We have an old gas boiler downstairs, a copper hot water tank upstairs and the central heating pump and manifolds are under the floor of the landing. There's a header tank in the loft. I know almost nothing about plumbing!
We last used the radiators a week ago. The hot water is used daily. My wife was complaining about it making a noise in the morning, so I thought to try bleeding the radiators. They do fill up with air quite often.
When I bled the upstairs radiators, a little air came out, then stopped. No water. I suspected the header tank and found it empty, with the ball valve stuck shut. A few prods got it working again and the system filled with water; I bled all the radiators again and water flowed out of all of them as expected.
Now - they don't get hot. At all. Stone cold. The hot water still seems to work.
I've got to the manifolds, and the radiators' source manifold is hot, but not as untouchably hot as the pipe to the water tank. Some of the pipes coming out of the source manifold are just warm, others cool. The return pipes are cold.
I can hear the hot water/radiator selector valve moving when I click the switch over, but I've no idea if it's actually working. It's a Danfoss HSA3 if that means anything to anyone.
Everything was working before I bled the radiators and found out about the empty header tank.
What should I do next to figure out what's wrong? (other than 'call a plumber' - I can't afford to!)
Thanks,
Rick.
We last used the radiators a week ago. The hot water is used daily. My wife was complaining about it making a noise in the morning, so I thought to try bleeding the radiators. They do fill up with air quite often.
When I bled the upstairs radiators, a little air came out, then stopped. No water. I suspected the header tank and found it empty, with the ball valve stuck shut. A few prods got it working again and the system filled with water; I bled all the radiators again and water flowed out of all of them as expected.
Now - they don't get hot. At all. Stone cold. The hot water still seems to work.
I've got to the manifolds, and the radiators' source manifold is hot, but not as untouchably hot as the pipe to the water tank. Some of the pipes coming out of the source manifold are just warm, others cool. The return pipes are cold.
I can hear the hot water/radiator selector valve moving when I click the switch over, but I've no idea if it's actually working. It's a Danfoss HSA3 if that means anything to anyone.
Everything was working before I bled the radiators and found out about the empty header tank.
What should I do next to figure out what's wrong? (other than 'call a plumber' - I can't afford to!)
Thanks,
Rick.