Radiators not getting hot enough, pump on constantly-help!

simonhgreen

Hi everyone

I wonder if anyone has any ideas. My CH system is probably 15 yrs old and has always been regularly serviced. It's a Baxi Bermuda 675 that operates behind the fire in the front room

There are a couple of problems that I can't make head or tail of. I had the system on for 12 hours yesterday with the room stat on 25, but according to a thermometer it never got above 18 degrees. The rads are never "boiling" hot which I thought they would be until the temp was reached.

The main rad in the living room, while not being cool, is warmer at the top than the bottom, but certainly not too hot to touch at any time.

When I turned the system off at the timer box the pump keeps whirring and in the end I had to turn it off by switching the plug off.

Any ideas/advice would be gratefully received-thanks.
Si

JimArnold

Assuming the boiler has been serviced recently and is running Ok then here's a simple guide

Radiators with air in them usually warm up from the bottom - doesn't seem like your problem

There are usually 2 thermostats in the system one is on a wall - if its set for 25 but the room is only 18 then if you turn it down slowly you should hear it ckick at 18 (ish)
there is also a thermostat in the boiler so that if the water comes back at a high enough temperature it switches the boiler down
If you also have hot water heating then there is a tank thermostat which connects to a 3port valve which directs water to the tank and/or radiators
Some systems have thermostatic valves on the radiators. The tank may also have a electric top up heater

Then there is the pump which forces water around the system - these do wear out 10-25 years is a common replacement time

So the possible faults lie in the bits above + the controller time switch

joe13

Sorry I do not know the answer to the problem, but we also have 2 radiators in upstairs bedrooms that are hotter at the top than the bottom, in fact the best we can get now is warm at the top and cold at the bottom, they never get hot anymore. So we also would love to know the answer.

Fran

It sounds like they might need bleeding. You need a key thing that fits onto one side top of radiator, you need to let any air out until liquid comes out.

iwanttosave_2

My kitchen rad is like this, cold at the bottom and slightly warm at the top, obviosly they dont need bleeding otherwise the temps would be the other way round. we are getting new rads and boiler but that is not till new year and its cold now

heatherw_01

I have a similar problem. It sounds like you might have a sludge build-up which means you need to clean them out or get them flushed.

iwanttosave_2

flushed? isn't that where you get a hose pipe and "flush" the system out

trigger_mike

my mate runs a power flushing company https://www.felixstowepowerflushing.co.uk if you visit his website it explans the problem you have and how he fixs it, it does work and would fix your problem

heatherw_01

iwanttosave wrote:

flushed? isn't that where you get a hose pipe and "flush" the system out

You just flush the radiator with the problem. Yes you can use a hosepipe if you do it yourself.

iwanttosave_2

i thought that was what it was, we had to do it in the old house and flush the whole system, I got soaked

milla

I had the same problem last week ( radiator warm at top and cold at bottom ).I did the bleeding bit but that didn't work .

In the end I had a neighbour in who does CH and he showed me the valve (bottom of radiator ) . He adjusted that (very slightly )and Bingo !

Not saying that will work for you but it did for me .

hth