No heat from radiators

[benunited]

Hi folks. Yesterday I removed a radiator as we're re-doing our bathroom.

I cut back the pipes underneath the floorboards, added connectors and moved the pipes to the new positions.

I then capped the pipes as I'm not ready to add the new radiator just yet.

Trouble is there's now no heat going to the other radiators - and it's rather cold!!

I've bled all the radiators, allowing just a little water out of each. Heating system was off, now back on but still no heat.

Any advice much appreciated!!

Thanks

Ben

 

[dancinplumba]

is it a sealed or open vented system

 

[benunited]

Thanks for the reply. See, this is where I end up out of my depth - no idea what kind of system I have. How can I tell?

 

[PlumbBobBob]

the two pipes you cut were they joined together under the floor? i'm wondering whether you have a one pipe system.

 

[dancinplumba]

do you have a hot water cylinder ? have you 2 cold water cisterns ? maybe in the loft ? a big one and a small one ?

 

[benunited]

No, the pipes i cut back had been going to either side of the radiator. Thanks!

 

[jtsplumbing]

Same as steveb you may have a one pipe system, try linking the two pipes together!

 

[jtsplumbing]

Did you say your boiler is back on ? are any of the pipes getting hot ?

 

[dancinplumba]

Same as steveb you may have a one pipe system, try linking the two pipes together!

what will this achieve ?

 

[benunited]

Thanks for all the replies! Boiler is on and I've got hot water from taps.

I've a hot water cylinder in a cupboard and the pipes around it are very hot. In my loft I have a small and a large cold water tank and both have water in them.

 

[benunited]

Edit that. Small tank in the loft has hot water in it (should it?)

 

[dancinplumba]

is your pump running ? have you a timer for heating and hot water ? put it on for heating only if poss and turn your room stat up then tell us what happens

 

[benunited]

is your pump running ? have you a timer for heating and hot water ? put it on for heating only if poss and turn your room stat up then tell us what happens

Pump certainly sounds like it's running. Hot water has been off and heating has been on all day. Don't have a room stat, just thermostatic valves on radiators.

 

[dancinplumba]

could be an air lock or blockage, can you put pics up so that we can see if you have any two port valves,these maybe just after your pump and could be faulty

 

[dancinplumba]

also have you bled the pump ? there will/ should be a big screw on the end, get a bowl or rag and undo it to let the air out, but be careful as the water will be very hot, might be a good idea when your system is cold

 

[benunited]

Here's my pump

 

[benunited]

Hope that photo of the pump is useful? Have just bled the pump so that may help!

 

[dancinplumba]

Hope that photo of the pump is useful? Have just bled the pump so that may help!

if not let us know

 

[PlumbBobBob]

what will this achieve ?

well if it is a one pipe system taking the rad out could have cut the circulation if each radiator is connected in series without a connecting pipe in the floor.

 

[benunited]

Will do thanks. Was about 10mins ago and rads are still cold. Have a three bedroom single story house. Can't say I could guess accurately how long it normally takes for the pipes to heat up. When I bled the pump only a few drips of black water came out. Should there have been more?

 

[dancinplumba]

you could have a blockage, air lock somewhere ? have you any two port valves ? rectangular silver or white plastic things ?

 

[mountainman]

Are the pipes to the pump both hot?

And when you originally cut the pipework, did you drain the system?

 

[warrington]

as steveb says, you may have one pipe system. Probably you have some pipe and fittings left, as said link them and see the result.

 

[benunited]

you could have a blockage, air lock somewhere ? have you any two port valves ? rectangular silver or white plastic things ?

There's a rectangular silver box which seems to have electricity going to it. Could that be it?

 

[benunited]

Are the pipes to the pump both hot?

And when you originally cut the pipework, did you drain the system?

Yep, both pipes to the pump are hot and when I cut the pipework I drained the system first.

 

[benunited]

Don't know if this could be a factor/indication of anything but the small tank in my loft (which I always thought had cold water in it!) actually has hot water in it.

Reason I mention this is (apart from the fact I thought it normall had cold water in it) is it's making a fair bit of noise, burping and gurgling away.

May just be I normally have my loft latch shut and don't hear it

 

[benunited]

Definitely an option. Only thing here is I moved the radiator last week and at that point just capped the pipes. At that point I lost heat to the radiators around the house but they came back on soon after without me doing anything else.

Yesterday I cut the pipes back and reloacted them. So for a full week the heating was working fine without the pipes being connected.

 

[dancinplumba]

Don't know if this could be a factor/indication of anything but the small tank in my loft (which I always thought had cold water in it!) actually has hot water in it.

Reason I mention this is (apart from the fact I thought it normall had cold water in it) is it's making a fair bit of noise, burping and gurgling away.

May just be I normally have my loft latch shut and don't hear it

no its not normal is there water coming through big pipe that comes over top of tank ? sounds like you have air lock somewhere ?

 

[benunited]

no its not normal is there water coming through big pipe that comes over top of tank ? sounds like you have air lock somewhere ?

The gurgling has now stopped. Water runs into that tank if I push the ball down, so to refill it. There's an actual pipe hanging over the side and there isn't any water coming out of this. Should this tank have hot or cold water in it? Thanks!

 

[mountainman]

I reckon you've got yourself an air lock.
One fairly easy way of clearing it is to turn the heating and pump off.
Look at the silver box, if it has a lever on it, move the lever against the spring and lock it open by putting the lever into the small notch in the lever cutout slot.
Turn off and disconnect a radiator as far away from the pump as possible.
Open each rad valve in turn fully to discharge into a bucket.
If you've got an air lock it will be pulled out with the water, you need to do both valves as the problem could be on either or both the flow or return. this normally only takes a short while, usually less than a bucket full of water.

Leave the rad disconnected, unlock the valve an turn the heating on, if it was an air lock then everything should be working and you can reconnect the radiator.

ps, when refilling the rad make sure that the boiler and pump are off.