DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

All the radiators are working in the house apart from one which is on the ground floor. Bleeding it may no difference - no air came out. There is no hot water in the pipes in the pipework - they are both cold. Any ideas. Thanks for any help. Jim

Jim,

When was the last time this radiator work?

You said no air came out but did any water come out? Are both valves on the radiator open?

You should be able to operate one by hand the other will be a lock shield value and you'll need to loosen the shield and then operate the valve.

Remember the old plumbing rhyme for valve operation 'Rightly tightly, leftly well that loosens it' something like that anyway.

Best wishes

B;o)

If you have a Thermostatic valve on the radiator it's most likely stuck or broken. you might be able to get it unstuck by taking the plastic part off and spraying a bit of WD40 in there otherwise you're going to have to drain down the system and replace.

Both valves need to be open, but flow may be robbed by other rads.
Try balancing the other rads. by reducing the isolator valve settings on them so that you can still,-just get enough heat, but need about 4 on the thermostatic valve. This will transfer any surplus pressure and flow to any remote or difficult rads.
If you have rads. which are only fitted with irv's, they need to be closed towards the end of this procedure, to give max. push to the problem rad.

Good call Gus about the thermostatic radiator valve. Hadn't thought about that.

B:o)