Plumber in Great Holm
Tell Us About the Job in Great Holm
Tell us about the job in two minutes and we’ll come back to you with a clear, fixed price.
Great Holm is 1980s housing on the western side of the city, and it has seen a lot of extensions and loft conversions over the years. Good sized plots, sensible layouts, and houses that lend themselves to being added to.
Which brings the problem we get called about most here: somebody extends, the new room is fine, and the far end of the original house never warms up properly again.
That is not a coincidence and it is not a fault developing. It is capacity.
Based in Two Mile Ash, a few minutes away. Gas Safe registered, registration number 981362.
- Gas Safe registered 981362
- Minutes from Two Mile Ash
- Get us in at design stage, not at first fix
- Booked work Monday to Saturday, 8am to 8pm
Last updated
Why extending makes the rest of the house colder
A heating system has a finite capacity, set when it was installed for the house as it then was. Add radiators and you add load. Three things then matter:
- Boiler output against the new total heat loss for the whole property, not just the new part.
- Pump capacity, because water now has to be pushed further, to a new furthest point. This is the one most often missed, and it is precisely why the far bedroom goes cold rather than the new room.
- Pipework sizing on the leg feeding the new area. On older Milton Keynes housing this can mean microbore, which has limited capacity and cannot carry what a larger radiator needs.
And then rebalancing, which is not optional. A system that gains radiators and is not rebalanced sends too much flow to the nearest radiators and too little to the furthest. If someone fits radiators and leaves without rebalancing, the job is not finished. See loft conversion and extension plumbing and central heating installation.
The loft conversion trap specifically
If your house is gravity fed and the conversion takes the loft, the hot water system has to change
This is missed with remarkable regularity, because builders treat the tanks as an obstruction to remove rather than as part of the heating system. There is nowhere for them to go, so the realistic options are converting to an unvented cylinder or a combi, both of which are substantial pieces of work that belong in the budget from the start rather than being discovered in week three.
Even where a tank can be relocated, the head above a second floor shower is minimal, so it will be poor. Converting is usually the right answer regardless.
Ask before the drawings are finalised
- Can the boiler carry the new total heat loss?
- Can the pump reach the new furthest point?
- What size is the pipework feeding the new area?
- If it is a loft conversion on a gravity system, what happens to the tanks?
- Will the whole system be rebalanced afterwards?
- Are new radiators sized for a 55°C flow temperature rather than the older 75 to 80°C?
One visit at design stage answers all six, and it is much cheaper than answering them afterwards.
Hard water
Same Anglian Water supply as the rest of the city, and Great Holm is MK8, where hardness runs at the higher end of the Milton Keynes range against a UK average of 207. Shower valve cartridges seize and combi heat exchangers scale. See our hard water guide.
Getting to Great Holm
Minutes from Two Mile Ash. One of the closest parts of the city to us.
Frequently asked questions
We extended and now the back bedroom is cold. Why?
Usually pump capacity or pipe sizing, plus a system that was never rebalanced after the work. All fixable.
Our loft conversion is taking the water tanks. Is that a problem?
If you are on a gravity system, yes, and a significant one. The hot water system has to change, and that belongs in the budget from day one.
Do we need bigger radiators in the new room?
Sized for the room’s heat loss and for the flow temperature the system will actually run at. That is a calculation rather than a guess.
When should the plumber get involved?
At design stage, before drawings are finalised. That visit prevents the expensive surprises.
Do you cover Loughton and Knowlhill?
Yes, along with Loughton Lodge, Crownhill and Shenley Church End.
What we do in Great Holm
Where we cover in Great Holm
- Great Holm
- Loughton
- Loughton Lodge
- Knowlhill
- Crownhill
- Shenley Church End
Get in touch
Call 07514 312117 or send a WhatsApp with your plans. Gas Safe registered 981362, CIPHE member, fully insured.