Heated towel rail problem

[Azteccam1962]

Hi all, I am a non-professional trying to re-fit a small cloakroom. I am replacing an old, small towel rail with under floor heating. I am led to believe the rail was on a separate loop which is fed from the hot water supply and not the central heating. Having removed the rail I capped off the two remaining ends. There are two other towel rails in the loop but both now do not work?? Yesterday I re-connected the two ends with a piece of copper pipe thinking this would act as a radiator but this has not worked. What could be the issue please.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SimonG]

Air lock. What sort of under floor you using?

 

[Azteccam1962]

Simon
thanks for the quick reply. I will be fitting Ecoflex wire type UFH. The cloakroom is completely gutted at present. I have bled the other two rails which appear to be full of cold water but this has not helped .

 

[Azteccam1962]

Not sure if my original reply got through so....

fitting Ecoflex UFH. Have bled the other two rails in the house but made no difference.

 

[Azteccam1962]

Would this be a separate pump to the one for the hot water coming from the taps? I have hot water from there.

 

[wild nomad]

What sort of system do you have? Are you running off a presurised combi boiler or is it open vent (ie. Do you have a hot water tank and water cisterns in the loft)?

 

[Azteccam1962]

I have an enclosed pressurised system, no tank in airng cupboard just one large hot water tank in loft with a small expansion. All the radiators are working with one exception. There is a radiator in the kitchen that only works when the the radiator in an ajoing room is on, but I think that is a different issue to the towel rails. Can an air lock be stuck at the bottom of the house? The two remaining rails are up stairs, the old one was removed from a down stairs cloakroom.

 

[wild nomad]

Well, first thing is to bleed all the radiators in the house starting from the ground floor and working up. Also check the pressure on the pressure gauge is reading the correct setting. This should be in the manufacturers instructions.

Also, do you know if it is a one pipe or two pipe heated system? This may explain the kitchen radiator problem. The difference between the systems can be found here:

One Pipe:
http://www.gasman.fsbusiness.co.uk/images/Onepipe.jpg

Two Pipe:
http://www.home-heating-systems-and-solutions.com/images/two-pipe-reverse-return-layout.jpg

You could also check to see if the pump is working. This would be the one on your heating circuit, presuming you have a pump on your heating circuit.

If bleeding the rads haven't worked then it could be that removing the radiator has messed up the balance of the system. In which case your system will need to be balanced again. You could 'You Tube' this or get a plumber to do it for you. It's not complex but a bit too involved to explain on an email. Try these links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0O-EAEtXJQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6slCr3Vdv1g

Hope this helps buddy!

 

[Azteccam1962]

Apologies for not replying sooner, been away on business. It would seem the heated towel rail issue was down to some muppet (me) not realising I had not fully turned back on an isolation valve In the loft. Remaining two radiators now OK. Today's problem is still the kitchen rad. I currently have a lot of floorboards up as I am still re-fitting the cloakroom, and I also had a strange smell coming from below the ground witch turns out today to be a dead rat (nice), what should I be looking for that is causing the kitchen rad only to work when rad in adjoining room is on? The two rads in question are part of an extension. The old boiler was a back boiler in the living room and I believe all pipe work travels through that area. New boiler is in the loft. Enclosed pressurised system.