Vertical rad cooler on the bottom half.

[JamesAsus]

Ruled out everything near enough with my vertical rad on 10mm microbore pipework, tried:

- Balancing (all rads are about 1/20th of a turn and its made zero difference).
- Flow is correct direction.
-All other rads work perfectly.

All my rads get very hot by 10 minutes of the combi boiler starting. At this point the very first panel of the vertical rad starts to warm up then is hot from 15 minutes, however it takes an additional 15 plus minutes for the rest of the panels to heat up, and even at this point the bottom half of the rad is a lot colder than the top half.

I assume if the top gets hot then bleeding isent the issue?

 

[terryplumb]

Close every other radiator by their TRV ( leave the lockshields alone) see if problem rad heats fully quickly.
Vertical rads can be a right pain, and often don't work as one would hope.

 

[JamesAsus]

Close every other radiator by their TRV ( leave the lockshields alone) see if problem rad heats fully quickly.
Vertical rads can be a right pain, and often don't work as one would hope.

No TRV on any, just manual valves and lockshields.

 

[terryplumb]

Close the wheel head valve ( what you call manual) on them all

 

[JamesAsus]

Close the wheel head valve ( what you call manual) on them all

Thanks im away at the moment but i will try this tommorow.

Ive just remembered, there is 1 other rad that has a fully open lockshield, its the one in the same room as my new vertical rad, if all the other rads are restricted and its made no odds could it still be possible that reducing this other rad in the same room could actually help or is that unlikely?

 

[terryplumb]

Close its wheel head ,the same as all the others and tell us the result.
It's quite conceivable that one rad with a fully open lockshield may contribute to your problem.

 

[JamesAsus]

Close its wheel head ,the same as all the others and tell us the result.
It's quite conceivable that one rad with a fully open lockshield may contribute to your problem.

Okay i will check tommorow, thank you.

 

[JamesAsus]

Close its wheel head ,the same as all the others and tell us the result.
It's quite conceivable that one rad with a fully open lockshield may contribute to your problem.

Hi, ive tried this and it still takes a while to heat up, water goes up the first panel but then takes ages to warm the rest of the radiator and the bottom half never really gets mega hot compared to the top.

Its fitted the correct way aswell, no mention of needing baffles or anything in the instructions.

Its a milano alpha vertical radiator.

 

[terryplumb]

As it will not heat fully when it's the only rad in use ,there is either a fault with the rad,it's valves,the pipework to it ,or the flow is not connected to the specified inlet port.
Is the pipework newly installed,or was there a previous radiator there that worked fine ? Is the microbore plastic or copper ?
I personally wouldn't connect a vertical rad to pipework less than 15 mm.

 

[JamesAsus]

As it will not heat fully when it's the only rad in use ,there is either a fault with the rad,it's valves,the pipework to it ,or the flow is not connected to the specified inlet port.
Is the pipework newly installed,or was there a previous radiator there that worked fine ? Is the microbore plastic or copper ?
I personally wouldn't connect a vertical rad to pipework less than 15 mm.

Brand new valves, bidirectional TRV's, one with a TRV head and one with a cap to close it, TRV on return.

Existing pipework has just been extended slightly from existing 10mm an extra 2 metres at most, the radiator here before worked perfectly. The microbore is copper with plastic connections.

Flow is connected to the correct port ive checked the diagrams.

 

[terryplumb]

Is the rad fitted upside down ? Was there a label affixed to the rad indicating the correct inlet port for flow ?
How did you determine which pipe was the flow before connecting up ?

 

[JamesAsus]

Is the rad fitted upside down ? Was there a label affixed to the rad indicating the correct inlet port for flow ?
How did you determine which pipe was the flow before connecting up ?

The rad can be fitted multiple ways, ive looked at the instructions, the flow goes in the bottom right and out bottom left and bleed valve is top left, that is 100% one of the ways it can be fitted.

 

[terryplumb]

Show us the instructions.

 

[JamesAsus]

Show

 

[Johntheo5]

What are the dimensions and rad output? All rads heat up by convecting upwards through the first 75/100MM or so, or in your case up through the first column, the water then moves horizontally along the top and flows downwards, losing temperature and giving up heat, I will post a few readings later I took off one of my own rads (conventional). Not sure if you have a TRV on this rad?, if so remove the head and ensure the pin is out.