Downstairs Radiators luke warm or cold - upstairs working fine

[DukeGoose]

Hi All,

I'm hoping you can help me on this. A couple of days ago the downstairs heating stopped working, as did the hot water. The upstairs was OK and the boiler seemed to be working fine. I notched up the pump from 1 to 3 and turned off the upstairs radiators to force the pressure downstairs but this didn't really work.

I called out an engineer yesterday (my usual plumber is on holiday) and he said that the boiler seemed fine and it was likely to be the pump or valve (which made sense as most of the forums suggest this as a possible cause) and the valve could have caused heating and water problems. I relucantly agreed for the replacement and the system to be drained (reluctant as I was on a call-out hourly rate and was planning to replace the system next year anyway) but after 3 hours and the system being no better than it was before post replacement I asked the engineer to wind up the job.

I balanced the upstairs radiators as best I could last night and got all of these working but there is still no to limited heating downstairs. When I turned the lock shield off on a couple of the hotter upstairs radiators these turned off and two of the downstairs one's came back on but the others didn't.

I'm guessing the hot water should be OK now - the wife turned the immersion on as a precaution last night so I'm presuming it's OK.

Can anyone suggest what I can do next? Happy to get another engineer out if I need to as long as they fix it and it's a fix priced job!

Thanks,
Steve

 

[SafeGasInstall]

Hi and welcome to the forum ,did you have the pump changed ?

 

[DukeGoose]

Yes pump and valve were both changed and the system drained.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

if you have changed the pump and and motorised valve ,then did your plumber check if boilers stat is been turned up ?
I mean does boiler heat the ch ? and if its then you have a restriction on ch pipe work .what was the colour of the water when it was drained down ?
what did plumber say when he was there ?

 

[SafeGasInstall]

have you done any changes to your system ? what type boiler you have ?

 

[DukeGoose]

Its a very old boiler (not sure what make) but it's been fine for a few years now and there's been no major work since we had an additional radiator fitted in 2006 (when I also replaced the pump - although there was a large airlock at that time causing problems). The system has been working for the past couple of months and then suddenly this happened on Tuesday despite no changes being made.

The plan is to change it over the next year or so anyway but as it was working I wasn't rushing. I just need to get it in a workable state to get me over the winter months and then look at replacing when funds are available.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

could have then been a pump issue but now you have a air lock ,which need to be flushed out ,there is a method of doing it with mains water but will not advise you doing it as it could go wrong and end up with flood in your home !

 

[SafeGasInstall]

is normal for thing s to go wrong just as winter arrives and is hard to get a good plumber to repair it ! did your plumber try get the air lock out ,what was the colour of the water when you drain it down

 

[DukeGoose]

Just seen the other post. I turned the boiler stat up before calling the plumber and it's up on full now. The boiler is heating the pipes upstairs and ad hoc one's downstairs (one's that were cold can go hot which I suspect rules out blockages). Water was mainly clear when drained with a little sediment but not much. The plumber was very non-commital - it could be an air lock but as the system was drained, bled and they seem to work now ad hoc is it.... Unfortunately he was talking the talk and not walking the walk (I won't be using him again!).

 

[SafeGasInstall]

like the bit
" Unfortunately he was talking the talk and not walking the walk (I won't be using him again!) "

 

[DukeGoose]

Is there anything else I can do to remove the airlock? Last time (6 yrs ago) I just turned the boiler up full and it went bang at 3am and all started working again - but it's been fine since then.

Appreciate your help.

Steve

 

[SafeGasInstall]

there is but could get flood , so will not recommend doing it ! best to get a plumber to do it

 

[DukeGoose]

Can you advise on any recommended actions to get rid of the air lock (if it is that)? I've got the boiler up full hoping I can boil it out.

Thanks
Steve

 

[DukeGoose]

Ok thanks for your help. I'll see whether I can boil it out over the next few days and collar my plumber when he's back on Monday.

Steve

 

[DukeGoose]

Well I got home from work to some warmth last night! I'm presming as we discussed there was some kind of an airlock and the boiler being on full has boiled it out. I managed to balance most of the radiators so that 12 out of 13 were working in one way or another and number 13 was on this morning (at the expense of a couple upstairs which will need the lock shield releasing slightly). Needless to say it was a happier household and I'm hoping for all to be working after a little tweaking tonight.

Cheers
Steve