Can I fix this radiator issue myself?

demon_princezz

I recently noticed one of my radiators was still hot, despite it being turned off via the thermostatic valve.

I just did a test - turned my heating on, turned all valves up to 5 in the house, waited half an hour and then turned them all off to 0. Waited another 45mins then touched them all. All the radiators upstairs were cool as expected, but all 4 radiators downstairs with valves were boiling hot still.

Can it be a coincidence that all the thermostatic valves are broken, or is there something else at play? And is it something I can fix relatively easily myself? My boiler was last serviced 11 months ago. 

Any advice gratefully received 🙂

Alter_ego

Could it be that your valves haven't been moved for 6 months or more ?

Homer_home

Unscrew trv head from body and check the pin moves freely and when pushed down the rad turns off , if it does exchange trv head with one from upstairs and see if you can turn it off 

Paula_Smith

Removing trv heads is quite easy - there are plenty of You tube videos e.g.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkN700ijZ5Q

Jeepers_Creepers

Try the above.

It is possible they have all packed in - some makes are prone to failure after around 10 years. How old are yours? Hopefully, tho', they are just 'stuck'. 

The 'pins' of the valves (once you remove the TRV heads) should be free-moving but will require a firm press to push in. They should 'bottom-out' with a noticeable 'clunk' and pop instantly back out when released. If they don't, then soak the pin shafts with silicone spray and press them in repeatedly and allow them to extend out each time. 

demon_princezz

Thanks for the responses so far - the heating has been off over the late spring/summer, so yes, the valves haven’t been turned in a while - but that’s across the whole house, not just downstairs.

All my valves are at least 10 years old from when we moved in and did a refurb. We replaced two of the rads and valves downstairs, the others are the originals from when the house was built c.1997.

I’ll try the suggestion of taking a valve from upstairs on a downstairs rad and see what happens