. When did you last have the boiler serviced?

You can learn quite a bit just from looking up your make of boiler and googling your problems online. That way it will be harder for a plumber to bamboozle you - you’ll have an idea of what to ask, etc.

How old is the boiler? This was us, spent last winter hiding under as many blankets as we could, slept in dressing gowns with the hood up and electric blanket on. Had a boiler guy out and turned out the boiler was about 30 years old, inefficient and the wrong size for the house. Got a new boiler and ye gods it's good to be warm again! Not the cheapest option but the only one that was going to work really.

Join Contract like British Gas, as long as boiler isn’t too old 10 yrs I think.
We have a service every year, call out 365 days on gas/electric/water
£32 mth . No call out. Worked well for us as already had gas looked at twice , Electrian out twice , once for electric shower and lights.

Other than that, bleed rads, see if any air when there open. Another thing are the radiators big enough for the size of your rooms?
Too small, not enough heat to warm it.