Radiator issue

m139195

Hi, just need some advice on radiators. I've had 2 cold radiators for as long as I cam remember and bleeding them never did the job so I presumed they were sludged up. However, I finally got them working by uncapping the non-thermostat end of the rad and turning the screw under the cap a few turns which raised it slightly. Not quite sure what it did but both rads are now cooking...so does anyone out there know what this did to make it work and was I wise to do it, ie. it won't unbalance the system in any way will it? Cheers for any advice offered.

macman

Yes, altering the lockshield valves it will potentially unbalance the system further down the system. Those rads may be colder.
I suggest you get it properly balanced and flushed if necessary.

hatchy

Sounds like one end of the radiators has been closed off for whatever reason and you have just reopened it. If the radiator is not open both ends then water wont flow through it. What's all this balancing malarkey about? Just got old rads here that are just a case of turn the cap one way for 'on' or the other for 'off'.

m139195

re balancing - just that it seemed too simple a resolution. In my experience, if you mess with central heating then it tends to bite you back at some point somewhere else in the system. However those 2 rads are now working fine and others seem to be too (for the mo at least!) so I'm hoping it will stay that way.

hatchy

Wasn't a 'dig' in any way I am genuinely interested to know what this balancing is. Guess it is something on newer heating systems as opposed to the antiquated heating oil boiler heating system we have in our place.

macman

The lockshield valves are there on all systems to enable the installer to balance the flow in order to get the correct temp drop between the 'in' and 'out' side of each rad.

hatchy

Yeh read up on it on the net. Might give it a go as one or two of our rads are a bit hotter than others (bizarrely the one furthest from the boiler is one of them).