Radiators Not Heating

whiteboard

Having trouble with the radiators when the heating is on in the house.

If heating on with upstairs and downstairs levers on in hotpress, only the upstairs radiators heat.
If I turn off the upstairs radiators in the hotpress, then the downstairs will heat as expected.
Can't get both to heat at the same time.

Far from ideal as you can probably appreciate.

Any pointers or theories on this behavior?

Cheers in advance
Whitey

K.Flyer

Circulation Pump needs to be replaced I'd say, or your system needs serious balancing or both.

whiteboard

Cheers for the reply.

Sorry for the silly follow up question but where would the pump likely be located?

Would it be integrated as part of the boiler?

House built 2000, cement floors downstairs and boiler in utility room.

Thanks

Dtp1979

whiteboard wrote: »

Cheers for the reply.

Sorry for the silly follow up question but where would the pump likely be located?

Would it be integrated as part of the boiler?

House built 2000, cement floors downstairs and boiler in utility room.

Thanks

Is your balance valve at the cylinder fully open?

K.Flyer

Depends on the model of boiler that you have. With most of the modern boilers the pump is an integral part of the inside of the boiler, while with most older boilers it is a seperate item.
You are looking for something like the image below, it may be a different colour or make, but they are all similar looking.
If the pump is inside the boiler you will need to contact an R.G.I. to carry out any work on it.

whiteboard

K.Flyer
Have never seen anything like the image you have posted.
Attached is an extract from the boiler manual which I think may show it is integrated.

Dtp1979
Dont recognise any of the images shown when searching balancing valve.
AFAIK I have a sealed system; would there be a balance valve at the cylinder?
Image of hot press setup attached just in case.

Thanks
Again folks.

K.Flyer

I recognise your hotpress from a previous thread.
The red round handle valve on the bottom of the cylinder is the balancing valve.
Close it (clockwise) fully and then turn it anti clockwise approx 1.5 turns.

whiteboard

Thanks K.Flyer, yes moved on now from understanding the pressure reading on the boiler to the rads.
Hopefully we are not getting to a little knowledge being a dangerous thing,

Just did what you suggested and there was a lot of clockwise turning.
Does that close the value and then open it a bit?
If so why would that be, would you not want a max flow?

Cheers

K.Flyer

whiteboard wrote: »

[...]
Just did what you suggested and there was a lot of clockwise turning.
Does that close the value and then open it a bit?
If so why would that be, would you not want a max flow?

Cheers

You have to close the valve fully clockwise, then you turn the valve back anti-clockwise approx 1.5 full turns to open it up just enough.
If the valve is fully open the circulation pump will push the water through the route of least resistance, so it needs to be partially closed in order for the flow to be balanced towards the radiators. (There is a bit more to it than that, but thats the rule of thumb explanation)

whiteboard

rule of thumb explanation will do me; reckon I must have applied the anti-clockwise and a turn to the right rule to everything I could find!

Now have some level of heat to all rads, now to look at balancing.
2 hottest (and 1st to heat) are the hall and main bathroom; guess one of these is the 1st on the loop.
Kitchen is to coolest, so taking it that's the last.

Thanks for the pointers, major panic over for now.

Dtp1979

whiteboard wrote: »

rule of thumb explanation will do me; reckon I must have applied the anti-clockwise and a turn to the right rule to everything I could find!

Now have some level of heat to all rads, now to look at balancing.
2 hottest (and 1st to heat) are the hall and main bathroom; guess one of these is the 1st on the loop.
Kitchen is to coolest, so taking it that's the last.

Thanks for the pointers, major panic over for now.

On the 2 hottest rads, feel each pipe. Whichever is the slightly cooler pipe, turn this off and back on maybe 1/4 turn. Close your balance valve and open maybe 1 turn. Let us know how you get on

whiteboard

Did some checking on Sunday and all seemed to be good.
Come Monday, back to the same situation of heat upstairs but nothing down.
Need to find time to have another go.

TheQuietFella

What about bleeding the radiators?