Top floor radiators not working - tall house

[farhills]

Hi

I have just bought a town house over 4 floors with around 8.5m between the boiler on the ground floor and the top floor radiators.

The boiler is a Ferroli Modena 80 E combi boiler.

My problem is that only the very top of the top floor radiators gets warm - the radiators on the lower floors work fine. I was wondering if the pump fitted to the boiler has sufficient head or is there a different problem?

As the top of the radiator is warm I don't think air is the problem. I have tried shutting off radiators on lower floors without effect.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Regards

 

[T & H Plumbing]

You tried bleeding them to get the air out?

 

[farhills]

You tried bleeding them to get the air out?

Hi. Thanks for the reply. Yes I have tried bleeding them. Also the radiators are warm at the top so I don't think that air is the problem.

As the system is a closed loop and pressurised I don't think the head of the pump is a problem either.

I think my next job will be to try re-balancing all the radiators.

Any other suggestions gratefully received!

 

[T & H Plumbing]

Yes try re - balancing them I'm sure heating engineers will be on soon to give you more help

 

[doitmyself]

town house over 4 floors with around 8.5m between the boiler on the ground floor and the top floor radiators.

I was wondering if the pump fitted to the boiler has sufficient head or is there a different problem?

The actual height between boiler and top floor rads is not relevant as the pump "head" refers to the pressure loss round the heating circuit. The longer the pipe run, the greater the pressure loss, but it's not directly related to the height.

There's definitely a different problem.

Has the system been balanced? If you don't know, check how many turns it takes to close the lockshield valves - turn clockwise to shut. That's the valve at the opposite end from the wheel valve or TRV valve. (Don't forget to set them back to the original position.) It should vary from rad to rad and be less than 1½ turns

 

[farhills]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am not at the house at the moment but I will try rebalancing them when I get back and check the lockshield valves to see if they have been used to reduce the flow at all.

 

[stevetheplumber]

do they work with everything else turned of?if yes its balancing if no rads are gunged

 

[farhills]

Hi Steve. Thanks for your reply. I'm going to get my daughter who is there at the moment to shut in the other radiators and see if that fixes it. As you say, if yes then it's a balance problem, if no then they may be fouled up or there's a problem with the flow to the radiators.