air in radiators

fju · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:20 pm Post Subject: air in radiators

I wonder if you could help.

Our bathroom radiator upstairs has been collecting air for the last few months. The air seems to collect when the heating turns off so that the next time it comes on it requires bleeding. I\\\'ve been regularly bleeding the radiator every few days and this solves the problem for a few days until the air recollects.

Over the last two days however I\\\'ve noticed that all the upstairs radiators and one radiator downstairs has air in it. I therefore bled all the radiators and they worked fine for one day but have now refilled with air. I can\\\'t keep on bleeding all the radiators every other day! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Softus · Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 2:44 am Post Subject:

How would you feel about revealing some of the dark secrets about the rest of your system?

See the sticky topic at the top of P&CH if you need hints.

fju · Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 7:37 pm Post Subject:

We have a Halstead Best 50 boiler with 5 radiators downstairs and 4 upstairs. Interestingly over the last week only the bathroom radiator is refilling with air as was the problem initially. The others seem to be OK at the moment. I've heard a term 'pumping over'. What does this mean?

Softus · Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:10 pm Post Subject:

'Pumping over' is a colloquial term used in the context of open vented heating systems. It means that water is emerging from the F&E vent pipe.

The condition indicates that the pump is set too high, or that there is a blockage in the pumped circuit (resulting from corrosion), or both.

The remedy usually involves cleaning/flushing out the system, and possibly some/all radiators, to remove sludge and debris.