Heat in radiators

[homerthegrea]

Can someone help, i am not getting any heat in the upper half of my radiators at home, but only upstairs, downstairs is working fine. Anybody know why ? have tried turning them up but to no avail. TIA.

[reffgt]

Sounds like you need to let the air out. Carefully undo the radiator at top, till you can hear the air escape,when a tiny drop water comes out, tighten tap again. Please use care as water does dribble out, another thought, you must have a radiator key to do the job properly. Hope this helps.

[pingu748]

either that or the downstairs ones have been flushed through more recently than the upstairs ones ... and the upstairs ones are half full of sediment and in need of flushing through ...

[buildersmate]

Right procedure, but it isn't generally air that comes out - its hydrogen and a byproduct of corrosion occurring between the inside of the rad and the circulating water. If it keeps happened you need corrosion inhibitor in the system.

[Postdog]

First answer sounds right - I had this last year, and bleeding was all they needed.

[Puddintane]

Could also be that the automatic water feed has malfuctioned and your water level is low. If your new to this type of heating system, you could also have a hand feed valve. Check the water level at the boiler sight glass. It should be about half full.

[Puddintane]

Is this boiler hot water or steam ? Makes the problem solving difficult without knowing. The previous answer I gave, ignore the sight glass being half full. Thats for steam only. Hot water boilers need approx. 15 to 20lbs. press. on the pressure gauge at max. heat temp. and 12lbs when boiler is cold. Sorry if I confused you before. Everything else I said before should be accurate. Good luck.

[gasman]

Agree totaly with buildersmate once you have topped up your rads and made sure the system is full. you should check the concentration of inhibtor for the correct strength.

[caron musson]

you need to bleed them then
this is when air is trapped in the upper part of the radiator.
You should have a radiator key ( if not you can get them from a hardware shop ( Boyes Wilkos )
look at the top of the radiator you will see a place where to insert it.
Turn the key anti clock wise until you hear the air escaping as soon as water appears turn the key clockwise to turn off again !!!!! hope you have a warm winter !!!