Since i moved into my flat the main bedroom radiator has had trouble heating up fully (i tried bleeding, balancing, cleaning, etc). In March this year i got a plumber to do a power flush which helped the problem and it now heats up fine, though it was just in time for warmer weather so didn't use it much after that.
This winter it seems that 4 radiators aren't heating up at all, which are the 4 furthest from the boiler. I previously had similar issues that were fixed by balancing the system but that didn't help this time. So i tried taking the nearest cold radiator off to give it a hose through inside but seemed clean.
While it was off I opened one of the valves and opened the filing loop a little to make sure water was coming through, then did the same on the other valve. Both had water coming through but the water from the flow was thick with sludge whereas the return wasn't so bad. I let both run for a while until it was clearer but it still didn't get hot when i put it back on.
So I'm thinking maybe the power flush in March might have just shifted a blockage from the bedroom and it's now blocking these 4 heaters, so I've put some x400 in the system and will try to clean it out in a couple of weeks.
So my questions are
- am i right in thinking that after a power flush in March, there shouldn't be much sludge in the system after minimal use over the next 8 months?
- is it possible for a power flush to shift a blockage and make things worse? (I don't recall noticing whether these heaters worked after the flush in March)
- I've had the heating running with the x400 for over 24 hours and to try target it towards the cold heaters I've closed all others. This seems to be helping but I'm noticing that the boiler now only seems to be heating for about 10 seconds at a time so I'm not sure it's producing enough flow to get to the furthest heaters. If i open the valves on the radiators that do heat up then the boiler will run for a few minutes at a time (the thermostat is permanently on). Does anyone know why this might be happening? Does it give any clues as to what the problem is?
- the heater furthest from the boiler would previously only heat up properly if i closed most valves on the other heaters. The plumber who did the flush said this is because the pipework is all 15mm whereas it would need to be 22mm to get the required flow. Is there anything else that can be done to help this? The pipes are all in a concrete subfloor so can't be changed. Would a more powerful pump help, or maybe even an additional one?
Thanks for any help
This winter it seems that 4 radiators aren't heating up at all, which are the 4 furthest from the boiler. I previously had similar issues that were fixed by balancing the system but that didn't help this time. So i tried taking the nearest cold radiator off to give it a hose through inside but seemed clean.
While it was off I opened one of the valves and opened the filing loop a little to make sure water was coming through, then did the same on the other valve. Both had water coming through but the water from the flow was thick with sludge whereas the return wasn't so bad. I let both run for a while until it was clearer but it still didn't get hot when i put it back on.
So I'm thinking maybe the power flush in March might have just shifted a blockage from the bedroom and it's now blocking these 4 heaters, so I've put some x400 in the system and will try to clean it out in a couple of weeks.
So my questions are
- am i right in thinking that after a power flush in March, there shouldn't be much sludge in the system after minimal use over the next 8 months?
- is it possible for a power flush to shift a blockage and make things worse? (I don't recall noticing whether these heaters worked after the flush in March)
- I've had the heating running with the x400 for over 24 hours and to try target it towards the cold heaters I've closed all others. This seems to be helping but I'm noticing that the boiler now only seems to be heating for about 10 seconds at a time so I'm not sure it's producing enough flow to get to the furthest heaters. If i open the valves on the radiators that do heat up then the boiler will run for a few minutes at a time (the thermostat is permanently on). Does anyone know why this might be happening? Does it give any clues as to what the problem is?
- the heater furthest from the boiler would previously only heat up properly if i closed most valves on the other heaters. The plumber who did the flush said this is because the pipework is all 15mm whereas it would need to be 22mm to get the required flow. Is there anything else that can be done to help this? The pipes are all in a concrete subfloor so can't be changed. Would a more powerful pump help, or maybe even an additional one?
Thanks for any help