Radiator not working

Bicky

The radiators in my house are all working apart from the one in the kitchen.
The valve is open and i have already bled the radiator but it is still stone cold. The house is only a year old, it was heating perfectly last winter and i turned it off the valve for the summer.
Is it possible the valve is borken?
Anyone know what could be wrong?

Edit
Does a radiator have two vavles?
One for in and one for out. Only the valve on the left of the radiator is turnable.

copper12

Does a radiator have two valves?
One for in and one for out. Only the valve on the left of the radiator is turnable.
The one on the right is most likely a Lockheed valve used for balancing the system
Try turning all the other rads off one by one if there is an airlock this might shift it
On the other hand did you turn off all the other rads for the summer you might have turned off the rads using the Lockheed valves they should have different valves covers but sometimes the don’t

Bicky

Thanks for the reply.
It was actually my girlfriend who turned them off but she is not sure which side she turned off.
The valve is on the left is open but the valve on the right(Lockheed valve?) wont twist at all on any of the radiators

JamesM

Bicky wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.
It was actually my girlfriend who turned them off but she is not sure which side she turned off.
The valve is on the left is open but the valve on the right(Lockheed valve?) wont twist at all on any of the radiators

If it is a thermostatic valve, the pin is probably stuck down - take off the head and give the pin a few taps and it might pop up.
Jim.

Bicky

Thanks for the reply but it is a simple radiator valve, not a thermostatic one.

ART6

The one on the right is probably the outlet valve and in that case the cover over it doesn't connect to the spindle. Otherwise, the valve is the same as the inlet. Pull off the plastic cap and you'll see the square head of the spindle inside. Turn it with a spanner or a pair of pliers or something, and it should open easily. However, try a turn to close first. If it doesn't move then it's closed and you can open it. Don't force it open too hard as you don't wantr to back seat it.

Micky Dolenz

Easiest thing to do is pull the plastic caps off the lockshield valves and swap them, the valves are exactly the same and just have different caps. Remember turning a valve is like turning on and off a tap, screw down clockwise toclose and anti clockwise to open.

If both sides are opened, try turning off a few rads (one side only) to encourage water flow as it maybe air locked.

Bicky

Sorted thanks very much. A little bit of wd40 and a pliers was able to shift it. Thanks guys.

bluevoice

My partner and I moved into our new (to us, built in the 70's) house this past summer, and we did at that time attempt to check (and turn off for summer) the rads - however nothing worked. They all are double rads, with two valves each - and we tried turning them off with first one, then the other valve - nothing. The valves turn, but to apparently no effect. So I have a handful of questions:

1: Which valve should be the on/off one? 2: What is the other valve for? 3:How can I tell which is which? 4: Why wouldn't they be working if they turn just fine? and finally 5: Does having all of the rads in the house on use more fuel than having only select rads on? Or is the fuel use the same no matter what?

Thanks for any help!

copper12

The cap with the + and - is the one for turning the rad off and on the other is a is for balancing the system
The balancing valve usually is a Lockheed valve and has a cone cap
Most lily it’s the cap that’s spinning
Depends on the size of the house standard house its a false economy to turn rads off

bluevoice

copper12 wrote: »

The cap with the + and - is the one for turning the rad off and on the other is a is for balancing the system
The balancing valve usually is a Lockheed valve and has a cone cap
Most lily it’s the cap that’s spinning
Depends on the size of the house standard house its a false economy to turn rads off

Thanks for the latter part. Unfortunately most rads bar one are missing caps, and looks like they were swapped around anyway. On one rad the 'tops' of the valves are BOTH flat, like a minus sign in the middle. In all others, both sides are square, like a rad key would fit! Is there a default *general* left does a, right does b standard?

Bicky

On my rads the right is on/off and left is the balancing valve. I dont know id that is standard or not.

copper12

Fully open all valve turn the heating on
You will then have to go around and feel the pipes entering the radiators; the one that gets hot first is the flow
This is the one you will use to balance the system
Don’t worry if some don’t get hot the first time
The ones’ nearest the boiler’ will get hot first
The rads that get hot first; turn each one off’ counting how many turns it takes for the valve to shut’ then turn it back on opening the valve half way
This will force the hot water to the other rads; leave the last rad fully open if possible
Hope this helps

Naughton4

What does this mean?? We got a new baxi condenser boiler installed in june and are having a lot of problems with the heating in our house at the moment. All of the rads will work except 2. Iv tried balancing and sometimes this works and sometimes it doesnt. It might work today and not tomorrow. Frustrating really.
I also keep having to go outside and pour boiling water over the plastic outlet pipe as it keeps freezing over. Is this normal??
And today the boiler is not working and reading E164. Anyone have an answer to any of this?? Would really appreciate some help!