1 freezing radiator! Please help!!

[kimon123]

Hi there,
Im having trouble with the radiator in my kitchen (ground floor). I live in a 3 storey house and all the other 10 rads are fine. The house and central heating system is only 3 years old so Im hoping its nothing too major. The kitchen rad just one day decided to stay cold! Ive done what I can so far going on comments Ive read on this website but to no avail. So far Ive bled the rad, no air came out only water. Ive turned all the other rads off and left this on one, turned up the heat to try and shift a blockage etc, this didnt work. Ive removed the TRV and checked the pin wasnt stuck, also Ive made sure the pressure gauge is on 1 bar at all times. Im now at a loss, dont really want to call out a plumber if I can avoid it. When it was working, I used to switch the heating on and within seconds I could hear water running into the rad and it would heat up really quick, this is happening with all the others but this one is remaining silent (and very cold)! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[easyflow]

You mentioned the TRV, what about the other valve (lock shield) is that open or stuck.

 

[kimon123]

The lockshield valve is in exactly the same position as it was the day we moved in. We have never had any need to adjust it for the 3 years weve been living in this house. My husband did try turning it half a turn anti clockwise to see if it made any difference but nothing happend so he just put it back to the same position it was in xx

 

[seco services]

are any of the pipes hot going to the rad

 

[kimon123]

No they are all stone cold, the pipes from the TRV and the pipes from the lock shield valve. I cant even follow the pipe work to check if they are warmer further along as they both go directly into the wall behind the rad!

 

[gigz]

Did you try pushing the pin down on the TRV or pulling it up in case its stuck. Use pliers if you havent done.

 

[kimon123]

Sorry I should explain further how my rads are fitted, they all have TRVs and lock shield valves except one of them. The valves and fittings are all metal, then instead of copper piping etc they all have this sort of plastic/rubber flexible piping which goes from each valve and into a small hole in the wall behind each rad. Not sure if this makes a difference or not, as I said before I cannot follow any of the pipework as none of it is exposed.

 

[kimon123]

Yes we located the pin on the TRV and its moving up and down smoothly without any probs.

 

[seco services]

you've been through everything in reason checked the trv etc.
all i would do next is shut the rad valves remove rad and check each rad valve/pipe see if it flows or it's blocked

 

[kimon123]

Im not sure how to go about removing the rad, I can close the valves and lift the rad from the bracket on the wall but do I have to disconnect this plastic pipework from the actual valves? The pipes goes straight into the valves and looks like its secured by a huge hexagonal nut! If I loosen this nut and remove the pipe, how will I reconnect it again? I dont want to start disconnecting pipes and then find I cant put them back together again. In my old house they were all connected with copper piping and nuts and it was easy to see how everything would fit back together but with these its different!

 

[seco services]

shut the rad valves. place a bowl under rad. undo the nut between the valve and rad. (not the bottom one to the pipe)
undo slow it will drain the rad. when rad drained undo the other end valve and remove rad.
then hold valve over bowl and open the valve and see if the water flows ok and is it clean or black.

 

[kimon123]

Do I have to do the same thing on the lock shield valve and the TRV valve?

 

[JPC]

kimon, is the a drain valve on this rad..on the valve or pipework nearby.

If so, turn the boiler off, open the drain valve and let some water out for 5/10 secs , close off, top up boiler and try again, closing all but this rad.

this will some times shift an airlock/debri etc

is it mcrobore ...with a manifold ?

or is it 15mm pipework (measure it, looking for the diametre)

 

[kimon123]

wow!! This is all going way over my head! Im not too techincally minded but I'll try and answer the best I can.
1st thing, not sure what an A valve is but from what I can see, the drain valve is on the actual valve and not on the pipework.

2nd thing, I havent a clue what a Mcrobore or manifold is!!

3rd thing, have tried to measure pipework, circumference is approx 28mm (this is not too acurate as I only have a steel tape measure), this could be 30mm so the diametre would be 15mm.