Removed a corroded rad, now no heating but water is fine

[pugmilamber]

Ok, i am fairly good at tinkering with things but computers are more my kinda forte and i'm cold!

So here's what happened:

The missus came down in the night to sleep on the sofa (she's preggers and gets hip pain in bed so lays on the settee) and found a puddle in the living room. The radiator had corroded and started to drip from the bottom (not the valve or pipe, the actual radiator). SO we turned off the heating, stuck a bowl under it and called the plumber int morning. He came, isolated the radiator and removed it (its sat in the driveway now lol). Brilliant, no more leak and no chance of my PC gettin blown up (was gettin close when the missus found the leak!).

So once he left we turned the heating back on.... Now wee have lovely hot water but ice cold radiators throughout the house. I have bled the rads, been in the loft and bled the pump, checked to make sure there is water in the butt thing... i'm stuck

Any ideas?

There are two big water things (can't think of the proper term for them lol) in the loft, one above the other. One is about 3 times the size of the other which is below it. Both are full.

The pump has hot pipes on both sides and sounds like it is pumping (there is a switch on the top which has 1, 2, 3. It got louder as i turned it up so i assume thats the RPM) Oh, the pump is the reddish thing with a big silver screw on the face. I opened this slowly while the system was off and a small amount of hot water dribbled out...

The boiler is on the wall in the kitchen; its a Gloworm Ultimate (combi?). This fires up and heats the water, both pipes coming from the top are hot.

We have one of those little box (valve?) things near the pump in the loft with the MAN/OPEN switch on it, its set to MAN...

So thats the score... cold house, hot water.... help?


Thanks in advance,

Shawn

 

[powell30]

Airlocked? Maybe single pipe system so water needs to flow through the rad to maintain the flow throughout hse.....

What boiler?
Pic of cylinder and controls would be good to

 

[JohnD]

does your boiler have a pressure gauge on the front? If so, what does it read? Have you got a hot water cylinder?

If you bleed the highest radiator in the house, does water squirt out forecefully and without dying away?

Did you mean the circulating pump is in the loft? Why? Where is the boiler?

The usual cause of CH not working after a radiator has been removed and refitted (for repair or for decorating) is that the water feed pipe is blocked with sediment corrosion, and no water fills the system up to replace what was lost in removing the radiator. As your old rad was rusty this makes it even more likely.

 

[pugmilamber]

Thanks for the replies...
The boiler is in the kitchen, has no gauge on it tho... The pump is in the loft, I have no idea why it's up there (rented accomodation. Can't get hold of landlady ATM cos I think she is away...). There is a water cylinder in the loft too, wrapped in laggin. I assume that's the hot water...

When I bleed the top rad it's just a steady trickle (the bleed thing has a little plastic nozzle that I can rotate to catch the water?)...

The radiator hasn't been replaced, just removed...

I can't get photos at the min but I will try later when the missus is home (camera is in the car)...

 

[seco services]

surely he never drained the system to just remove the rad ?
is the boiler/pump running when heating on only

 

[pugmilamber]

Nah he didn't drain the system, just shut the rad off and removed it...

Yeah the pump sounds like it's workin while just the CH is on...

This may sound weird, but a couple weeks ago the rads started heating up when only the hot water was on, which they shouldn't should they? I dunno if this is pertinent info lol

 

[seco services]

feel the pipe from the valve on the heating side see how far along it gets hot.
and unclip it from manual put it back on auto.
if its clipped in man position it will give heating/hw when on hw on even though it should release itself they don't always.

 

[pugmilamber]

Hey, here are the images of the system... its a right mess up in the loft!...

I tried putting the valve thing into the OPEN potision but nowt happened... There's a little switch above the main one that has W M H, but the little black switch doesnt seem to be attached, like its broken off...

Also, from the valve the water is hot until it meets the next pipe, then its cold... you can see it on the last picture with the water butts... from the valve to the right, it meets a pip that sticks up, just below the bottom water butt... thats where it goes cold.

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• pugmilamber
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• 20 Dec 2010
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• 20 Dec 2010
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[seco services]

that pipe where you say is cold looks like it has a bleed vent on the top open that ans see if any air releases.

 

[pugmilamber]

Ok so I opened that little valve thing at the top of the pipe, it was hissing air for ages and then the pipe warmed up... But after a while it was still hissing and went back to cooling off, even tho the one from the box valve was still hot... I closed it cos the missus called me for dinner lol...

 

[JohnD]

turn off the syst so the pump is not running, before you bleed anything.

 

[pugmilamber]

It was off when i was bleeding it... just seemed to go on forever, and like i said the pipe heated up then went cool again even tho the other pipe remained hot hot....

 

[pugmilamber]

The little valve at the top of the pipe, should i sit with it open until the hissing stops? I sat there in the freezin cold loft for about 15mins with it hissing, it hadn't stopped when i shut it...
I assume from reading on here that i have an open system, not a sealed one. So should this little valve be left open all the time? Or should i just sit and wait for water to bubble out?....

Any help would be appreciated..

Cheers

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Yes, you have an open system. With pump etc off, reopen the bleed valve as you did earlier. This allows air out and water in. (You should hear the smaller tank filling as it puts water into the system, worth checking it is filling if you cant hear it. If it isnt then you have another problem...) Dont leave the bleed valve unattended whilst open, at some point the air will all be released and water will spray out! (The pipework is now full.) Restart system and see what happens. (May still be some trapped air , you'll hear it gurgle, but that should find its way out or into a rad.)

 

[pugmilamber]

Thanks Hugh, i will try that when i get home. I really hope the air in the system is the problem.