My heated towel rail has stopped working

[Caroline Finuca]

Hi there,
I had a heated towel rail put in recently, which worked fine. I then had cast iron rads fitted, and all the rads were bled and removed of air, plus the boiler pressure was adjusted. The heated towel rail continued to work for another month, but now it's suddenly stopped working.
I've checked the valve and it's on. I've also bled it, and there's no air. Any idea what the problem could be?
Many thanks for your expert advice!
Caroline

 

[Blake]

It could be air locked or something else has restricted flow. Is one pipe warm and the other cold? Also ensure you have fully bled the rail at the top. Also try turning off all the new cast iron rads and see if this then sends the flow to the t-rail. if it does, open the other rads back up 1/4 turn at a time until happy all are hot.

 

[Caroline Finuca]

Thanks Darryl,
Both pipes are cold and i've already tried bleeding it, but haven't tried turning the other rads off so will do this tonight. Good tip!
Caroline

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

just a note that sometimes towel rads are fitted to the hot water circuit if they are constructed of brass!

 

[Caroline Finuca]

Hello,
I've cracked it! It turns out that the pressure on my combi boiler was too low (under 1), so I just needed to add more water to the system to increase the pressure, then balance the rads a bit.
Thanks for your posts - I hope this helps someone else!
Caroiline

 

[PipeNinja]

Could be an intermittent fault, you shouldnt be tampering unqualified or using the internet to diagnose fault. People have paid heavy prices doing similar because they were unwilling to pay the pros. Dont be too surprised when another problem occurs in due course, which costs a bomb to repair, why did the pressure drop on the boiler for instance, bodge fixing the symptoms is not curing the cause! Fatalities have occurred due to improperly diagnosed/remedied faults - pressure drops don't occur for no reason! Getting the pressure level right isnt a guessing game! The t-rail working again means nothing and over-pressuring is just as bad as under! Where is the exhaust valve, if one, at what level does it vent, etc ec.

Amazing how many people put their own and their family's safety at risk to save a few quid!

 

[wheeto]

Hi Caroline. Glad you've managed to get the system working. You did the right thing to bring the pressure back up, you should be aiming somewhere between 1.25 and 1.75 bar when cold.

PipeNinja is technically right - pressure drops don't happen for no reason - but there are plenty of benign causes and so, as long as you're not having to do it more than a few times a year, don't panic. Topping up a sealed system is NOT something you need to "pay a pro" to do

 

[stevetheplumber]

most likly cause of preasure dropping was bleeding the towel rail

 

[WaterTight]

eeeeeeeeeeeeeexactly