Heating

On which pressure is your system working ?
You get all the air out of all the radiators ?

>>1126891
I bled all of the radiators and only liquid came out so I dont think there is air trapped in the system.
How would i check the pressure?
the little white boiler downstairs only has a reset button (no controls or display).

thanks for your reply.
ill take some photos of the boilers?

>>1126892
That would be realy nice, at least to get a little bit knowledge of your system. I´m working in Germany so i think it would be a little bit different..

>>1126894
ok thank you matey :)
ill take a few now.

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Sounds like you have an older gravity fed boiler given you still have a header tank and immersion heater tank.

This is the clearest diagram I can find of your type of system. I know it's not a lot but it should give you an idea of how to trace the flow to and from your boiler.

Start from the hottest point to the coldest and you'll find you may stumble on the problem.

My guess without knowing more if your radiators are on a loop and one of the thermostatic valves has seized. Easy fix. You need to find the coldest rad after the hottest, unscrew the thermostatic 'tap' head from the valve and there will be a little silver pin in the centre of the brass fitting. Give it a light tap with a hammer and it should spring up to allow flow. That's a common thing and easy to diagnose.

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please excuse the old lady decor.

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>>1126899

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>>1126898
oh, sound advice mate. thank you.
I will study this pic and try and work out the order the rads work in.

currently I have everything off apart from 1 radiator downstairs.

should I turn it all back on again to try and find the hottest and the coldest?

thanks again

>>1126902
Looking at that photo you're going to have a ball ache of a time tracing that system but yeah. Heat is your strongest indicator while fault finding.

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>>1126898
just opened one of the thermos and there was no pin inside.
its identical to the flow tap/valve on the other side of the radiator.
I put a screwdriver down the safety and gave it a knock but could feel or see the pin you mentioned.

also the tops of the rad I have on is hotter than usual but the bottom of the rad is still cold.

does this suggest its full of sludge?
system has had nothing done to it for 20 odd years

>>1126903
thought so :(
thanks for all your help anyway lads
best of luck.

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>>1126904
That's not a thermostatic mate, that's a standard valve. Attached is a pic of the pin I'm taking about and it should be on the opposite side of the rad.

While sludge is a possibility I wouldn't expect part of the rad to get warm and be bottom not considering it flows in from the bottom to the top.

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>>1126907
my bad wrong pic.
this is the thermo on the other side but when I took the top of it looks identical.
it has a shaft big enough for a small screw driver but no pin at the bottom.
looks nothing like your picture.

there are caps at the top of the rad (one for bleeding, ones just a solid cap)
thats not it is it?

my nan said its a Swedish system..
is everything from Sweden doomed?
seems that way..

>>1126908
I don't think the problem is where it's free but more to do with who plumbed it in. You've got two return valves by the look of things.

I can't imagine the problem is on that rad rather somewhere else before or after it.

>>1126911
ok lad. thank you very much for your help.
I'm going to turn it all back on and look for the hottest and coldest parts.
2 of the rads have a more modern thermo valve on them.. ill look for the pin on those.

cheers lads

Flush the complete System ?
Could it be that some radiatiors have been installed after the system was finished, so the old pipe diameters doesn´t work anymore ?

>>1126908

This is exactly what sludge causes.


OP. You will either have a 2 or 3 port valve on the system feeding the hot water tank, check that this valve is not stuck in the open position. This could be neglecting the heating.

If thats ok then sludge is possible. Try tapping each radiator valve with a hammer, and the bottom of the radiator with a rubber hammer or some wood to loosen it up (this could put your pump at risk if there is enough of it)


Another option is to tap then drain each rad.

>>1126915
some rads have been installed later by the looks of it but all of the pipes are the same gauge.
think it might be time to call a professional :(

>>1126918
The thing is if a have a real gravitational heating system, there is no need for a pump.

>>1126918
>You will either have a 2 or 3 port valve on the system feeding the hot water tank

thats the big green copper tank right?
can you discribe the 2 or 3 port valve or provide a pic please?

I think sludge is the more likely option.
I'm sure my nan pays insurance for this kind of shit, maybe its time to get a plumber round.

if this thread is still alive later on and when its all on again, ill try and locate the hottest and coldest rad.
but with out proper thermos with pins that won't really achieve much will it.

confusing and 100% boring kek

>>1126928
>Pays insurance

Mate I'd get them on with a new boiler as well.

>>1126930
yeah.. ill get them on the phone today.
I should be here because every one rips off little old ladies in England.
the amount of shoddy work my nan has had done over the years is staggering.
thanks for your help lads

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>>1126928

Thats a 2port. Honety it most likley is sludge, the only true solution is a full poweflush of the system, which costs a lot in the uk.

Other options include chemical cleaning fluid and magnetic filters. But if the problem is big enough these will struggle.

I would tap the raidator valves for sure, they tend to make choke points for crud, is the return temps ok from the rads?

>>1126938
ok thanks,
I turned the big red valves on the 2 port so we know now that they are not stuck in either position.

the radiators are too hot to touch upstairs and are barely working downstairs.
1 of them down stairs is warm the rest are cold.
I have tapped all the valves with a spanner and hit the rads a bit with a mallet.

looks like sludge preventing flow downstairs...
the returns are cold too lol.
its almost like a separate system.

do you need any specialist equipment to flush a system? sounds like something I could do myself

>>1126898

Lots of open vent (tank for cylinder and heating water) system are fully pumped.

Those that are not have pumps for the heating still as a rule. Its pretty rare to see gravity hot water in the uk, never seen full gravity in 10 years.


Basically op you probably need a heating engineer. It could be a mixture of things.

>>1126943
You could easily create a hole mess in your Nan´s house, i wouldn´t do it for my own.

>>1126943

If you really want to do it yourself you could rent a powerflusher. But honesty
There is a bit of a method to it, hence why engineers always charge so much haha.


Is your pump outside the boiler? If it is take off the bleed valve and push a big screwdriver in there, if it stops with ease then your pump is fucked which can cuse this issue.

If the returns are completly cold then its either the dodgey pump or rad valve blockages. Its hard to give definative advice mate, i dont want to reccomend a full flush or new valves becuase to known for sure i would need to see it.

>>1126945

Its hard enough to find an engineer who carrys out a decent system flush. The amount of new boilers ive seen fucked by sludge that was loosend but not removed is ridiculous

>>1126945
>>1126944
>>1126947

thanks for all the help.
sounds like something ill need help with or at least wait for the summer.
I dont want to freeze my 90 year old nan.

ok chaps, ill have a look for the pump and do some research but apart from that I think we have tried everything.

If i do go full retard and try and flush it myself, ill definitely make a thread for when I explode my nan house with radiator gunk.
cheers lads!

>>1126951

These problems can aways be a can of worms buddy. Even testing the pump will have a small risk of it not restarting (if it is infact weak)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrKQRNdLNBY

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got an engineer coming out 2morro lads.
ill let you know what happens if the thread is still up.
thanks again for all your help

Google lockshield valve and try balancing your radiators as per instruction.

>>1127630
>radiators as per instruction.

Typical of a new installation... 20 years later...

>>1127641

I mean methodically as opposed to just randomly turning the lockshield. Following instructions online will let him understand which ones and how he should be turning the lockshield.

It's the last simple fix before you start looking at a system flush or replacing rads.

>>1127692
>>1127641
>>1127630

engineer is round here now.
the magnetic filter was fucked and we need a power flush :( (the pump was still good)
ah well, its was fun while it lasted Lads