Do I have air in the system?

[mucky]

oops forgot..the water is coming out clear from each of those valves

 

[Softus]

...however I noticed that there there was plenty of gunge in the filler tank when it was re filling. It is possible that some of this could have entered the supply as the gauze filter has become dislodged.

If the F&E cistern had a lid on and yet contains muck, then the muck came from within the system, not the other way around.

The pump is working (I can hear it)

Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's being successful at pumping.

Will chemical cleaner clear this? and if so where should I put it into the system, my guess is via the header tank.

Chemical cleaner will help dissolve magnetite and dislodge rust - it's success depends on the severity of the build up. After leaving the cleaner in for the requisite period (see manufacturer's intructions) you need to thorough flush throughly flush out the system to get of the sludge and rust, then add inhibitor when refilling.

On a vented system you pour the cleaner into the F&E cistern (aka header tank).

I should point out the risk of cleaning out a system that is badly corroded, which is that you can remove deposits that are currently plugging leaks or covering latent leaks. Quite often such a system will start to leak after this exercise, usually via pinprick holes in rads.

 

[mucky]

The pump is working, I have released the central screw and it is definately turning.

This system is about 10yrs old, the deposit in the tank looks like a brown powder, I had imagined this was a deposit left by the house builders.


Anyway, I have searched high and low and there are no bleed valves on any vertical pipes. Only on each od te downstairs rads. I have bled them all and successfully refilled the system.

I suspect the air pocket, (if that is what the proble is) may be within the boiler, there is a screw on the front of the internal boiler for bleeding the boiler, maybe I should open that what do you think?

My next step is to empty the system again and refill.

Can you tell me your ideal procedure for doing this ie which rad vents to open etc ...maybe there is something wrong in the process Iam doing.


Thanks

Muck

 

[mucky]

You will be pleased to hear that Muckies heating is now back running correctly.
The problem was indeed air in the system and despite many attempts to clear it; it was proving a difficult thing to fix.

However, my method to clear it was as follows.

Attach drain pipe to ground floor rad furthest from the boiler.
Turn off the right hand valve on the same radiator. Drain the radiator with 5 X 20 second bursts of the pump switching on. By the 3rd- water was audibly flowing in the boiler and by the 5th running sweetly.

I turned the drain tap off and re started the boiler, she came up and stayed on.
I went around bleeding the rads 1 by 1 and all is well, with the furthest drain rad being just a bit of cool, but I will persevere with that one.

My towel rail is working well and the house is now so bloody hot Iwill need to turn the damn heating off soon.

Thanks for all your advice

Muck