Basement Radiator runs cold all the time.

silentangel7

Rest of the house iron cast water radiators are working fine except the one the basement. When I bleed them no air comes out just cold water. If I let it bleed for a bit the water will start to turn hot and radiator starts to get warm. However, once I close the air valve the water goes back to cold and the radiator stays like that. Any help or guidance would be much appreciated. The manual shut off valve is open so don't know what can be the problem.

Big Ed_4

How is it connected to the system ?

silentangel7

sorry what do you mean by that?

delcrossv

Can you show the path from the boiler to the radiator? Follow the pipes?

worldclasshvac

Most likely the path of piping in and out is blocked. We see this alot with either an unknown valve somewhere or accidental valve closed. Also gunk in the system can block a passageway. When you say you can bleed the vent for a while and it gets hot that's a cue the water can get there by one of the pipes but you likely don't have flow in and out just one way.

You could experiment by closing valve at the radiator and trying the bleed again. If hot water gets there the blockage is probably from valve to main branch. If nothing it's the other direction