PLEASE HELP!!

[DamselinDistress]

Please could someone help me

Gas Boiler - Ideal Mexico RS40
Pump - Grundfos Selectric
Electric Bit attached to the Tank!! - Honeywell

We noticed that our bathroom radiator was not hot at the top last week so bled it. From that moment on we have had nothing but trouble.

The pump now makes a terrible racket and the radiators will all stay cold, or all get red hot, or some will be lukewarm, upstairs hot/warm, downstairs off and vice versa. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to it at all.

It would seem we only have to bleed the upstairs radiators because water comes out of the downstairs ones straight away.

We have drained the system twice and refilled it, put inhibitor in, bled the radiators over and over again but all to no avail. It seems that air is constantly in the system, no matter how much we get out.

After draining the system etc the pump seems to run nice and quietly and all the radiators will get red hot (much hotter than they have ever been in the five years we have lived here) but once we switch the heating back to the timer to come on once in the morning and once at night we are back to square one again with a very noisy pump (which is upstairs in a bedroom and we can hear it downstairs) and cold radiators. At this point we will bleed more air out of the upstairs rads and after several hours of going round doing this the pump will sometimes settle down but the radiators don't always get warm (or hot).

I would be very grateful for any advice on what may be wrong and how to fix this problem but please could any response be in plain English (as it is painfully obvious that I don't know what I'm talking about )

Thanks

 

[oilman]

Have you bled the pump? There's a big silver screw at the end of it. Turn the pump off and remove the screw , be careful if the pump's hot as it may blast out, otherwise just a dribble.

No benefit in putting in the title of posts, cos it don't work.

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

First, when bleeding any radiators make sure the heating and pump are off, secondly if you have two tanks in the loft check the smaller one has water in it and that the ballvalve isn't stuck in the off position, if you have no tanks in the loft and have a sealed system check that the pressure guage reads 1 bar when cold, if not top it up .

 

[kevplumb]

and make sure the electric thingy is open (lever on side)

 

[DamselinDistress]

Ta for quick response.

Yes the pump has been bled.

We do have two tanks (but not in the loft) and the smaller one has water in it, nor is the ballvalve stuck in the off position.

I'm not sure what the electric thingy on the side is to check if its open.

We've tried bleeding the rads with the heating and pump off and with it all on as well due to conflicting advice.

Having seen something on here about checking for blockages with a magnet we tried it out and the magnet stuck on one area of the pipes where there is a join, but I haven't got a clue what part of the plumbing this is!!!

 

[kevplumb]

its prob where the vent blocked with magnetite sludge

 

[brumylad]

do you have a hot water storage cylinder?

If yes, then have you maybe overlooked an air bleed valve in this part of your central heating circuit?

An air bleed valve here will look like a very simple, small brass fitting on the end of a 6 inch vertical pipe stalk. Turn the end bit anticlockwise, just like a rad. air followed by water should come out .

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Blocked cold feed will need sorting or you will end up with no end of problems in the long run.

 

[kevplumb]

ped if the cold feed was blocked they couldnt have drained and refilled twice thats why i thought vent

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Must be just one of them house's, got one down the road, takes about 3 days for it to settle, no logical reason whatsoever, rise on pipes, lots of air vents, fitted correctly and yet is a right pain after draining.

 

[kevplumb]

have one like that mesel its a vicarige tho so you cant swear

 

[DamselinDistress]

Oh bl**dy hell! I think we've done all of that!!!!
Do you think we should invest in installing a whole new central hearing system etc? Is that gonna be very bl**dy expensive?

 

[kevplumb]

bear with it kid im sure one of us will figure it out

 

[oilman]

If it causes problems only when you run it from the programmer, are / is the diverter valve(s) working?

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

If it worked ok until you bled a rad there is no logical reason for it not to work when fully vented, as long a there are no physical problems like blocked vents or feeds, as Kev said stick with it or get in a pro to check things out.