Heating woes

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plumrob

Rank amateur. Removed rad for decorating. Replaced rad. Refilled system. No heating and no hot water. Advised to redrain system and refill. Have drained system but now cannot fill. When I open what I believe is inl;et tap no water goes into tank.

No expansion tank in loft or in airing cupboard, just big cylinder, immersion, two pumps and small blue pressure valve with GB 165 10 bar on it. One inlet tap with descaler. Boiler is Ideal Classic NF. Mains supply to cold is ok.

Help.
 
Thanks. I have looked in airing cupboard and under boiler but no sign. Where else to look!
 
Thanks guys. The cylinder is a Flowmax, I think. There's an expansion chamber with ball valve on the top but no sign of an inlet loop or gauge. IMG_0394.JPG
 
What you have is commonly called a thermal store
There is no filling loop
the tank on top of the cylinder is your F & E tank try opening the bleed valve on your rad
but this seems to me that you have an air lock.
Make sure the tank is full
Make sure system is switched off
Start with farthest radiator and bleed working your way round the system till all rads are done.
Failing that Drain down and start again allowing the tank to fill slowley,whilst having a bleed valve open to allow the air to be expelled.
Let us know how u get on, could take a while.
 
Thanks.
I have drained the system. Now when I turn the inlet tap on it seems that no water is going in to the cylinder so I cannot see how to refill the system. That is my basic problem.
 
Dont let the tank refill to fast just let it trickkle down the outlet without compleatly covering it.
HOW did u drain it with the drain valve on the base of the cylinder or do u mean the tank at the top is empty?
 
I drained all the rads via their drain valves. I did not use the drain valve on the cylinder. Surely if I drain the rads then the cylinder is empty too. The tank at the top is full by the way with the float valve wkrking.
 
All u need is a small amount of air trapped in the cylinder and this is what can happen,it can take alot of patience to sort out,
1- drain off all your rads and allow enough water to drain as to empty the tank as well
2-Drain say 1/3 the water from the doc on the cylinder.
3-when drained shut doc,s and open a couple of bleed valves to allow the refilling system to push the air out.
4-Allow tank too very slowley refill.
5-when one rad is bled move on to next till u have done them all
Make sure system is switched off or all u will do is move the air around,
u might be lucky and get it 1st time it may take 3 or 4
Failing that get a pro in.
good luck
Paul
 
I now believe the cylinder is full but I am confused as to why all the rads are empty. There must a blockage somewhere in the system close to the cylinder. What else would explain the lack of water in the rads?

Paul, many thanks. One last q. where is the drain cock on the cylinder?
 
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You have to find the filling loop
the tank above the cylinder fills cylinder,which is indeed a thermol store
The heating circuit should be filled by a filling point/loop somewere on system

What make ,model boiler is on system

If filling point not near cylinder,which looks the case,will most likely be at boiler end,maybe system pressure pack above boiler,maybe system boiler with built in filling loop/point or on pipework from boiler in maybe a cupboard
 
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Thanks puddle. This is causing a lot of grief! Boiler is an ideal classic NF. No sign of loop anywhere near boiler nor near cylinder. Am I right in believing that the cylinder does not feed the rads?
 
yes system will be filled by filling point
The ideal classic is a standard boiler so
On ideal classic you can get pressurisation kit that fits on top on boiler, casing looks part of boiler covering has no consealed top ,so if you look down onto top of boiler can you see expansion vessel,if so filling point should be there also
If not look outside building ,see if you can see p/r pipe and were in comes out,may give clue to were pressurisation pack is
 
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You guys are fantastic. Especially on a saturday night!
Still no sign of expansion pack or inlet loop. The top of boiler is plan casing. Casing itself doesnt want to come off. two pipes leadoing from top of boiler. I guess one is in and other is out. Tomorrow I will attempt to take casing off and see what is inside.
 
Do not take casing off,you will be breaking case seal and you should not be doing that for safety reasons,if pressurisation kit is on top of boiler you would be able to see assaid

I have justed checked your thermol storage type and found looks like boiler and radiators indeed filled by tank above cylinder as prs said,so apoligies to all,was thinking flat,can see now house,abviously tank at highest point of system
Not a system I would recommend but seeing how i have just realised what system it is,who am I to say owt!
If you are draining rads with tank above cylinder still full of water,you have a bad air lock or cold feed from tank to cylinder thermol storage is blocked,have had this before
Think you are going to have to get someone in to sort out,I am afraid
 
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the rads are filled from the tank at the top of the cylinder sounds like the cold feed is blocked inside the tank should be a pipe leading down into the cylinder you could try a long piece of wire down it or try pushing a mains fed hose pipe down it or fill it via the vent with the hose which may push blockage out failing that working you could back fill with a mains fed hose on a drain of get some one to watch the water level in the tanks
 
as said previous there isnt a filling loop ,the water in the cylinder is the samewater thats in your rads try what steve the plumb suggests,should be a drain valve somewere chech on the pipes coming the cylinder (heating pipes not dcw/dhw).
 
i have had this problem before on a thermal store,is the cold feed run in plastic?if so it may have "dipped"causing no water to be fed back into ch system
 
Thanks guys. About to attack the cylinder to track down this airlock. Plan a is to use hose attached to garden tap. Shove it into narrow pipe the leads from base of upper chamber. Hopefully this will blast either airlock or sludge. Plan B is to use wire to relase sludge. Plan C is to phone plumber tomorrow a.m. However previous plumber who called on friday didn't recognise the setup so I don't feel too confident there.
Wish me luck chaps, I am going in!

Success! Many thanks to all of you who helped.
 
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