Hi all. Looking for some advice. We got a kitchen extension and new bathroom connected 5 years ago. In the new bathroom the radiator doesn't seem to function like the rest of the house. When you turn the heating off the radiator will still keep going. It seems to randomly go off and on - like it'll stay on for hours after the heating is switched off. If its off you'll get up in the morning and the radiator is on again even though the heatings still off. When its on you constantly hear water running through it, not like the rest of the radiators where you dont hear anything but they are working and warm. If it is off and you turn the heating on, it works with the rest of the house. Cant remember if it ever worked correctly, but i'm only asking now as the raidators upstairs are only warm at the bottom and when bled the air stopped coming out after 30secs and they didnt get any warmer at the top. Also not sure if its connected but the pressure in the hot water tap in the kitchen sink really sucks! I've switched the radiator off in the new bathroom to see if that sends water upstairs. Any ideas?
Its Oil central heating and its a heatmaster rad with two valves, only one side turns open and closed, the other doesnt turn. Not sure if that helps
Not sure the hot water is always on the timer.... but il check and see if the heater goes on when the hot waters is on. Didnt think of that!
Very strange,you say 'It seems to randomly go off and on - like it'll stay on for hours after the heating is switched off', is the pump running then? Wouldn't think it's om HW circuit because he can hear it running, when I presume no water is being drawn off at a tap. What the make, model of your oil boiler.
Just checked the boiler. It says 'firebird popular 90' with a 'firebird i-stat dual' Again not sure if the pump is running but will check this out tomorrow as heatings still on atm.
Sound like a bypass rad. If it's on with your hot water it will be. A picture of the rads valves would help. Do the other rads have TRVs?
Is the bathroom on the ground level like the boiler? If you can hear water going through the rad, then it surely must be pumped? But, blimey... It ain't completely unheard of to connect a bathroom rad to the DHW side of a system, so that it keeps towels dry even in summer. But it is nuts. Gc, I suspect you aren't all that clued up with heating systems, so it's going to have to be kept fairly simple - forgive me if that's cheeky . So, basic tests - I presume you have a programmer which controls the CH and DHW separately? (What make and model is it?) In which case, the first test will be to see if the rad is on when the DHW is on - and the CH side OFF. A very unlikely possibility is that the plumber was an advances thinker and added a zone chust for that bathroom rad so's it could be controlled individually, in which case I'd expect to see a room stat in that bathroom as well as the main house one. But, I doubt it...!
No offense taken... i know nothing about heating so appreciate 'heating for dummies' instructions! The programmer says 'Danfuss' (or something like it) on the flap. I turned the HW on to boost and the rad did come on in the bathroom. The timer only has it coming on twice in 24hrs, so i assume the rad also comes on with the heating as well?
Yes, although is far less common, bypass or HW rads are still found. Zones are far superior. You've got a rad heating up a room during the summer too. The Rad will come on with the hot water, this is expected. It will also come on with the central heating. Nothing to worry about. Although, under no circumstances, should the rad valves be turned down.
Lol. Well they were turned off all night to try and find out whats causing the rads upstairs not to heat the top of the radiators.. which unfortunately it didn't. Switched back on again now so hopefully no harm done.... So would this be why the hot water pressure in the kitchen isnt good? All the hot water is going to the bathroom rad? And is it expensive to get this fixed so it functions like the rest of the rads and fixes the hw pressures?
No that is a different problem,the hot water from the boiler goes through a coil in the hot water cylinder to heat the water. Which is also going through the bathroom radiator.
I had some bypass rads in my former house, the bathroom and two kitchen rads. Quite useful for the mornings when you just want some heat in those two rooms. The kitchen rads were on TRVs and the bathroom was a towel radiator - so kept the towels dry but didn't heat the room up too much.
Yeah have to say i didnt mind it on cold mornings when you knew it would be warm when you went in. Glad i know its not broke isnt causing the water pressure prob so thanks for the pointers with the questions and answers. Just needs to work out whats up with rads upstairs now. Theres a small water tank and stop cock in one of the upstairs rooms in cupboard above a bed and noticed its barely got any water in it.