Central Heating Blower Fault

[Mendipman]

We have a central heating system that is about four years old. In the kitchen there is a fan heater connected to the heating system. It's gradually been coming on less and less frequently and now doesn't work at all on hot, although it blows cold air. It looks as though it needs bleeding but that made no difference. There is an inlet pipe (braided metal) which feels warm. The outlet pipe is cold. The bleed valve is connected to the end of the inlet pipe. Is it possible that the inlet and outlet pipes were installed the wrong way round? Is it difficult to swap the pipes over? There are stop valves in each connection to the blower.

[stanleyman]

It shouldn't matter which way round the connections are. Check the boiler pressure is ok or that the loft ball valve is free and only bleed when the boiler is off. In order to check the radiator operation close off all other rads so that all the flow goes through this rad, this should clear any air locks or minor blockage.

If this makes it work, open all other rads, if it then stops working the system needs balancing and/or the pump speed needs increasing to get more flow.

If it will not work at all or is just warm, check the valves are open and that the braided pipe is not kinked or internally damaged or there is not an internal blockage in the radiator or supply pipe.