2 cold radiators

Hi,

reading through all the comments here I just want to check something. We have just bought this house with an old crappy central heating system in it. There are 2 radiators, 1 up 1 down stairs, that just stay cold, the other 3 (2 down, 1 up) are fine.

The boiler is upstairs and appears to be working fine. I don't think that there are any motorised valves (couldn't see any). The rads have thermostatic valves.

What do I best do to figure out -- and (temporarily, heating will be replaced soon-ish) fix -- the problem with the 2 cold rads?

Any help welcome.

(I'd love to have a "Mr Shiver" emoticon, would be fitting!)

bleed them?

Try checking if they are filled with water by venting .
If you have water (I am presuming all rad valves are open) try turning all the other rads off. This may force any airlock out. Feel the pipes feeding the offending rads to check if the flow is reaching them.
If they are both hot then you know there could be a blockage (i.e. sludge )in the radiators.

Or of course your thermostatic valves could be stuck in the closed position.
I've seen advice somewhere on this forum that covers them.

I should have said:

* I have bled the radiators: get water immediately
* the valves are open (well, unless the thermostatic ones are broken)
* the radiators make "sounds" as if they should actually be working
* the flow and return pipes are cold, as far as they are above floorboards

I'll try, as suggested, to turn off all the other ones and see what happens -- is there any particular length of time one should expect to wait before a change occurs? Anything to tell by that it might not be working and one should look for other solutions?

I'll also get under the floorboards and see for how far the pipes are cold -- and then report back.