Radiators stopped working

[toriwilson11]

Thanks John that's really helpful to be honest my plumbing knowledge is extremely minimal, learning a lot right now!
Need a better thermometer for balancing radiators. Got an IR one but the readings are all over.
Sorry I missed that - no hot water cylinder

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Need a better thermometer for balancing radiators. Got an IR one but the readings are all over.

Get a pair of these - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30358588...OOEez8MLcxYXylTmjo8OJxEiyN|tkp:Bk9SR-j0sNqEYw

Clip the probe tips, onto the flow and return pipes, with a short piece of pipe insulation. Quick and very accurate. I have a pair permanently mounted, on my boilers flow and return pipes, in the boiler cupboard.

 

[toriwilson11]

Get a pair of these - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303585881285?hash=item46af20ecc5:g:E2UAAOSwDVRkPo5J&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA4GF1gs9XqarNEZl99elG8sjxoSKyioPZkqnKVJcFwlwixT/7Or7PbFZ3s5py5WW+seRYXzxMtSpeKaTeghlXIfF8jBqC1OAVu5auLvn1v1XNrx38kgHxWNmESWTohlMenC7M6aVa4C7gwkmWZ7cm3UXJ9FElAANmQI7NrNnY9Uu8OdkW1d1OTuhzAGpmUS28ozvf382OrKcddYBYEScP2kd1ieRMEFyU6uJvIl6sREbATMx7EqhhEh6hMwDUXMEUkioRpEqYcyLir4pZw0OOEez8MLcxYXylTmjo8OJxEiyN|tkp:Bk9SR-j0sNqEYw

Clip the probe tips, onto the flow and return pipes, with a short piece of pipe insulation. Quick and very accurate. I have a pair permanently mounted, on my boilers flow and return pipes, in the boiler cupboard.

Amazing thank you!

 

[JohnD]

When balancing, close all the lockshields, and open by half a turn. No more.

Then run the CH for half an hour.

Use the temperature sensors in the skin of your hand. The flow pipe should be "too hot to hold" and the return pipe should be "too hot to hold for long."

For any that are not, open or close the lockshielc by no more than a quarter turn, and continue running the CH for another half hour before checking again. Do not alter any by more than a quarter turn in half an hour. The adjustment is very slight, and it is all at the "nearly closed" position.

Once flow seems correct, and has been for half an hour, feel them all over. Top, bottom, sides, middle. There should be no cold patches. They should be hotter at the top than the bottom. If any are excessively hot, you can tighten the lockshield by a quarter turn.

Some rooms may have rads that are too big, and you can reduce their output by tightening the lockshield. A radiator that is too small for the room cannot be made more powerful.

Write the adjustments in a notebook and tie it to the boiler.

 

[toriwilson11]

When balancing, close all the lockshields, and open by half a turn. No more.

Then run the CH for half an hour.

Use the temperature sensors in the skin of your hand. The flow pipe should be "too hot to hold" and the return pipe should be "too hot to hold for long."

For any that are not, open or close the lockshielc by no more than a quarter turn, and continue running the CH for another half hour before checking again. Do not alter any by more than a quarter turn in half an hour. The adjustment is very slight, and it is all at the "nearly closed" position.

Once flow seems correct, and has been for half an hour, feel them all over. Top, bottom, sides, middle. There should be no cold patches. They should be hotter at the top than the bottom. If any are excessively hot, you can tighten the lockshield by a quarter turn.

Some rooms may have rads that are too big, and you can reduce their output by tightening the lockshield. A radiator that is too small for the room cannot be made more powerful.

Write the adjustments in a notebook and tie it to the boiler.

Are you doing this with radiators in a particular order? Or does that not matter so much?

 

[JohnD]

Get a pair of these

Clip the probe tips, onto the flow and return pipes, with a short piece of pipe insulation. Quick and very accurate. I have a pair permanently mounted, on my boilers flow and return pipes, in the boiler cupboard.

Wow, that's cheap!

I use thermocouples and you can tape them onto a pipe and plug the multimeter in when wanted. Cheap enough not to remove.

IIRC they are K type with a yellow plug.

An electronics engineer chum told me you can make your own with a reel of the funny cable, strip the two core ends, twist together, bash with a hammer to cold-weld.

 

[JohnD]

Are you doing this with radiators in a particular order? Or does that not matter so much?

No

Do them all. Closed, then opened half a turn, before doing any adjusting. It might be best to start adjusting with the ones furthest from the boiler

When finished, go round and check for fine tuning

If you have TRVs, wind them all fully open or they will confound the test.

 

[Mike13]

Wow, that's cheap!

I use thermocouples and you can tape them onto a pipe and plug the multimeter in when wanted. Cheap enough not to remove.

IIRC they are K type with a yellow plug.

An electronics engineer chum told me you can make your own with a reel of the funny cable, strip the two core ends, twist together, bash with a hammer to cold-weld.

The bit that measures the temperature is the wire away from the join, even twisted will work for quite a long time before oxidation gets in the way.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

An electronics engineer chum told me you can make your own with a reel of the funny cable, strip the two core ends, twist together, bash with a hammer to cold-weld.

That is correct, but why bother when ready-made self-contained units are so cheap?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The bit that measures the temperature is the wire away from the join, even twisted will work for quite a long time before oxidation gets in the way.

It's not the wire that measures the temperature, it's the junction between the dissimilar metals.

Heating or cooling of the junction, causes a tiny voltage to be generated across the junction, which can be measured.

 

[Mike13]

It's not the wire that measures the temperature, it's the junction between the dissimilar metals.

Its not the junction itself, it is the wire between the hot bit you are measuring and the meter. A common misconception, the actual join is almost irrelevant.

 

[JohnD]

But only the tip is on the workpiece

The connecting wire is dangling free.

 

[Mike13]

Precisely, it is the different "work function" of the two different alloys that drives the voltage signal seen at the meter.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Its not the junction itself, it is the wire between the hot bit you are measuring and the meter. A common misconception, the actual join is almost irrelevant.

I heard that before, but it is only the temperature of the tip we are interested in, besides, a thermocouple will work just fine (maybe slightly less accurate) wired in ordinary copper cores.

 

[toriwilson11]

Hello (this is especially aimed at Harry and John!)

Managed to get all the radiators sorted (just fine tuning now) and they're all red hot. And the temp managed to increase 6 degrees in an hour and a half which is amazing compared to the one degree previously. And it's a much colder starting temp today as well.

I just wanted to say a massive thank you!!! Very very grateful for all your help and anyone else who has contributed on here. Saved me a plumber call out and excess spending before Christmas