airlock/blockage

[hunterseye]

hi guys just a little advise needed. got a heated towel rail that suddenly stopped working. previous to this the system had been drained to fit new rads. all the pipework is microbore. i've bled the towel rail and water comes out. turned off all other rads to help force it through. the flow is hot until the wheel head valve. any ideas on clearing a blockage/airlock on a microbore system.
many thanks

 

[mike-c]

Turn both valves off at towel rail and open bleed valve. Open the valves one at a time to make sure there is flow through each pipe obviously closing them again before you open the other one,

 

[hunterseye]

thanks for your quick reply mike. i'll give that a dabble.

 

[mike-c]

Any joy?

 

[hunterseye]

its for family mike so i'll be going back to it mate. i just thought if i'm prepared first it would save time scratching my head whilst there lol. i'm thinking tho if tho flow is hot perhaps a defective valve maybe?

 

[AWheating]

sounds like a blockage in pipework, valve or faulty valve.

 

[hunterseye]

blockage in return AW? i suspected faulty valve. however its never been turned off anf packed up 4 days ago.

 

[AWheating]

id think valve first to be honest. take the rad off, attach a hose(or use a bucket) to one valve at a time and open and run water through. This will tell you if on sides blocked be it pipework or valve. Its not uncommon for a valve or micro bore pipework to block up when drained down as sludge is given a chance to dry out or sludges get introduced into the system from the tanks when drained. does not take much to block mirco bore.

 

[vern]

id think valve first to be honest. take the rad off, attach a hose(or use a bucket) to one valve at a time and open and run water through. This will tell you if on sides blocked be it pipework or valve. Its not uncommon for a valve or micro bore pipework to block up when drained down as sludge is given a chance to dry out or sludges get introduced into the system from the tanks when drained. does not take much to block mirco bore.

Spot on!

 

[hunterseye]

thanks guys for your help. i'll try all the above when i go back. its these little logical steps that you guys provide that make a huge difference. my fault finding is limited being new to the trade but i'm looking forward to getting stuck into this one.