Single cold radiator

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Afternoon.
I have a townhouse that is 7 years old. I have had a radiator that had a myson valve that was bust (set permanently off), so hte radiator was always cold. This year i removed the valve to allow the pin to spring up, however the radiator doesnt heat up. All the others in the house do heat up fine.

We had cover by Southern Electric, who replaced the valve and said it was cold due to sludge which isnt covered!!!

Question is, should a central heating sytem this old have internal sludge?
We have a kick heater in the kitchen which stopped working and it did have gunk in, which i cleared, but this could indicate an issue.
Would there be any warranty on Central Heating? I assume NHBC doesnt cover this?

WIll i need to flush the entire system, or can i simply remove the radiator, with the mains off, and flush it?

thanks
 
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Presumably you've tried bleeding the radiator?

I have heard that kickspace heaters can clog up as they have very narrow water galleries but I'd be surprised if your rad was blocked after only 7 years.

If you do decide to take it off, yes, you can just isolate it, drain carefully if you've got pale carpets then close the bleed screw and carry it out upside down so that you don't leave a trail of black water across the floor.
 
Many thanks for your quick reply.

I bled the radiator and clear water came out straight away, however i did notice that hotter water came up the pipes. So the theory being that if i carried on bleeding the hot water would make it into the radiator.
However i wasnt sure on the consequences for the rest of the system if i did this.

So maybe i should remove the whole thing.
is there a best method to do this? ie, how to empty the radiator before unhooking it from the pipes?

cheers
 
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indeed both vavles are open.
I removed the TRV completely, and opened up the valve on the other side.
I left it like this for 24hours, but made no difference.

thanks
 
I haven't tried that yet no.
Maybe when the weather is slightly warmer I will try it.... Otherwise my wife and kids may kill me for trying to freeze them.

Thanks
 
It will only take minutes and the rads will not cool down by the time you have completed the check. Then you can turn them back on.

Go on give it a go
 
Ok, I assumed it involved more than that. In which case I will give it a go tonight and report any results assume I just turn off the TRV's on all the radiators?

Cheers
 
Turning off the TRV's should have the desired effect. The aim is to force the full flow from the pump through the affected radiator to push any obstruction through.
 
Shut off all radiators in the house an fully opened both sides of the cold one.
Sadly it didn't warm up.
I have noticed that the pipe that foes to the TRV is hot all the way to the radiator, it seems it just can't get into it.

Any other thoughts?

Cheers
 
Is the pin free to move up and down? Maybe a stuck washer, thats become detached from the pin. Gentle tapping with a hammer might be enough to free it off, otherwise possibly new TRV required.
 
The TRV was replaced today and the pin does move, although I finger the feeling not all the way down, so maybe a trapped washer.
I have given it a fair few "taps" but that hasn't worked.
 

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