Cold Rad in Basement

[DaftGeordie]

Hi,
Sorry to post *another* sob story about freezing in one part of the house, but any suggestions gratefully accepted. Here's the deal:

- Rad in basement, possibly furthest from boiler
- Combi boiler, so I'm assuming a closed system
- rad has a lock value on one end and a thermo value on the other
- hot pipe goes into the lock valve, cold into the thermo
- rad is stone cold, used to be hot before we had new boiler pump fitted a couple of months ago.
- lock valve is fully open (I'm assuming anti-clockwise to open?)
- thermo valve set to 6 (top number)
- lock valve is kinda rusty.
- I've beld the rad no air in it to speak of, water runs out clear

Is it possible that the lock valve is crudded up? the hot pipe (that connects to the lock valve) is hot and the lock valve is hot, but the rad is stone cold. I'm assuming that the hot water can't get through the valve, or is it possibly more complex like it can't force the cold water out?

Any tips gratefully appreciated, I'm a novice and would like to solve this myself, but I'll struggle to do anything clever like replace the lock valve.

Thanks much.

 

[fitz1]

turn all other rads off.possibly air in return,should push it through .

 

[DaftGeordie]

Thanks for the quick reply Fitz. Do you mean just turn the TRVs off on the other rads?

 

[fitz1]

yep

 

[DaftGeordie]

Love your work Fitz - it's now Bahamas in the Basement!

I've prolly got a job to balance all the rads to get even heat through the house, but I'm much better off than I was before.

Thanks again.

 

[fitz1]

pleasure. balance system on lockshield not on thermos. o.k

 

[DaftGeordie]

Sorry to bother you again Fitz, can I balance with the CH on? My simple mind says this:

- turn on CH, set all TRVs to the same setting e.g 4
- starting with the furthest from the boiler check temp if too high close lock valve a bit, otherwise open it
- repeat for each rad and then iterate back through until every one is equally warm

is this generally correct or should I be (for example) starting from cold? Any science in whether I should start at the top of the house or the bottom?

Thanks.

 

[fitz1]

heating on, thermos fully open, l/shields fully open.reduce hotter rads until all rads are equally hot.