Possible frozen ch pipe in the loft as 1 rad is not working

[bieahart]

One radiator (picture 1) in the back of the downstairs extension is not working. It does not have a trv and has been bled. I have gone into the extension loft and the plastic piping that feeds this radiator is cold (picture 8 & 9). Having slightly unscrewed an extension in this pipe in the loft I can confirm they is water in it. However when I bleed the radiator no water is coming out. Occasionally a little drip of water might come out of the radiator. Im starting to think this could be due to the pipe from the radiator being frozen in its path from the radiator up the wall into the loft. Incidentally when this stopped working a few days ago the other radiator in the front of the extension was not working but a day and a half later it started working. The radiator that started working is in a room where I have an electric fire installed and so im thinking the heat generated could have helped towards warming up the pipes that feed the working radiator

If it is frozen would this prevent hot water being pumped into this pipe. I guess Im trying to ask if effectively they is a block in this pipe (ie frozen water) would the central heating system not allow a flow into this particular pipe?

Further info: I have switched of all radiators in the house and left non working one on in an attempt to force flow into this one. This has been done by turning of both valves at each radiator. However if I leave the boiler on for to long with the working radiator off the boiler starts banging. At the moment everything is working fine apart from the one radiator.

I also attach pictures of my system. On picture 8, the two pipes going to the left feed the non working radiator and these pipes are cold. The two pipes going to the right feed the working radiator and these pipes are hot.

I hope ive made some sense here and any help/advise/thoughts would be gratefully received.

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[ChrisR]

If it is frozen would this prevent hot water being pumped into this pipe. I guess Im trying to ask if effectively they is a block in this pipe (ie frozen water) would the central heating system not allow a flow into this particular pipe?

Yes it would absolutely stop it!

I assume the last photo is of the pipes in the loft with insulation under them. I'd lift the insulation onto the top of the pipes for now. Get some pipe insulation later!

Must say that seeing that plastic pipe going to the rads is horrible! If all the installation is as classy as that I'm surprised it works at all.

 

[bieahart]

Thanks for your reply Chris. Yeah, the two rads in the extension have this kind of piping (Not my work ). The rads in the rest of the house have metal piping though. Would you possibly be able to post me a link to some suitable insulation please? I know nothing about any of this.

At the moment I have an electric fire blasting out in the room where the radiator does not work in the hope the heat will make its way through to the pipes. I also have a little oil filled heater under part of the piping in the loft. Since I started this, there is a bit more water that now comes out of the radiator when I unscrew the bleed screw. Im taking this as a further sign that it is frozen water somewhere in the pipe.

Should I also consider some kind of anti freeze in the ch system?

Thanks for your time.

 

[bieahart]

Hi,

Could anyone adivse if I could put some ch antifree in my system as I cant reach all of the uninsulated pipe to put insulation around it.

Cheers.