Radiator with no heat, water or air.

[sortofsilver]

Hi All

I have been in a house for a few years and the radiators have always been a bit temperamental. I have a header tank in the loft with all seems ok.

I was walking around checking the rads and all the upstairs rads are on and get scoulding hot but the rads downstairs at best get luke warm and at worst are stone cold.

I walked around bleeding the rads downstairs they all seem 'under pressure' when i open the bleed valve and the water squirts out. Then i call to a small one in the hall and opened the valve and nothing no air and more puzzling no water. All other rads down stairs have water but do not get hot.

Could it be an air lock in the system? What should i do next to getting the hot water flowing around the whole system?

Thanks

 

[kbdiy]

How are the downstairs rads fed - from under the floor or drops from the floor above? Where is the boiler located and what controls are there on the system? What happens if you shut off all the upstairs rads - do the downstairs rads then get hotter? It does sound like there could be an airlock somewhere.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

What colour is the water coming out when you bleed the rads? If it's dirty then sure sign system is sludged up, and needs a good clean out to restore circulation.

 

[sortofsilver]

Thanks for the answers

The colour of the water coming out of the rads is clear which is expected as it had a 'power flush' soon after i got in the house as i said the heating system is quirky at best. It also had a new pump. Needless to say it did not really make any difference.

All downstairs rads are fed from drops above except three that look like they were added at a later date which are from the under floor. I have previously shut off all upstairs rads and it still makes no difference.

 

[kbdiy]

My next action would be to remove the small rad which doesn't yield any water when bleeding and try opening one of the valves into a bucket. At least then you will know if water is/ isn't getting to the rad.

I would normally expect water to come gushing out so don't do it if you are not confident with plumbing and make sure you have sufficient protection around to avoid soaking everything around you. Remember the rad might be full of water even though it doesn't bleed so have containers ready to catch anything and open the joints slowly, one at a time.

Just for further information, is the system piped in 15/22mm copper or is it microbore?