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Radiator bleed not working…screw broken?
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Hi Bendy,
thanks for this. A rather shame-faced update (I feel like my toes are never going to uncurl…)
1. The pressure gauge wasn’t actually at 1.5 originally. It was down below 1 but I couldn’t see that properly as I was looking up at it, not at eye level. I now know there’s a red pointer and a black one; I could only see the red pointer and assumed incorrectly that was the true reading.
2. (Ugh…) so….think I let too much water out of radiator 1. I’d guess 3 mugfuls. I didn’t realise you’re only supposed to let a small amount out.3. I went to turn on the heating and see if the 2 radiators were working properly after bleeding. The heating won’t switch on.4. Red flashing light alarm now appearing on the display panel (“heatrae sadia”). Looked up YouTube video that instructed to adjust the pressure reading (I did this), but subsequently found the instruction manual online and the red alarm flashing light = “no water. Refill and restart system”. I’ve not touched it again in case I make things worse somehow.5. More googling, found article stating: “ “Some people also think if a radiator is cold on the bottom but hot at the top then it needs to be bled. In reality, it’s more likely that this means there’s a blockage in the system and bleeding won’t resolve this.” (that’s exactly what I thought - all the radiators were cold on the top, hot at the bottom).
In response to your questions:
1. Just water. Radiator 1 lots of at high pressure spurting, rad 2 less.
2. Good question. Rad 1 water was definitely dark coloured, then became clearer, but I didn’t check carefully if it was completely clear. Rad 2 looked clear but again I didn’t inspect it closely.3. Not sure. I’ll check if it’s in the loft (where the tank is), and also if there’s a gauge on that too. I don’t trust my own cack-handedness right at this second to attempt the trip.4. Yep, the heating isn’t switching on and the alarm light is now flashing.1 -
We love toe-curling on hereIt doesn't really matter how much water you let out when you 'bleed' - as long as you top up the system again to the starting point (typically 1 bar to 1.5bar).Yes, your boiler will stop working for safety reasons when the pressure drops too low - as it has. That is NOT a problem, it's normal. All you need to do it top up the pressure again!How you do this depends on the type of 'filling loop' fitted to your boiler. Ok, it's really time to get your camera out and put some photos on here, or else we'll struggle to help.1) Photo of boiler, including the pipework coming out from it (presumably underneath).2) Photo of EV and any pipework surrounding this - and the pressure gauge.3) Not so important, but a close-up of a damaged bleed screw.On a connected note - if no AIR came out the bleeds screws - ie no 'hisssssssing', and no 'spluttering' of water - then it looks as tho' you don't have air in your rads, so the cause of them being cold at the top is still unknown. Only two reasons I can think of - one IS air (which you don't have) and the other is a restricted flow to the rad, so it's barely getting enough to warm up.Anyhoo, let's get your system back running - so we need to know what filling method you have.0
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Aww thank you - reassuring to hear.
Some pics attached.1 -
One more -
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Blimey! You've got an electric boiler! That can't be cheap to run!You also have an unvented hot cylinder - the Santon Premier. And you have two expansion vessels...I'm confused now, as the RED EV is surely for the boiler and radiator system? Ie, as you bleed the rads, the pressure gauge on top of the RED EV should be the one to fall? But yours is sitting nicely at just over 1.5bar in your photo, so why isn't your system working?The other EV - the white one in your first photo - will most likely be serving the hot cylinder, and will be keeping the pressure inside this constant. Don't touch that...Can you tell me - how is the red EV's gauge showing 1.5bar, when you reckoned it had fallen after bleeding? And what are the warning lamps on the Heat-Sad indicating?And why is there water coming from that pump valve, and all over the pump?0
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13.0 ALARM RESET
There are 3 steps to reset a tripped condition: -
1 Switch “OFF” the electrical supply.
2 Correct the fault, check the system is full of water and set to the correct pressure (sealed systems) and
there is a good flow of water (i.e. all the valves are open).
3 Switch the supply back “ON”.
Ensure the customer fully understands the operation of the system.
The boiler must NOT be operated if it is known to have a fault. Switch off, and call a service engineer. (see p.32for contact details)Is the RED ALARM light flashing or steady?So, have you topped up the system pressure to 1.5bar? (Using that chrome flexi hose and valves). If you HAVE, then you should be good to go - just 'reset' the boiler by turning it off and back on as described above.If you HAVEN'T topped up the system pressure, and it was always at the 1.5bar shown on that gauge, then I'm stumped,.
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Hello,
thank you for taking the time to reply - I appreciate it a lot.
Yep, all electric - not cheap (and getting pricier!). I thought for a bit about trying this winter without using the heating at all but on reflection thought it’s probably not realistic.So, re: the pressure gauge - to be clear. Im not sure what the reading was at before I bled the 2 (out of 4, that I could) radiators - didn’t think to check. After I bled them it was way down below, at the lowest level - I just didn’t realise as I was looking at the red pointer not the black. I then watched this video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gMUxi7uk-fQ and followed the instructions to put the reading up to c. 1.5 pressure reading. Note, there are two black switches on the braided pipe - only flipping the top switch made the gauge pointer move - don’t know if that’s relevant.
reading your last comment it sounds like what I could now try is the reset” step (turn off and back on), but I wasn’t sure if I’d messed things up already and was going to make things worse somehow. The step that says “check the system is full of water”, how would the engineer know this?
(Note - radiators don’t turn up but the water was still hot this a.m.).
Yes, the red light is flashing, not solid.1 -
Oh, one other thing -
I assumed that there’d be no hot water this morning as the heating had switched itself off for safety, but the water was hot after all. So guess the hot water is separate from the central heating system.Mentioning in case relevant.1 -
Ok, that's all good!Yes, there are two valves on that flexi hose, and obviously BOTH need to be open to allow the system to be repressurised. You found that only one needed turning to fill, so that means the other one was left open the last time it was used. That's not ideal, but usually won't be an issue. (The reason it's not ideal, is in case it's slowly 'letting by' a drip or trickle, which could then keep filling the system with excess water. However, your pressure seems to have stopped nicely at 1.5bar, so all is good. After all this is sorted, then I would recommend - just 'cos it's best practice' to turn the other valve off too. But don't worry about this.)Ok, you have successfully topped up your system - very well done, and that is a useful skill under your belt.The flashing red light was triggered when you'd emptied the system and the pressure dropped too far. The Heatrae will have an electronic pressure sensor inside it, and this realised that the pressure had gone, so it shut off in case that meant 'no water'. This is all good, and not to worry about - everything is doing what it should.(NEXT time you bleed a valve, FIRST turn off the Heatrae!)So - yes - all you hopefully have to do is to reset the heater. That is almost certainly the large red switch (tho' why isn't the red neon above it not on?!), but also turn off the switch below it. All the lights on the Heatrae should go off. Count to 10, and then turn the two switches back on.Hopefully you'll now just have the bottom green light coming on, and your boiler is ready to rock again. (If your timer is calling for your CH to come on, then expect other lights to start doing stuff as well, but only green ones!)I suspect your hot water is handled by an immersion heater (possibly that lower switch?), so that's why that came on even tho' the boiler didn't.0
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Done? Great!Relax.Oh, you have a leaking valve on your pump...0
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