Cold towel rail

morg_monster

Hi
We moved into our first house a couple of weeks before christmas. It has a back boiler (Baxi bermuda GF3 super), and radiators throughout all with TRVs. The radiators are a mix of old and new, they all get lovely and hot although one seems to need bleeding fairly often and I guess will need replacing soon. BUT In the (downstairs) bathroom the only heating is supplied by a ladder style towel rail. When we first moved in there was some heat coming through (but not much), but when we came back after christmas away we can't get it to heat up at all, the whole thing including the in and out pipes are stone cold. The bathroom has 2 outside walls and it's freezing in there in the morning at the mo, so really want to fix this ASAP.
I did some research and came home this eve ready to remedy a stuck TRV pin. I removed the TRV head and yes the pin did appear to be stuck. Ive bashed it about with a hammer (gently) and it doesn't want to spring up at all. So failing that I just pulled it out to the max (well just before the trickle of water), left it for a while, but it didn't heat up at all. So then about half an hour ago I turned all the other radiators in the house off (just by the TRV - is that right) and so far the rail hasn't heated up a smidge.

Any suggestions for what to do now? Any other tricks we can try? Thanks very much!

PS - Have searched for an electric switch for the towel rail, no luck, it appears to be just controlled by the CH.
ETA - PPS - sorry meant to say, first thing we tried was bleeding it but no air came out, just water.

keystone

Is the lockshield valve open on the other end?

Cheers

morg_monster

Yes - open is screwed out (anti-clockwise), right? (!)

keystone

morg_monster wrote: »

Yes - open is screwed out (anti-clockwise), right? (!)

Yep. Excuse me asking but it wouldn't be the first time and it won't be the last. Try letting a lot of water out of it to see if that starts a flow.

Cheers

morg_monster

Ok I'll try that. Bit scared as I don't know how to top up the system after or even if i need to...
think you might be quite near us based on your location!

Edit - should I let water out of the TRV pin hole or out of the bleed screw? does it matter?

keystone

morg_monster wrote: »

Ok I'll try that. Bit scared as I don't know how to top up the system after or even if i need to...
think you might be quite near us based on your location!

Edit - should I let water out of the TRV pin hole or out of the bleed screw? does it matter?

. TRV pin hole might be a challenge from a time perspective. Bleed screw would be easier. Just be prepared for some mess and have a suitable container to catch the water in. A couple of pints should at least allow you to see if the flow and return pipes start to get warm. Do it first with the LSV shut down so the water has to come via the flow and secondly with the TRV shut down so it has to come down the return. This is to try and establish circulation.

Cheers

morg_monster

ok I thought it would be that. only prob is that the bleed screw is at the end of a vertical so yes it might be rather messy / fountain like....
will go give it a try, need to get the rads back on for a bit before we go to bed!

keystone

morg_monster wrote: »

ok I thought it would be that. only prob is that the bleed screw is at the end of a vertical so yes it might be rather messy / fountain like....
will go give it a try, need to get the rads back on for a bit before we go to bed!

Oh dear - its one of those! Why do they design them that way! The solution to that, unfortunately, is to close down both valves to take any pressure off the rad. Then remove the bleed valve (the whole thing not just the bleed screw) in entirety - replace with a ½" male elbow to make it easy to catch the water and control the outflow with the appropriate valve. Once established that you can get heat via either or both pipes just reverse the process to put the bleed valve back in.

Might be better to leave this one to the morning TBH and get the rest of your system back on line for tonight.

Cheers

morg_monster

well with a 4pt milk bottle and a towel i'm managing to catch most of it. the TRV side pipe is starting to warm up a little (had the LSV shut). ive probably taken at least a pint. I will continue, will try shutting the TRV pin now.
Thanks so much by the way! (i will give proper MSE thanks later!)

morg_monster

OK, update is that with the LSV shut and a pint or so out, I was able to get the TRV side pipe warmed up (but not very far up the rail, or particularly hot, before I stopped). However with the TRV pin shut and LSV open, the LSV side didn't get even slightly warm after taking about 2pts out.

couple of things i am a little confused about...
firstly my LSV appears to open clockwise, not anticlockwise as I said, and only about a quarter turn...
Also I'm not sure what the "shut" position for the TRV pin is. I can push it shut up to about 5mm out with my finger, then if I bang it with the hammer it goes in another couple of mm. I can pull it out about 1cm before the water starts trickling out. I'm not sure what the "shut" position is - finger shut or hammer shut!

anyway I'm leaving it now, have put the rads back on and will have another think tomorrow and maybe get someone in to look at it. The in-laws are coming to visit us for the first time in the new house at the weekend, want it fixed by then!!!
Thanks for your help keystone, you're a star.xx

keystone

Sounds like you need to look for a blockage of some description (it could be air!) on the return pipework.

Good luck and sleep well.

Cheers.