Radiator bled twice that won't stay hot...

[kristaysb]

hi,

hope someone can help - one of my (trv-less) rads is driving me up the wall.....

i moved into this flat last Sep and discovered when the cold spell hit that one rad was stone cold. i've had British Gas round twice recently - the first time all the rads were bled and that got this bad rad working fine.... for a while. a few days later it went stone cold again. the BG engineer came back, said probably trapped air in pipes had got into rad, and bled it again (by opening one of the lower valves). less than a week later, it's turned back into a popsicle.

i've tried bleeding the rad from the bleed valve and water squirts out right away. also tried turning all other rads off then putting CH on. i've got a Maxol microturbo 40H boiler and this rather odd (to me) system where i can't get CH without turning HW on, and i believe a pressurised sealed system.

hope this question doesn't sound too dumb, but what could be wrong with my bad rad? and is there any way i can change the system so that i don't have to have HW constantly running to keep my flat heated?

all thoughts appreciated.

 

[tamz]

It is probably a blockage on one of the pipes feeding the rad. Turn off both valves to the rad and take the bleed screw out (don't loose it). Use an old towel or something to catch the water. It will stop after about a cupful.

Get a bucket and hold it at the air vent and open one of the valves. Let it run into the bucket until hot then close valve.
Repeat with other valve. If no water comes when you open any of the valves there is a blockage. If you eventually get hot water through with some hissing and whistling it is air and you have moved it.
Replace pin in air vent and turn both valves back on.

 

[kristaysb]

wow, thanks Tamz!

worked a treat and took less than half hour, and saved me an embarrassed call to british gas. Ab fab!

kris

 

[tamz]

Your welcome

 

[Whitespirit66]

Re. having seperate HW and CH.

You probably have an old and inefficient system, wherby as the flow pipe comes out of the boiler, it forks into 2 pipes. One pipe has a motorised valve on it, which, when open, allows heated water from boiler to rads.

The 2nd of the 2 forked pipes has no motorised valve on it, which means that if the boiler is on, the immersion cylinder gets heated water from boiler wether it needs it or not. Your HW probably gets too hot from taps?

You need a plumber/heating engineer to fit an S Plan kit for you. A 2nd motorised valve will be added, together with a thermostat on your immersion tank. That way, you have independent control of HW and CH. It will probably save a fair bit on gas in the long run.

 

[kristaysb]

i say, this is a brilliant forum, eh wot?

thanks Whitespirit, i'll be making a few calls.....