Central Heating

[linlam]

Why, overnight, have my downstairs radiators decided to stop working? Upstairs ones are fine, and there is heat on the pipes leading down from upstairs.  I tried bleeding them, there is no problem there. Help!

And why do these things happen to me when hubby is away?

[smudge]

If all the rad's have been bled, then It could be the pump on the way out?

[Robinia]

Looks like smudge could be right according to this - (know what you mean about the absent hubby -  decided mine could stay permanently absent as I ended doing the diy myself anyway!!!)

 

http://www.diynot.com/pages/pl/pl033.php#a2

[Jenny Tools]

Don't panic linham, chances are your c/e pump is ok. Assuming you don't have thermostats on the down stairs rads the most likely cause is the upstairs rads are open too much which allows the water flow to take the easiest route. Start by making sure the cold rad valves are fully open at both ends of the rad and then go to the hot ones and turn the valves off at one end of the rad. This will force water round the rest of the system, if the cold rads now get hot go back to the other rads and turn back on but only a bit at a time, open the valve only just enough to allow rad to get hot and only do one at a time.   

[Octavius]

Maybe there is not enough water pressure in the sytem getting through all the rads.

[Vasquoy]

I might be out of line here but is downstairs cold?  It might be that your radiators are thermostatically controlled and the thermostat is saying the room is warm enough already???  It could be that you only check them when the system is off?

[smudge]

Let's know how you get on & if it was the pump after all.

[linlam]

Thanks everyone. I turned the heating off before I left this morning, so the house is blooming cold, but hubby should be back tonight, not that he knows anything about central heating really. He said he looks forward to reading the  suggestions. Thank goodness I have a gas fire and electric blanket!

I'll let you know what happens!

[smudge]

Snuggle up & keep warm - nite nite!

[lembo121]

You have an air lock on the manifold to the downstairs radiators. There is no text book answer about how to clear this air. Follow the advice given by JENNY about closing hot rads down to allow pump to circulate better around affected area. You might have to bite the bullet and hire a heating engineer. Possible under lying faults;

faulty boiler thermostat

faulty boiler gas valve

small leak on system

all of which could introduce air into the system.

good luck.