Hi,

We had 'a man' round to remove the radiators in our lounge and dining room
prior to decorating as they were 'loose'. It was discovered that the lounge
radiator was cold just before this but a large amount of sludge came from
the pipe upon removal so we guessed that this was to blame (we are new in
the house so have no idea of the previous history).

When the decorating was finished, the radiators were re-hung but something
broke on the dining room rad. The lounge radiator was now working fine. A
date was made for the dining room radiator to be sorted out.

Unfortunately 'the man' forgot to come!

In the meantime, a leak appeared from a radiator valve upstairs. This was
fixed promptly (although the white 'knob' broke in the process).

Today, 'the man' returned to finish the job on the dining room radiator.
Apart from managing to empty the system into the fishpond (sorry fish!)
everything seemed to go ok. This evening the dining room rad was warm and
the lounge radiator was stone cold. We phoned 'the man' who suggested that
we turn off a couple of upstairs radiators to release trapped air. This
worked for the dining room radiator which is now hot. We then discovered
the top of the bathroom rad was only warm but this was fixed by bleeding it.

We are now left with the situation that the upstairs radiators are fine, the
kitchen radiator appears to be at about 80% heat, the lounge radiator is
stone cold (it was working yesterday) and the other downstairs radiators are
fine.

Any ideas as to what could be the problem with the lounge radiator? It's
freezing!!!!

Thanks in advance,

Daz

Kroma wrote:

Any ideas as to what could be the problem with the lounge radiator? It's
freezing!!!!

It sounds like your system is in need of balancing (and also by the
sounds of it a good clean and desludge!).

The first is easy enough to do with a bit of time:

http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/plumbing/rad-balance.html

The sludge issue may be more of a problem however:

http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/plumbing/pl...html#corrosion

Andy Hall has posted a detail account of how to carry out a system flush
without the need for professional power flushing on a number of
occations. This thread might be a good starting place:

http://groups.google.com/group/uk.d-...59c72019cad69f
or
http://tinyurl.com/bbhth

Note also that flushing the system may require you to rebalance after -
so do that second!


--
Cheers,

John.

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In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Kroma wrote:

Hi,

We had 'a man' round to remove the radiators in our lounge and dining
room prior to decorating as they were 'loose'. It was discovered
that the lounge radiator was cold just before this but a large amount
of sludge came from the pipe upon removal so we guessed that this was
to blame (we are new in the house so have no idea of the previous
history).

When the decorating was finished, the radiators were re-hung but
something broke on the dining room rad. The lounge radiator was now
working fine. A date was made for the dining room radiator to be
sorted out.

Unfortunately 'the man' forgot to come!

In the meantime, a leak appeared from a radiator valve upstairs. This
was fixed promptly (although the white 'knob' broke in the process).

Today, 'the man' returned to finish the job on the dining room
radiator. Apart from managing to empty the system into the fishpond
(sorry fish!) everything seemed to go ok. This evening the dining
room rad was warm and the lounge radiator was stone cold. We phoned
'the man' who suggested that we turn off a couple of upstairs
radiators to release trapped air. This worked for the dining room
radiator which is now hot. We then discovered the top of the
bathroom rad was only warm but this was fixed by bleeding it.

We are now left with the situation that the upstairs radiators are
fine, the kitchen radiator appears to be at about 80% heat, the
lounge radiator is stone cold (it was working yesterday) and the
other downstairs radiators are fine.

Any ideas as to what could be the problem with the lounge radiator?
It's freezing!!!!

Thanks in advance,

Daz

As others have said, you're going to need to balance your system very soon,
and de-sludge it fairly soon (although I would wait until the end of the
winter for de-sludging if possible).

It is distinctly possible that your immediate problem is caused by an
airlock. I would guess that you have solid floors downstairs so that the
pipework cannot go under to floor but has to come down the wall from above
for each radiator. Is this correct? It's very easy to get airlocks in the
pipes to individual radiators with this setup. Before doing any bleeding,
make sure that there is some water in the small fill and expansion tank in
the attic (not to be confused with the large cold water header tank) and
that its ballvalve is working properly. Then bleed all your radiators until
water comes out of each one.

If you've still got a cold radiator, turn off all other radiators - both up
and down - and turn up the pump speed temporarily to try to get water
flowing to this cold radiator. If that doesn't work, you need to bleed each
of the pipes connected to this radiator separately. Turn off one valve, and
bleed a couple of litres of water out of the bleed hole. Then turn the valve
back on and turn off the other one, and repeat the exercise.

When everything is working, turn all rads back on and put the pump back to
its normal speed. Then balance the system.
--
Cheers,
Set Square
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I flush my system about every two years.
I turn off all radiators except one, this is generally an upstairs or
highest radator.
Then I turn the C/H pump to the high speed. It has a high and a normal
speed.
Then connect a hose pipe to the drain cock and poke the other end down
a drain.
Then open the drain cock and observe the water coming out to see the
colour.
Make sure the header tank is working and refilling the system as it
drains.
I usually allow ten minutes of clear water to flow out before closing
that radiator and opening the next one.
Repaet the process for each radiator in turn.
I generally take a couple of weeks for the C/H water to completely
de-gas/air itself so you'll have to bleed the rads for a while.
Do this in the summer if possible.

Chris.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
wrote:

I flush my system about every two years.
I turn off all radiators except one, this is generally an upstairs or
highest radator.
Then I turn the C/H pump to the high speed. It has a high and a normal
speed.
Then connect a hose pipe to the drain cock and poke the other end down
a drain.
Then open the drain cock and observe the water coming out to see the
colour.
Make sure the header tank is working and refilling the system as it
drains.
I usually allow ten minutes of clear water to flow out before closing
that radiator and opening the next one.
Repaet the process for each radiator in turn.

That *may* work - but you have to make jolly sure that the ballvalve in the
header tank can keep with with rate at which water is coming out of the
drain cock - otherwise you'll starve the pump of water, with potentially
expensive consequences.
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.