Radiators downstairs not working

jasper27

Hi
Please help..

I have a back boiler (behind my gas fire) and a pump in a cupboard at the side of my fire..

When the heating is on the radiators upstairs are working ..(one of them is still a bit cold, although it feels slightly warmer at the top and colder at the bottom)

None of the radiators downstairs are getting warm at all, I've tried bleeding them and straight away black water came out.

None of the pipes connecting the downstairs radiators are getting warm either.

I can't afford to get anyone in to have a look at it, so any advice on how to sort this myself would be much appreciated.

Thank you

ariba10

Check to see or hear if the pump is working.

martinthebandit

You probably need to balance your system, time consuming but easy enough to do.

On each radiator, at the opposite end to your trv turn off the radiator then turn it back on half a turn, do this to all your radiators then run your heating for 30 minutes or so.

Check all your rads, any that have not got hot turn on another half turn.

Run heating for another 30 minutes and again check the rads and again any that have not got hot turn on another half turn.

Repeat until all rads are hot.

Hope that makes sense.

jasper27

ariba10 wrote: »

Check to see or hear if the pump is working.

Thanks

yes the pump is working.. both pipes in/out are warm.

jasper27

martinthebandit wrote: »

You probably need to balance your system, time consuming but easy enough to do.

On each radiator, at the opposite end to your trv turn off the radiator then turn it back on half a turn, do this to all your radiators then run your heating for 30 minutes or so.

Check all your rads, any that have not got hot turn on another half turn.

Run heating for another 30 minutes and again check the rads and again any that have not got hot turn on another half turn.

Repeat until all rads are hot.

Hope that makes sense.

Yes that makes sense.. thank you.. I'll try it.

I'm having trouble trying to turn the valves.. the thing I'm trying to turn is like an upended philips screwdriver..opposite end to the bleeding screw,( ) do I turn it anti-clockwise?

Do I need to do the ones upstairs, that are working, too?

ariba10

The pipes will be warm if the pump is working or not.

See if you can feel the pump vibrating or hear the impeller turning.

martinthebandit

jasper27 wrote: »

Yes that makes sense.. thank you.. I'll try it.

I'm having trouble trying to turn the valves.. the thing I'm trying to turn is like an upended philips screwdriver..opposite end to the bleeding screw,( ) do I turn it anti-clockwise?

Do I need to do the ones upstairs, that are working, too?

Pipe wrench or a set of pliars on the spindle will do the trick and yes you need to do all the rads including the one upstairs, turn them all so they are only on half a turn.

jasper27

martinthebandit wrote: »

Pipe wrench or a set of pliars on the spindle will do the trick and yes you need to do all the rads including the one upstairs, turn them all so they are only on half a turn.

Ok, I've turned them all fully clockwise and them turned each one a 1/4 turn back. Two of the radiators had the spindle pointing downwards, ?!? but I still turned them anti-clockwise and then a 1/4 turn back,

Two of the spindles have just snapped off... after I managed to turn them on fully and a 1/4 turn back.. so hopefully they will be ok??

At the moment they are still cold ...........and I've got a headache

jasper27

ariba10 wrote: »

The pipes will be warm if the pump is working or not.

See if you can feel the pump vibrating or hear the impeller turning.

I can't hear any noise, but I have a slight hearing problem... surely it must be working if the rads upstairs are hot?

forgotmyname

We had the same issue. Rads upstairs boiling hot yet downstairs nothing. Turned out to be the circuit board in the boiler not switching the pump on.

jasper27

forgotmyname wrote: »

We had the same issue. Rads upstairs boiling hot yet downstairs nothing. Turned out to be the circuit board in the boiler not switching the pump on.

What did you have to do to rectify it?

My downstairs rads are still cold