Heating problem

ukjoel

Wanted to pick some brains on our problem and check we were going down the right track.

Moved into our new home in June 2011. Didnt use the heating until a month ago.

Upstairs all Rads are nice and warm.
Downstairs the rads either dont heat up very well or top is warm and bottom of rads is cold.

Did some research on here and had a powerflush carrried out and at the same time had the boiler serviced and a magnaclean put in.

Boiler looks and working fine according to gas man, and powerflush cleared out loads of gunk.

However Rads still only warm (yet pipes right up to them are boiling hot)

I am guessing its the valves and we are now getting these all replaced but wanted to check I wasnt missing anything.

All rads were balanced and bled after the powerflush.

Does anyone have any ideas apart from valves or do they think replacing the valves and thermostats is the way to go?

Cheers.

closed

have you tried bleeding them, taking the head off the trv, and opening up the lockshield a bit? Does adjusting the trv make any difference?

Did the plumber check everything was working before leaving?

wildbri

first you need to bleed them. little valve at the top rad. you will need a key to let the air out, If you dont have key get one from the hardware store.

On each rad there is avalve on each end, one has a large knob to turn it on/off. Turn this anticlockwise, on the other end is a valve with a pull off cover, this valve is to set up the rad, turn this anticlockwise( may need a spanner or pliers) and this will allow more water to pass through the rad, more water more heat. This should have been done by the plumber, complain,

Keep warm, regards bri :cool:

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Its not air & they dont need bleeding if they are hot at the top & cold at the bottom......


It is a flow problem ie:

Broken pump
Pump not set high enough
Block sediment
Incorrect balancing

I would go for incorrect balancing if there is no pump or its set low or broke.

Anyways it is NOT air in rads.

keystone

Sticky TRVs? Faff about with the lockshield valve without remembering how many turns you've made and you'll be rebalancing the system eventually. Perhaps thats what needs doing anyway.

Are you on 15mm pipework or microbore?

Cheers

1984ReturnsForReal_2

keystone wrote: »

Sticky TRVs? Faff about with the lockshield valve without remembering how many turns you've made and you'll be rebalancing the system eventually.

Just open one up full (remember the turns) & they will get their answer soon enough.

keystone

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

Just open one up full (remember the turns) & they will get their answer soon enough.

Mmm you could be right but Post 3 is suggesting to go round and just open the lot up. I think I'd rather OP checked operation of TRVs first if they are on the flow as it will be easier for him.

OP - to do that take the head off as Closed suggests and make sure the centre pin can be pushed down against the spring reasonably easily. does your rad now heat up?

Cheers

ukjoel

Thanks for all the replies.

Rads have been bled, both after the powerflush, and regularly by myself since as air can take time working its way around the system.

Rads were balanced correctly then as well.

First thing I tried was the TSV's (before the powerflush) as I used to work somewhere where the pin jammed all the time and your right when this is the case the rad starts heating up in seconds.
But pins were fine and Rads were still nowhere near as hot as the pipes supplying them.

Hence my query - Everything points to it being the valves yet I understand that its unusual for this to be the problem on Rads that were only put in 8 years ago.

Re suggestion it may be the pump - we wondered this but discounted it as when rads were individually turned off to balance them it made no difference at all to the rads that were struggling.

Cheers,

keystone

How about the powerflush was a waste of time and all its achieved is nice clean pipes but its pumped a load of carp into the valves? Thats a cleaning exercise rather than replacement. So the pins were OK before the power flush but not afterwards. Tried the pins since?

I really can't see (sorry to disbelieve you) how the system "was correctly balanced" at the time of the powerflush if the rads weren't working properly afterwards.

Cheers

ukjoel

Yep tried them today and all pins are fine. None are stuck.

Rads are all working but the are warm rather than hot.
The pipes leading to the rads are very hot right up until the valves but the rads are just warm.

Some are very hot at the top but just warm at the bottom.

How likely is it that the powerflush was unable to clear all the gunk out the rads and some of it is completely embedded into the bottom of the rads.

If thats the case should I get a couple of new Rads when the valves are done as easier to do a direct swap while the system is drained for the valves.

gas4you

If the pumps had it, the upstairs rads will still get warm through gravity circulation.

Pump needs checking first if you have a conventional system.