New radiator fitted- stone cold radiator and pipes

FreeBear

Fogle1980 said: Not sure if it’s relevant but the radiator closest to the cold one on the loop is hot on the bottom but alot colder from middle to top.

Try bleeding that radiator - Cold at the top is usually an indicator that it has a lot of air in it.

Fogle1980

Fogle1980 said:

Hi, we had 2 new rads, 1 upstairs and 1 downstairs fitted yesterday. The one new rad downstairs which is always the last to heat up now won’t work at all. He drained each one individually when replacing,  not the whole system.

The plumber shut off all the valves upstairs and the cold rad downstairs went luke warm at best with all of the others downstairs very hot.

The plumber says there may be a build up in one of the pipes and he may need to remove floorboards to get to pipes.

I also got the impression we’d have to pay extra for this. 

Has anyone got any other suggestions to resolve and is he right in saying we should have to pay extra? His quote for the radiators was a small fortune. 

So we’ve had another plumber out who also confirmed a blockage. He tried pumping air down several times to no avail. He said the only option would be to take up The whole floor in the room next door (engineered expensive flooring) to find the blockage/tee junction pipe and cut out the blockage. 

More than abit miffed as ch was running ok before the rads were replaced by the first plumber. If we knew that replacing would put the system at risk of blocking we’d never have had the work done in the first place,

So the only option we have is to spend hundreds of pounds for plumber to remove blockage and pay for remedial work to floor or leave blockage in situ as it’s for the moment only affecting one room.

I just wondered if it’d be safe to leave the blockage or could it travel elsewhere in the system. Is there really no other non-invasive option to try? 

FreeBear

What diameter is the pipes going to the radiators ?

I'm wondering if something like a drain snake would clear the blockage. But that would depend on how many bends it has to negotiate.

Fogle1980

FreeBear said:

What diameter is the pipes going to the radiators ?

I'm wondering if something like a drain snake would clear the blockage. But that would depend on how many bends it has to negotiate.

I will try and remove the floorboard tonight to look at pipes.

When the heating came on this morning the return pipe got hot after ch being on for 45 mins and the left bottom quarter of the rad went warmish after the ch was on for 2 hrs. The return pipe is furthest away from boiler so I would have thought the trv would’ve got hot first but that was still cold. The new plumber replaced trv yesterday so it can’t be faulty, must be the blockage?

Ganga

When the original plumber changed the radiators he did no put bungs in the pipework whilst he worked and has forgot  to remove them ,must be some thing strange as the heating was working before.
If this was mine i would disconnect the pipework ,drain the rads and then check the pipework for obstructions.

Fogle1980

Ganga said:

When the original plumber changed the radiators he did no put bungs in the pipework whilst he worked and has forgot  to remove them ,must be some thing strange as the heating was working before.
If this was mine i would disconnect the pipework ,drain the rads and then check the pipework for obstructions.

Well a second different plumber has out since so I’m sure he’d of noticed them if there was. 

Fogle1980

Hi, we have a recent blockage in ch pipes
following new radiator install causing one radiator in downstairs loo to be cold,

Been told by 2 plumbers only option is to remove whole floor of room next to loo to access tee join at significant cost and disruption.

Since the last plumber came and forced air through the valves the return pipe heats up after ch been after an hr and bottom left of rad gets luke warm but that’s it.

i just wanted a plumber to advise if they’d recommend as a last resort trying a cleaner such as Sentinel X400 or anything else.

Hoping to move in not too distant future and want to do enough to keep things at bay. 

HRMAN

Have you tried bleeding the cold radiator.
Using the bleed screw at the top of radiator.
Open the screw slowly you will probably hear a hissing sound then water escaping from screw, then 
close screw and now run CH.
I am surprised the plumbers you spoke to havent suggested this?

twopenny

Who put the new radiator in?
Was it working while they were there?
Did they balance the system after installation?

Fogle1980

HRMAN said:

Have you tried bleeding the cold radiator.
Using the bleed screw at the top of radiator.
Open the screw slowly you will probably hear a hissing sound then water escaping from screw, then 
close screw and now run CH.
I am surprised the plumbers you spoke to havent suggested this?

Yes they’ve tried this and lots of other things but they’ve said it’s blocked.