radiators

[jmccann]

My upstairs radiators heat up fairly quick and get really hot, while the one's downstairs take ages to get hot and even when they do are never quite as hot as the upstairs one's ? We have a worcester boiler which is situated in the landing cupboard. the boiler was serviced 6 months ago. any ideas.

[buildersmate]

The radiators are not balanced with respect to each other. What this means is that the volume of hot water being directed through the upstairs ones is more than through the downstairs ones, in turn meaning they get hotter.
Radiators are balanced by turning the lockshield valve. This is the termination you can see at the opposite end of the radiator to where the on/off or thermostatic valve is.
It isn't difficult to do but is difficult to describe in a few words. See here
http://diydata.com/projects/centralheating/bal ancing/radiator_balancing.php

[bevs]

turn your rads off downstairs bleed all the upstairs then go downstairs and switch all rads on downstairs and bleed it seems like there is a lot of air or if this doesn't work then sysyem might need flushing

[buildersmate]

If the rads are heating right to the top then the above advice is just plain wrong.
There is absolutely no circumstances in which the upstairs rads need bleeding - the man says they get hot.
The only reason to bleed the downstairs is if they are colder at the top than the bottom. Otherwise back to Plan A.

[jmccann]

Thanks for that, will give that a go

[gucciman]

easiest way to do it is to turn all the upstairs radiators off at the lockshield valve has buildersmate says, the downstairs radiators should then get red hot. then turn the upstairs radiators back on but only open each valve 1 turn, then its a case of seeing if the upstairs rads get hot enough without the downstairs ones losing their heat again, if the upstairs ones arent hot enough then slowly open each valve slightly more until you get the balance right.