Radiators not working after system drain

[alimac]

Hi all 1st post here.

I had a burst water pipe so the plumber came out to fix it. He drained the system down and when the pipe was fixed he left it witrh me. He told me to keep bleeding the radiators and the hot water cylinder until the air was primed and water came out which I did.

However when I turned the heating back on only the upstairs rads were working, the downstairs ones are stone cold, the feeder pipe leading up to them are cold also. I do have hot water.

It's a fairly old systme with microbore pipes.

Anyone any ideas?
Thank you

 

[dextrous]

Get him back

 

[Goldspoon]

He should have finished the job - made sure all was working. Very poor behaviour by the sounds of it.

 

[Whitespirit66]

Hope you only paid half the bill, for half a job.

 

[XrayDave]

Hi,

Whilst all of the above is true, you probably want heat rather than wait in the freezing cold for the plumber to return.

Cold rads are a symptom of air in the pipes.

Try turning the system on for half a min, then off, then back on, then off etc. Do this several times & then check to see if any rads need bleeding. This SHOULD shift any air that is "stuck".

If the downstairs rads are still cold, turn all of the upstairs rads off using the control NOT the lockshield valve to force water through the downstairs rads. You might want to leave one rad alone as a heating load to prevent the boiler possibly activating any overheat protection. Then try bleeding the rads again.

Once the downstairs rads show SOME sign of water flow, turn the upstairs rads back on.

Hope this helps

Dave

 

[Whitespirit66]

Sometimes, turning the pump down to 1 for a few days, then turning it up to max seems to shift air locks. Although I have never tried it on microbore.

 

[hobhead]

Has anybody vented the pump?

 

[XrayDave]

A further thought,

If there is not an airlock in the pump then it may be that the pump is starting to fail.

With the c/htg off and the pump cool, unscrew the large central silver screw (there will probably be a bit of water weep out). Can you turn the pump by hand? It may be stuck. If it doesn't budge a few LIGHT taps with a hammer may loosen it.

If you can turn the pump, is it blocked?

Turn the valves above and below the pump to isolate the pump, remove it (making sure you note which way the pump is oriented for replacement) & flush it through with clean water using a hosepipe.

Re-fit the same way round as before & open the valves. Do the downstairs rads heat up now?

If not, you may need a new pump.

HTH

Dave

 

[alimac]

Thanks for the replies guys. Yes you're right he didn't finish the job, however he was called as an emergency plumber on those emergency ridiculous hourly rates so he did say he would leave it with me so he didn't creep into the next hour. I have contacted the agency though and they said they are arranging him to call back.

I have tried turning off all the other rads and just leaving one on, turning the pump up to full power to see if it will warm and the feeder pipe starts to get hot right up to the radiator but then starts to cool again.

I will try the advice offered and let you know.

Thanks again.