Bled Radiator Now No Heat or Hot Water!!

[stallos]

Hi There


I am a complete boiler novice so bear with me.

Last night I bled one of the radiators in the hall which was only hot at the bottom. It worked a treat and I got full heat restored to the radiator.

Today however, I can no longer get any central heating or hot water.
I have a Gas Baxi Bermuda boiler which is mounted behind the fireplace. The pilot light is lit but when I switch on the heating and turn up the thermostat, the boiler doesnt fire up.

Could this be a problem with the boiler.
Just seems a bit coincedental that this problem would start after I bled radiator.

My hot water/heating is gravity fed I believe and I have 2 tanks up high in one of my cupboards. A large one with a ballcock which seems to fill up when I have used hot water, and a smaller tank which I guess is the overflow which has a small opening near the bottom of the tank. In the past when I bled the radiators I was told by a friend that I needed to top up this overflow tank so the water line was above the opening. I did this last night after bleeding the radiator and wonder if this may have caused the problem.

I have shut down the boiler and re-started. I have tried switching off power and re-booting etc but to no avail

Does anyone have any ideas ?

Thank you kindly in advance for any helpful replies

cheers
Stallos

 

[ChrisR]

It might have fired once, short of water, so overheated then refused to light until cool. ??
Check any air bleed point near HW cylinder, if there is one.
Could also try bleeding and spinning the pump but I doubt it would have got air in from bleeding a rad. Undo central screw and insert flat screwdriver - varies with pump. (They all dribble)
Recheck water level in the small tank.

But the boiler doesn't know if there's water or air in it, until it lights!

 

[stallos]

Chris, thank you for the reply.
I will give what you suggest a try.


What level should the small tank be filled to ?
Just enough to cover the opening hole near the bottom? or should it be full/half full. Last time I checked it was almost 3/4 full, I thought I may have overfilled it (dont know if thats possible) so I removed some of the water until the water level was couple of inches above the opening hole.


thanks again for your assistance

 

[stallos]

OK, went home at lunchtime and checked it out again

When i switched on the heating the boiler fired then went off. Sounds like its doing what you described above. SO I will allow to cool again, fill up the small tank again and re-try.

Should I fill the small tank right up? note the small tank does not have a ballcock just a copper pipe running into it at 90 dgreees and the small opening hole near the bottom connected to a pipe

Hopefully re-filling and allowing the system to cool will do the job

cheers
Stal

 

[stallos]

sorry me again...


Bled all the radiators completely so no air in them. Then I refilled the small tank.

Turned the CH onto constant and same thing happened, The boiler fires up for a minute or so but then switches itself off before the heating comes on.

I couldnt find any air bleed point near to or in the vaccinity of the HW cylinder. Tried what you suggested about the pump but still not having any luck

is there anything else I should try before calling out a plumber.
Its going to be pretty embarassing as I am sure that me bleeding the radiator has caused this!

thanks in advance for any more replies

cheers
Stal

 

[Bamber gaspipe]

Sounds like an airlock, there is one way to clear it but it would mean removing the boiler stat for a short period of time allowing the water to `boil`& forcing the air up & out into tank.Too dangerous to try if you are a novice, get a man/woman in.

 

[ChrisR]

Sometimes you can back-fill through a drain cock, but they do tend to leak while you're doing it.