Radiator issue, please help!!

Emmahp

Hi, 

I wondered if anyone might be able to help me with a radiator issue I have. When I turn the heating on the radiators upstairs work perfectly, but the ones downstairs don’t get hot only mildly warm if that. If I turn all my radiators off upstairs, they then work and get hot downstairs. I’ve had a plumber out twice now that’s bleed them, balanced them and now put some cleaning fluid in the system incase there’s a blockage. I’ve asked if it could be the pump and he’s said that it’s working and turned it up to max - this hasn’t made a difference as yet though. Could it be the pump isn’t strong enough to heat the house or that it’s working but on its way out? Can any one help or offer any advice? He said the next thing to do would be to change the pipes under the floor boards incase these aren’t thick enough to reach the radiators downstairs. 

Thanks so much!! 

FaceHead

What boiler do you have? How many radiators of what sizes do you have? 

It sounds like either a. A balancing problem (the radiators upstairs are grabbing all the heat), or b. The boiler just isn't up to the job of running all the radiators, so the upstairs ones take their heat and not enough is left over for downstairs. 

Turn up the heating temperature on the boiler to get some more out of it, and balance the hot ones down a bit on their lockshield valves.

That said if you've had a decent plumber round and they haven't found a solution, you're probably not going to get one from people who have access to just a few lines of text on the problem. 

Ibrahim5

I balanced ours years ago. I read at the time that only DIYers ever have well balanced systems. You sort of indicate yourself how to solve the problem. When the pump works the water goes to the radiators with the least resistance. So if you increase the resistance in the upstairs radiators then the water will flow downstairs. So you need to tighten the lockshield valves on the radiators upstairs. The best advice I would say is to watch YouTube videos on radiator balancing.

FreeBear

Emmahp said: I’ve asked if it could be the pump and he’s said that it’s working and turned it up to max - this hasn’t made a difference as yet though.

Now go back and reduce the speed of the pump. If the water is being pumped round the system too fast, it won't loose as much heat through the radiators. So this could mean that your boiler will never go in to condensing mode and waste energy. A pump that is running too fast will also generate more noise, consume more electricity, and wear out faster.

Get the radiators balanced, and monitor the return flow temperature. Aim for a maximum of 50-55°C.

Jeepers_Creepers

Emma, how long have you lived in this house? And have the rads ever worked properly?

Clearly, if the system used to work ok, then there's nothing wrong with the size of your CH pipes. So that can hopefully be discounted. You should also be able to discount the suitability of your boiler to cope with demand, assuming that you haven't had it replaced recently with a wee jobbie?

So that basically leaves either a poorly-balanced system, or a sludged-up one.

You've had a plumber attempt to balance the system, to no real avail? We have to assume the fellow knew what they were doing, but there remains a chance they're a klutz.

They've added system cleaner, but did they also fit a magnetic filter? Or, are they coming back to flush through your system?

NSG666

How long has this been happening? Has something changed with the system or has someone worked on part of it e.g. removed and refitted a radiator?

It's often a balancing issue but if it was working fine up to last week and no-one has been working on/tampering with the system then likely to be something else.