no radiators working

Spook80

Hi all,
Looking for some advise.

I live in a 1st floor, 1 bed apartment and the last few days i noticed that the radiator in the bedroom was freezing every morning while the rest were working.
After a few searches through the forums and google i came to the conclusion that i should balance the system to get it working.
Well i guess i'm after messing up and making it worse because now my baxi system boiler has a red light flashing "fault on pump or low pressure" and no radiators are coming on.
What i did first was i turned off all radiators and then turned off the red valve at the bottom of the big green tank in the hot press.
I then turned on the heating, red valve and all the radiators in that order.
It worked initially as in the bedroom radiator came on and so did all others but within an hour the all went off and i spotted warning light.

Just wondering if anyone has a simple way of solving this or should i call a professional.
Thanks.

sullzz

Did you bleed any rads causing the pressure to be reduced , what is the pressure on your boiler

Spook80

sullzz wrote: »

Did you bleed any rads causing the pressure to be reduced , what is the pressure on your boiler

Cheers for the reply.
After i did the attempted balance i noticed the towel rail in the bathroom was only half heated so i loosened nut on top and released a lot of air until it stopped. Thats all i bled.
Never even looked for the pressure until you asked, its at 0.

paddy_joe

Spook80 wrote: »

Cheers for the reply.
After i did the attempted balance i noticed the towel rail in the bathroom was only half heated so i loosened nut on top and released a lot of air until it stopped. Thats all i bled.
Never even looked for the pressure until you asked, its at 0.

Needs to be brought back up to 1 to 1.5 bar. Do you know where filling valve is?

sullzz

Ok you need to get it up to about 1.5 bar there should be a filling loop in your hotpress , you might have to reset your boiler to get it to work after repressurising .

sullzz

Filling loop looks like this

Spook80

sullzz wrote: »

Filling loop looks like this

Was just about to ask that

Any idea whereabouts this would normally be? Is it close to pump on floor or coming from boiler?

sullzz

Spook80 wrote: »

Was just about to ask that

Any idea whereabouts this would normally be? Is it close to pump on floor or coming from boiler?

Generally at high level ( head height ) in hotpress , but can be located at gas boiler , if you post a pic of your hotpress , I could probably point it out for you

Spook80

sullzz wrote: »

Generally at high level ( head height ) in hotpress , but can be located at gas boiler , if you post a pic of your hotpress , I could probably point it out for you

ok thanks, hopefully this works, 1st time uploading an image.

sullzz

The gauge in picture 1 and 4 is the filler for your heating , is there a valve above this , that is called a pressure reducing valve , if there is no valve above it it has probably seized , you should think about getting this replaced for a filling loop as pressure reducing valves mask leaks , if there is a valve above it it is probably closed , I have seen pressure reducing valves fitted in apartments as the pressure can be too high when filling heating systems

Robbie.G

Spook80 wrote: »

ok thanks, hopefully this works, 1st time uploading an image.

On your first pic it shoves a pressure reducing valve that's the one with the gauge.Is there a flexi pipe or valve above it post a pic of it but a bit higher want to see above gauge

Spook80

cheers lads,

is this the valve?

sullzz

Try opening the black knob until the needle on the gauge gets to about 1.5 bar then close it again

paddy_joe

Spook80 wrote: »

cheers lads,

is this the valve?

Yeah thats it. Is there any value above it. Make sure that black wheel is open?

shane0007

Turn the black knob on the left of the valve anti-clockwise. When the pressure rises to approx 1.2 bar, turn it clockwise back to the fully off position.

Spook80

the black valve just kept turning and the pressure started going up but its up to 2 now. I turned it back but it just keeps turning so not sure whether thats right or not or should pressure stop.

edit: pressure at 2.5 now

shane0007

Ah the ol' pressure reducing valve re-invented as a filling valve! The ever so reliable.
You need to get it to the off position. Try tighten the screw on the black knob & re-try. If not, remove the screw & try turn with a spanner.
Once off, you will need to bleed water from the system to reduce the pressure before using the boiler. Easiest way is to bleed water from a rad.

Spook80

shane0007 wrote: »

Ah the ol' pressure reducing valve re-invented as a filling valve! The ever so reliable.
You need to get it to the off position. Try tighten the screw on the black knob & re-try. If not, remove the screw & try turn with a spanner.
Once off, you will need to bleed water from the system to reduce the pressure before using the boiler. Easiest way is to bleed water from a rad.

Yep that worked i bled the towel rail for a few mins and the pressure is now stopped at 1.5.

So do ya reckon i give it a go now?
I'll probably only have it on for a few mins if it works tonight then see if it comes on the timer in the morning.

Edit: I have all the rads turned off at the moment so is there any particular order i should try turning them on or have them on before i turn on the heating?

paddy_joe

Spook80 wrote: »

Yep that worked i bled the towel rail for a few mins and the pressure is now stopped at 1.5.

So do ya reckon i give it a go now?
I'll probably only have it on for a few mins if it works tonight then see if it comes on the timer in the morning.

Yeah safe to fire it up now.

Spook80

cool ill give it a go. Thanks a lot for your help and to everyone else who chipped in.
I'll report back tomorrow to let all know if its solved.

Spook80

Hey all,
Haven't really been home much in the last 2 days to try much but it seems fine now apart from the original problem of the bedroom radiator not working.

Anyone any ideas whether this would be simple to fix or should I just call a pro in?
I've tried turning on each rad one at a time and bleeding each but the one in bedroom is still freezing.
Any help appreciated.

shane0007

Are the rad valves normal type or thermostatic rad valves (TRV's)?

Spook80

shane0007 wrote: »

Are the rad valves normal type or thermostatic rad valves (TRV's)?

Just the normal type. I pulled it off to make sure it was actually gripping the valve but its definitely on.

sullzz

Spook80 wrote: »

Hey all,
Haven't really been home much in the last 2 days to try much but it seems fine now apart from the original problem of the bedroom radiator not working.

Anyone any ideas whether this would be simple to fix or should I just call a pro in?
I've tried turning on each rad one at a time and bleeding each but the one in bedroom is still freezing.
Any help appreciated.

You live in an apartment so you shouldn't need to be bleeding rads , this shouldn't be the issue , make sure valves at both sides of the rad not heating are open , then turn off all other rads , leave the heat on for a good while this should create some circulation through it , another problem it could be is (if you have one ) a faulty thermostatic rad valve , myson branded ones are common to fail , but others can have pins which stick , if you have thermistor rad valves remove the actuator from the one on the cold rad and see if it heats

Spook80

sullzz wrote: »

You live in an apartment so you shouldn't need to be bleeding rads , this shouldn't be the issue , make sure valves at both sides of the rad not heating are open , then turn off all other rads , leave the heat on for a good while this should create some circulation through it , another problem it could be is (if you have one ) a faulty thermostatic rad valve , myson branded ones are common to fail , but others can have pins which stick , if you have thermistor rad valves remove the actuator from the one on the cold rad and see if it heats

I pulled off the dummy cap also on the left side of rad and with a pliers i turned it anti clockwise (to open i assume) but nothing happened. I was surprised thought that it turned since the rad was working fine up until last week.
None of the rads have thermostatic valves.

Edit: just turning off all other ones now and ill try that suggestion, thanks.

shane0007

Spook80 wrote: »

Just the normal type. I pulled it off to make sure it was actually gripping the valve but its definitely on.

Try tapping the side of the rad valve with a spanner and turn on and off the valve (head removed) with a spanner. Could be a bit of dirt blocking the valve. Try this with both sides.

Spook80

shane0007 wrote: »

Try tapping the side of the rad valve with a spanner and turn on and off the valve (head removed) with a spanner. Could be a bit of dirt blocking the valve. Try this with both sides.

Ok Ive tried both of the above. All rads off except bedroom, both sides open and i tried tapping each side with pliers. Heating is now on so ill give it a while.

I just noticed also when i took off the valve cap that controls the radiator its slightly wet underneath and around the valve. Not dripping but wet all the same. Could this be the problem?

sullzz

Spook80 wrote: »

Ok Ive tried both of the above. All rads off except bedroom, both sides open and i tried tapping each side with pliers. Heating is now on so ill give it a while.

I just noticed also when i took off the valve cap that controls the radiator its slightly wet underneath and around the valve. Not dripping but wet all the same. Could this be the problem?

No that won't be the cause of it not heating , you could try tightening the gland nut

Spook80

sullzz wrote: »

No that won't be the cause of it not heating , you could try tightening the gland nut

Yeah i think ill try tighten it up, ill leave it a while and see if it heats up and then maybe worry about that.
Should the red valve at the bottom of tank in hotpress marked hot be turned fully either way?
It seems to be only turned about half way.

sullzz

Spook80 wrote: »

Yeah i think ill try tighten it up, ill leave it a while and see if it heats up and then maybe worry about that.
Should the red valve at the bottom of tank in hotpress marked hot be turned fully either way?
It seems to be only turned about half way.

Depends which valve that is , in your second pic you have 2 pipes coming out the side of your cylinder at the same side of your cylinder stat the top one I would open fully then the bottom one I would close fully then open about 2 turns

Spook80

sullzz wrote: »

Depends which valve that is , in your second pic you have 2 pipes coming out the side of your cylinder at the same side of your cylinder stat the top one I would open fully then the bottom one I would close fully then open about 2 turns

do you mean the 2 pipes at the very bottom of the picture, running parallel with each other?
I assume i should wait till the heatings off again to turn these?

sullzz

Spook80 wrote: »

do you mean the 2 pipes at the very bottom of the picture, running parallel with each other?
I assume i should wait till the heatings off again to turn these?

Yep them ones , you can turn them with the heating on it makes no odds

Spook80

sullzz wrote: »

Yep them ones , you can turn them with the heating on it makes no odds

Sweet, just did exactly that and bedroom radiator is coming on. The top one seemed to open a lot i wonder how that happened in the first place.
Either way thanks a lot for the help i owe ya big time.

sullzz

Let it circulate on its own for a while before you open the others again, just to clear any airlocks

Spook80

sullzz wrote: »

Let it circulate on its own for a while before you open the others again, just to clear any airlocks

Will do, cheers, Just gonna be glad to have a warm room for the first time in a while.