Downstairs rads not heating up and cold at the bottom

[vengenerator]

Hi there,
Recently had some building work done and had some new rads put in downstairs. For various reasons our system was drained down for about a month (!).

Now when I put the heating on the upstairs rads get nice and hot but downstairs do not. Some of them get warm at the top and others are stone cold. When I feel the pipes gonig to the rads downstairs that get warm the inlet pipe is red hot but the outlet pipe is only just warm. Anyone any ideas what I could try??

Many thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Try balancing the system. See the sticky 'FAQ's' for instructions if unsure.

 

[vengenerator]

Thankf for that, looked at the balancing FAQ, will give that a go, just searching for suitable thermomemters on ebay!

 

[ukrobj]

Balancing is good, however you might want to shut off all valves on the upstairs rads. Close all the downstairs rads apart from one and run the boiler. That rad should get hot and you *should* hear a big gurgle of air being pushed through. Once that rad is hot, open a second one downstairs etc and then follow the balancing procedure.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

You may be able to get a 'rough' idea just by feeling the rads. Doesn't need to be an exact science IMO, provided they all get hot then usually minor tweaking is all that is required.