Radiators not heating-up

[richm77]

Hi all -

some basic advice please, have recently moved into a house (late summer) and have turned the heating on recently only to found that two rads (one small double and long single) in the lounge & hall are cool in the middle but hot around the outside. They have been bled but only water came out.

I've been told its a build-up of silt(?) possibly, do i just take the hit and replace them or can they be flushed? Also, how much roughly can i expect a plumber to charge to fit them?

thanx

 

[45yearsagasman]

Sludge may well be the problem but you could try balancing the rads to see if you can improve circulatio.If its no better it is easy to remove and flush rads.Get some help to do this as rads are awkward to lift/replace.Protect your carpets if doing this work youself

 

[richm77]

thanx for the reply -

im possibly getting confused, do you mean a system flush? I've just called a local plumber from 'Yell' and been quoted an obscene amount for it to be flushed or do you mean just to simply detatch the rad and clean/empty it that way.

 

[45yearsagasman]

To start with just remove the individual rad and take outside,attach a hose and give it a flush that way.Cost you nothing but your time.If that and a system balance does not work then call in the heating engineer.

 

[StevenJames125]

also try this: with radiator removed - open each valve into a bucket and see if water freely flows/what quality it is - very black/thick/dirty could be a circulation problem.

You can add Sentinel X400 yourself and give your system a good chemical clean that way.

 

[Gasguru]

Assuming it's a standard 2 pipe system then feel the flow and return pipes to the radiator. Anything more than say 15 centigrade between the two when the systems up to temperature is due to poor balancing. Read the FAQ's.

In my experience 95% of the time poor radiator temperatures are NOT due to sludge.

 

[mickyg]

Assuming it's a standard 2 pipe system then feel the flow and return pipes to the radiator. Anything more than say 15 centigrade between the two when the systems up to temperature is due to poor balancing. Read the FAQ's.

In my experience 95% of the time poor radiator temperatures are NOT due to sludge.

totally agree, the amount of times i get asked to quote for powerflush and end up just balancing the radiators is crazy. Probably 3 out of 5 at least.

 

[richm77]

to the posters above - thanks very much for the advice, you have potentially saved me a fair amount of cash there. I will try the radiator remvoal and clean at the wkend, and take it from there.

Thanks again, very helpful.