Why is only one of my radiators not working?

If just one (or a few) of your radiators aren’t heating up, the most common reason for this is trapped air. If you’ve just turned the heating back on after the summer, air can become trapped in your radiators, causing them to be warm at the bottom but cold at the top. Your radiator should soon be nice and warm.

What to do when one radiator stopped working?

Make sure there is no air in the radiator. Using a radiator key and a cloth, release any air trapped in the radiator. Remember to top the heating system up with water should it be a pressurised (sealed) system. If the radiator is cold at the bottom it could be sludge in the radiator.

What to do if one of your radiators is not working?

This is known as balancing the radiators. If you notice that the one radiator not working is one of the furthest radiators from the boiler, balancing the heating system may solve the problem. This is also the case if two or three radiators aren’t getting hot.

Why does one radiator heat more than the other?

2. Very poor circulation to that radiator caused by sludge/debris When you turn off all the other radiators you are forcing a great deal of heat through that one single radiator, hence the reason why it quickly becomes hot. Just because the radiator is new has no bearing on the actual heating pipework feeding it.

How do you get a single radiator to work?

Not necessarily the physically furthest one) and open the lockshield valve (the valve with the cap on) just half a turn. Do this to all the upstairs rads and then open the other end of all the upstairs rads fully.

Can you hear air coming out of a radiator?

Now usually when there’s air in there, obviously you have a lot of air coming out before you get to water. Obviously, if the radiator does have air in the top of it, you will get air coming out. You’ll be able to hear it really easily. It’ll be a nice, slight hiss, and you can control easily the rate at which it comes out using this key.

When do central heating radiators start to fail?

As winter starts to bite and the big central heating turn on begins, your boiler starts to work its hardest. This is the time when it’s common occurrence to start experiencing various problems with your radiators.

What to do when your central heating system won’t heat up?

The first thing you should do is check for any bigger, more serious problems with your system. This means making sure that your central heating system is actually working. If all of your radiators won’t heat up rather than just one, this could be a sign of a bigger issue.

Is the top of my radiator hot or cold?

There’s no heat at the top or bottom and the pipes at each end are also stone cold. All other radiators and the two ladders are piping hot (except a pretty old looking radiator in our bedroom which gets warm but not scolding hot like the others). Where do I start?