No radiators heating upstairs?

Nappertandy384

Hi all,

I have a question about heating in a house I’ve purchased that is almost 20 years old. The downstairs radiators all heat up when the heating is on but the radiators upstairs do not. We have oil fired central heating and a stove with a back boiler. Oil and stove both seem to heat downstairs no problem, but no radiators upstairs get any heat.

I was hoping someone could help me diagnose or investigate the most likely cause? Or even just rule out what it’s not. Heating hasn’t been on for weeks. They are old radiators with no fancy TRVs. Previous owner reckons there is no switch to turn upstairs heating on or off, and if there was one I’m not sure where I’d find it. Any info or ideas at all would be helpful before we get a professional out.

thanks

10-10-20

Were they always this way?

Starting at the beginning, each rad will have a "lock-shield valve" and you need to see if this has been used to turn the rads off. Pick one rad and locate that valve on it (there may be a cover over the valve), rotate it anti-clockwise to close it off counting the amount of rotations which it takes to close it. Then re-open it fully again (counting) and test to see if the rad comes on. Afterwards, close the valve off and return it to it's original position to maintain the balance in the system.

If the rads aren't individually isolated then perhaps the upstairs zone is. Looking at the boiler try to figure out the hot water flow to the downstairs rads and look for a branch off which goes upstairs. If you find it, look for a valve and try close it first (again counting the rotations) and then open it fully. Check if the rads heat up. Also look out for isolation valves and if you're not sure what they are, photograph them and we can help.

Wearb

Are you getting a good flow of water out of vents in upstairs rads?

Nappertandy384

Thank you both for your replies. I will be back at the house tomorrow and plan to carry out each test as you have mentioned. There are no caps on the radiator valves, can I assume the one on the right is the lock shield valve as it has a visible pin?

also, by way of heating controls we have a sangamo pr3n. Previous owners could not remember how to use it and recommended turning the heating on by pressing “boost” on the tap icon. What confuses me about this is that the tap icon is meant to do hot water, but does in fact turn the heating on and the boiler gets going. Pressing boost for either of the radiator icons does not do anything. I thought maybe since there are two radiator icons that there would be two zones, but I am unable to get the heating on any other way than pressing the tap icon? Could it be the case that it is working as the installer has intended and the icons mean nothing? The one sheet of control instructions are not helpful at all without knowing how it was set up or installed. Or what is the likelihood of someone installing a 3 channel programmer if there are not 3 channels? (Hot water and heat, rather than hot water, heating floor 1, heating floor 2)

meercat

Photos of hot press and associated plumbing/wiring would help

any wall thermostats in bedrooms(or living areas)