I don't think this has been dealt with anywhere else either on this site or the web. I am a complete novice on central heating systems so please bear with me. My house has just been refurbished all radiators have been taken off for decorating purposes. Three radiators at the top of the house have been replaced. All radiators have now been fitted with an individual thermostat control. Today the plumber and electrician turned the boiler back on - it is a potterton kingfisher mf. The hot water works but the radiators are lukewarm. The election and plumber say they don't understand why but the boiler is old (its 7 years old) and there may be a problem with it. It worked fine before, is serviced every year by British Gas and seems to be working to me. If you look at the radiator the pipe at the bottom right is really hot, the pipe at the bottom left is cold (told you I was a novice) and so to me it seems that the water is going around the house but not into each actual radiator. To me it seems that the new valve is not working. Any help in laymans terms as to what to say to the electrician and plumber would be much appreciated.
rads lukewarm
- Thread starter mcandrew
- Start date
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Go to the nearest rad to your boiler and put your TRV on the highest setting, then the valve on the opposite side turn this anti clockwise fully open.
Make sure the boiler is on for heating, is this rad getting hotter?.
Make sure the boiler is on for heating, is this rad getting hotter?.
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thank you for that. the rad nearest the boiler is slightly hotter. The decorator (!) went around the other rads and did the same thing. some of them are getting hotter but others aren't. Two of the new ones on the 2nd floor aren't but the other one is. One of the old ones on the 1st floor is but the other one isn't. On the ground floor the one in the hall is hotter than the one in the dining room (near the boiler) and the one in the living room which is an old double one is hotter on the front panel and cooler on the back panel. On the ground floor another radiator hasn't been fitted as this room is still awaiting decoration. This radiator would I guess be either number 3 or 4 away from the boiler - would this be affecting the flow around the house do you think? The new towel rail radiator on the 2nd floor is working fine and the one on the first floor is also working fine. We have also bled all the radiators and they all seem okay.
Very common misunderstanding, there is no flow around the house. It used to be done but started to go out of fashion about 50 years ago. Still a lot of plumbers who work on the principle of: “ we have always done it this way” and do not understand that one pipe is a loop, where flow and return systems use two radials.
It sounds like all you need is a proper clean, the heating, not you, and balancing
It sounds like all you need is a proper clean, the heating, not you, and balancing
mcandrew,turn the lower levels off by new trv and then close upstairs rads ,open one of them not working,then leave open and go to next rad and open and so on.I would close both ends on all rads and let system cool,then start at the top,open trv fully,then the other end called lockshield valves,open just a bit,until you can feel the rad getting hot ,then go to next rad,its balancing the system
I would ask him to just make sure its balanced,and it should be fine,get inhibator in the system as well.Its vital you get it in,your system can last years and years or go after 5 yrs,if its not protected,i seen rads 4 yr old,swell from normal to 15 " it had gone like that through the system being piped wrong and unprotected.I took the rads and no one believed me until they seen them,
the reason no one believes you is because you are a lying sicko
can I just ask, the towel radiator on the top floor hat was hot went stone cold after a while and now is hot again. the radiator that was hot on the top floor stayed hot. the radiators on the other floors went colder. the plumber has mumbled something before about 'gravity based'. is being gravity based a problem? thanks
The radiator in the room where you have the wall thermostat should not be fitted with a TRV.
Balancing systems with TRVs is tricky; but Myson have provided instructions for the TRV4, which will apply to most makes: Balancing TRVs
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