Some radiators not working !??

[Jazz12]

aibu to think it’s the fcuking boiler??

4 radiators in the house (all furthest from the boiler) have stopped working. These were working fine until a few days ago.

1. the pipes under them are cold
2. turning off all other radiators isn’t helping
3. no trapped air, we bled all of them.
4. a couple of radiators are working even after turning them off (using tuning thing at the bottom)

Anything else I can try before I call someone ? Could it be the boiler? Frozen pipes? (They are all on the outside wall) I’m surprised 4 radiators stopped working at the same time?!

Might be sludge in the system, needing a power flush

Possibly the pump not working so well if they are the last on the system?

With us it was the pump. Also build up of sludge after it being off for the summer

Maybe try turning all of them off except one of the not working ones. We had one radiator that didn't work unless we turned all the others off, then there was a big gurgle and it worked for 1 or 2 days until it stopped working and we had to repeat the process. (One day it decided to work properly and has been fine ever since).

I’ve got the same, both downstairs. Someone is coming out on Thursday. Until then I have the log burner.

We had something similar yesterday.
Neither me nor DH are very plumbing savvy but by using Google and YouTube videos he fixed it fairly quickly.
No idea how he did it but it involved a few taps with a hammer.

You've said the radiators that aren't working are the ones furthest from the boiler, is that right? Have you checked the pressure reading on your boiler? Even if it's in the green/safe zone, the pressure might have dropped lower than it usually operates.

You should hopefully be able to find a video on YouTube showing how to re-pressure your boiler (adding more water). I had to do it fairly often with my old boiler...I was amazed there was a video, it was over 20 years old!

Probably the pressure has dropped. Add more water to the system and re-bleed the radiators. Might have to re-pressurise the whole system and re-balance the radiators.

@PigletJohn SOS! Please help OP.

If turning off all the hot ones made no difference, I don't know.

Is there a upstairs/downstairs divide?

How old do you think the system is?

How's the hot water?

"a couple of radiators are working even after turning them off (using tuning thing at the bottom)"

Please photograph the valves at both ends of the radiators and post on here.

If the pressure keeps dropping, you’ve got a leak. Had ours fixed this week. We had hot water but no heating. You might need a power flush.

Releasing a stuck pin inside the TRV head. Unlikely to have seized on four radiators at the same time but worth a look!

If you take the TRV off, you'll see a small pin that you should be able to press down and let it come back up. If it doesn't move, a few gentle taps can loosen it up.

If they're cold at the bottom, that might mean you need a power flush. We didn't notice this was the case with ours for a while, as when you check them you tend to just touch the top. We thought just the one only 1 foot high wasn't working, then we realised it was the bottom few inches of all the downstairs ones.

The hammer-wielding husband thing: what you do is unscrew the thermostatic valve twiddly bit - the thing with the numbers that you turn. It should have a ring on the underneath. This will let you pull off the bit with the numbers on it. This will expose a little knob. This can get jammed, so you can either try and give it a push. Or tap gently with a hammer. At this point hot water should start flowing if the heating is on. The pipe should get hot almost straight away. Put the valve back together and you're all good.

What @CitronVert22 said fixed mine. Was so pleased being able to fix it myself rather than call my retired ex plumber father (though I think he likes being the fountain of all diy knowledge!)

I don't thinknotnwill be the boiler if some are getting hot. The how water isn't circulating properly. It could mean the tmv is stuck and the rads are turned off, the radiators might just need bleeding, it could be that they're full of sludge or there could be a blockage somewhere, especially if they're the last ones on the system.

We had two radiators that weren’t working. Was the thermostats - took them off, gave them a clean. Cleaned the sticky up things that get pressed down, put a bit of Vaseline on them to ensure they move. Put all back together and hey presto! All work!
we then bled every radiator.

Hi, is your zone valve working? Might be it has stopped diverting to that zone of four radiators, if they are Onan separate leg. Google the two port valve then find it and check is is switching.

Also double check your heating pump (likely to be a grundfos dark red thing near your airing cupboard/tank/megaflo. You will hear it whirring if it is working.

The system is about 10ish years old.
DH just went around pushing the tiny cylinder like things under the TRV adjustor. They all seem fine, not jammed.

hot water is fine. Also, it’s not a upstairs/ downstairs thing. Two radiators are not working downstairs and two upstairs. The upstairs ones are directly above the downstairs ones. IYKWIM

We have a condenser boiler. Water tank in the loft. There is a set up in a cupboard upstairs exactly above the boiler. But I think that’s just for the hot water

Zone valve? I don’t know.

There are 2 two-port valves in the cupboard upstairs near a small red cylinder attached to one of the copper pipes. The two port valves were recently replaced, so they are probably working (how would i know?). The small red seem to be working ok too. All the copper pipes in this cupboard are hot.

Yes, it’s Grundfos. And it’s working.

how can I check if the zone is changing?

Bump!

We had the same problem today! After a lot of googling, we found out the radiators needed to be balanced. We followed the instructions here

So now look for this thing. This switches water around your system.
If you have a big house and lots of rads there will be more than one.
Sometimes they stick and don't divert water to the correct zone.