strange radiator warmimg

lee reeve

Hi

I have recently moved into a new house and have discovered that when the gas boiler heats the water for the storage tank, it also for heats just one radiator up in the bathroom. None of the other rads or pipes become hot unless you turn the switch on the control unit!!!


Any ideas as to why this is happening....dodgy valve or a very dodgy install?!!

Cheers for help

Lee

ScottMP

dodgy valve

Hi Lee, we just fixed this problem for a customer. Its tought o say with out looking but here's what we found. They had zone valves ( electric valves ) that had one that was stcuk open just a little bit. every time they made hot water alittle flowed to the first heat emitter. In their case it was a little baseboard. You could have flowchecks ( non electric valves ) that are stuck open, and again, the same problem. There are other reasons but with out looking this would be the first thing that comes to mind. If your not sure what your lokking at.. call a profesional. Its not a big job if its the problem I told. Find the pipe that feed thats radiator and trace it back to the boiler. You'll probably pin point the culprit.

Good Luck

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Aidan (UK)

Lee

Are you in the UK (dodgy, cheers?), like me?

This is normal UK practice. There are usually two heating circuits, one supplies the domestic (indirect) hot water storage cylinder, which is usually in an airing cupboard in the bathroom. The other circuit supplies the radiators in the rest of the house and will only be used in cold weather.

The bathroom radiator is usually connected to the circuit supplying the hot water storage cylinder. This is to dry towels, and because you’ll often be undressed and wet in the bathroom and may appreciate some heat in summer, when the rest of the house is not heated.

If the bathroom is getting too hot, you can fit a thermostatic radiator valve (TRV), but you would need to establish whether the bathroom heating circulation is by gravity or pumped, in order to get the correct TRV.

ScottMP

uk heat wave ?

Aidan, do you really do that all the time ? Over here we can normally get summer weather in the 80's and 90's with humidity. NOBODY likes any heat at the time of the year. I cant even get NEAR the wife with that temperature

Scott

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lee reeve

Thanks for the help....yep and ur right I'm from the uk...

When I moved into the house the rads were in a terrible state...with most of them leaking from the valves. The bathroom one had been shut off at the valve/lockshield as it had leaked severely over the carpet so I don't know the manner of how it came on. Now all the valves have been replaced with TRV's except the bathroom and downstairs toilet( which remains cold).

We have an ensuite bathroom aswell but this rad does not warm up.....I think I'll just turn it off at the valve for the very short summer we have!

cheers for help

Lee

Aidan (UK)

Yes,



This is arrangement used to be typical of about 90% of UK domestic heating systems. The peak summer design conditions for air conditioning are reckoned to be about 30 degC ( 86 degF) and 50% Rh, but the summer weather is generally brief and unreliable. We’re still talking about the summer of ’76 when we got 3 or 4 months of unbroken sunshine. Heating is essential and domestic AC is very rare. The bathroom radiator is useful, providing the valves work and you can turn it off.

I can’t get near my wife in ANY weather. And the kids still drop their towels where they happen to be standing.

John@Reliable

Now we know why gary uk moved