Rads hot at top only!

[Agile]

This lady called me and she is adament that three newly fitted rads are only hot at the ends and top.

The system is not dirty and the rads are on 15 mm copper.

Can anyone suggest what that might have happened?

Its not clear who fitted the rads but lets assume they were not very experienced.

Tony

 

[markplumb]

first thing i'd suspect is dirty system, sludge has shifted to the waterways on new rads.

 

[John M]

Its not clear who fitted the rads but lets assume they were not very experienced.

It wasn't me

Tell her they are TH rads ......... Top heat .......... Its to stop her pets from getting burned should they brush past .......... However you will be able to suggest alternatives if she wishes

 

[Agile]

Dirt is the obvious suspect however all of the old rads are fine and its only three out of the six new rads which have this problem.

Tony

 

[John M]

Dirt is the obvious suspect however all of the old rads are fine and its only three out of the six new rads which have this problem.

Tony

I suggest you go & have a look ......... Don't forget to take a Corgi Engineer with you tho

 

[sooey]

Do you think that one of the 'not very experienced' installers may have pushed the plastic endcaps into 3 of the rads instead of removing them. Thereby bocking the passage of water across the bottom and forcing it to go up one side across and down the other.

 

[John M]

Thereby bocking the passage

We know a song about that, don't we Jonny

 

[chrishutt]

Poor circulation through the rads through lack of balancing and/or undersized pipework could give similar symptoms, except that just the flow end and the top would be hot. I'd want to know for sure if both ends of the rads are hot or just one end.

 

[Richard C]

Don't forget to take a Corgi Engineer with you tho

Won't be much use if it's an oil fired system

 

[Agile]

Do you think that one of the 'not very experienced' installers may have pushed the plastic endcaps into 3 of the rads instead of removing them. Thereby bocking the passage of water across the bottom and forcing it to go up one side across and down the other.

Thats the kind of thing I was thinking of.

has anyone ever encountered that?

Or any manufacturer's debris in the bottom?

Its a gas system but CORGI is not needed for dealing with rads. She is happy to pay for me to take them all off and investigate but its more fun for me to repair boilers and leave that kind of thing to the Polish.

Tony

 

[markplumb]

it's the type of job you can guess on for a couple of hours but get there and start the system from cold you'll know what's wrong in 10min.


no one could be dumb enough to push the plastic paint caps into the rad while putting in a valve, could they?

 

[sambotc]

airlock only letting a trickle of flow past, especially if they are on drop's from above? or lockshields nearly fully closed?

What system is it on?

 

[picbits]

airlock only letting a trickle of flow past, especially if they are on drop's from above?

Or a variation of the above - the pump may not be powerful/on high enough to circulate the water in the new radiators.

Could be that its gravity heating the rads rather than using the pumped water.