Heating help!

Okay.. I thought about putting this in home and garden but I want lots of people to see it.  So here it goes.  We have central heating complete with radiators in most rooms and two that were just added.  It works and for the most part I am happy.  It was all installed about 3 years ago so it's fairly new.  Problem is that in the last 6 weeks or so it's acting as if it were on drugs.

When we first began using the heat the pipes would clang for about 30 seconds as they began to heat up with the hot water.  Our most remote radiator down in the kitchen would not heat so the guy a few doors down that installed the two new ones came over and told us to shut off all the others and wait for 20 minutes or so then turn the rest on.  So we did this and while it is still the last to heat up it works fine. 

Somewhere around this time the clanging stopped so I figure we had an air lock of some sort and now everything is fine.  Well now it's acting odd again.  Now if the heat is on and you turn it off (we keep it on constant or off and don't use the timer) it sometimes just stays on.  At this time you also sometimes have only luke warm water if you try to do the dishes or take a bath.  The water pressure also seems a bit lower than normal.  To get it to work you have to turn off the entire boiler and the heat and then it resets itself and you get hot water.  So this was happening every now and then, but seems to be happening more frequently now.  Any ideas?

Thanks!

Perhaps you need your lines bled.  We lose water pressure when this happens and the heater will make a horrid noise.

That's what I am thinking as I have faint memories of my parents doing this when I was younger....

So is it easy to do?

Dunno.  I have the plumber do ours.  I tried to learn how to do it, but I'm so afraid I'll blow up something.   

Get a copy of the Reader's Digest DIY manual - it is very good and refreshingly honest, i.e. it will tell you if a job is going to be difficult and one which you may want to get some professional help. It also shows you diagrams of typical British heating/water/electric systems and talks through the basics of how they operate and how they can go wrong.

Bleeding radiators is easy, but can be messy as water can end up everywhere.

I'd get the people who installed the system back in to have a look at, but if you don't trust them (!!), ask people in your area who they can recommend.  I can recommend a great plumber/heating engineer in Walthamstow, east London, who sorted out our ageing heating system.  A recommended engineer is worth 100 dodgy engineers, so ask around your area.

When our radiators needed 'bleeding', we had a 'key' which fitted into one side at the bottom of the radiator.  With a small bowl underneath (to catch any drips), the key was turned until the 'hissing' stopped!

Have you got some type of valve or something that looks like a 'key' could fit into it.  Or maybe ask your next door neighbours if they have the same radiators as you.  They may be able to give you more advice - or lend you a 'key' if they  have one!

Pauline

We woke up early in the wee hours to a wailing sound, the sound grew worse and then the pipes started shaking.  I have been told we need our radiators bled.  I have never used this sort of heating until I moved to the UK.  It has been all very educational and a bit like a scary movie, with all the sounds and shaking.

Good luck to you and your heating system.  I am calling a plumber!

You can buy this little key for less than a pound-and you simply slot it over the valve -which on ours is on the top right had corner, sort of like putting an allen key in.  and you turn it, and it'll hiss till the water comes out in a little stream.  Start at the radiator furthest away and work your ways towards the boiler. 

Ack!  Okay!  I might just wait until they come do the annual check up on it. 

I do remember waking up to the loud clanging when I lived in Norfolk, VA.  I was sleeping on a mattress in my new furnitureless apartment near campus.  My roomate ahd yet to return from JApan.  At about 2 am or 3 am I woke up to a horrible banging and clanging and I about jumped out of my skin!  It turned out to be the radiators, but boy did I get a fright.

So you guys think that air might be the cause for the boiler acting odd?

When my plumber bleeds the lines, he doesn't do it at the radiator; he does it at the boiler area.   Ours usually starts acting funny if we have long periods of no electricity and/or a sudden disconnection.

When this happens, the boiler itself will make horrid noises, followed by loss of water pressure and eventually no hot water.  The plumber comes, bleeds the lines and bang, we are back in business.