Do only upstairs radiators need bleeding?

[PineConesAndBerries]

I had my boiler serviced by British Gas and it is OK. I asked if he would bleed my radiators while he was here which he seemed fine with. I was downstairs and he said he'd done the upstairs ones. I asked if the downstairs ones needed doing (as knew he hadn't done them.) He said only the upstairs ones need to be done. Is that right?

No. Potentially any or all radiators might need bleeding. Presumably he meant based on the work he did only the upstairs ones needed it in this particular case. Just bleed the downstairs ones yourself. Easy job.

I thought that. I wonder why he said that.

Oh you think he could tell it wasn't needed?

I'd need to look up how to reset the pressure afterwards. Was hoping he'd do it

Might swap to a local heating engineer

Thanks though

I'm not sure why you feel you need an engineer to bleed your radiators? I would imagine it's expensive to get someone out to do this.

Just buy a bleed key from B&Q and do it yourself, takes seconds to do. Just make sure you put a towel or something underneath for any spills.

All radiators need bleeding, not just upstairs ones.

Don't you need to reset the pressure afterwards?

Sorry didn't mean I was going to call a new engineer out just to bleed the radiators. Just meant i might swap from BG to a local guy in future.

Again should be easy there will be a little tap on the pipe open it a bit and watch the pressure dial shut it again when it reaches the desired pressure. Google it if not sure.

Edit: You might not need top up the pressure check the pressure first, alternatively if you have to bleed a lot of air you may have to top the pressure back up between radiators or they might not bleed.

Yes you may indeed need to top-up the pressure after bleeding, but it's usually not hard to do. Either refer to the manual for your boiler or pay a heating engineer to show you how to do it.

I do most things myself as been a widow for a while I just wasn't confident with this

Sometimes it's just a screw driver slot rather than needing a specific key, we have some of each, Try to catch any water that comes out in a cup or jug.

During the winter, from time to time, check all your radiators are hot at the top. If not, bleed it. Removing air will allowhot water to flow properly and efficiently.

To re-pressurise yr boiler look at the gauge under the boiler. You might have to lower an access flap to locate it.

If the needle has dropped low, there will be a little tap thingy to turn to let more water into the system. You will hear the water “rush” in as the valve tap gets opened. Don’t over fill it!

It’s a learning curve. Read your boiler manual. Look at YouTube videos etc. It’s a basic we all should get to know about.

Do you know where your stop-cock is?
Do you know where in your street the water main serving your house is? There’s a main tap in there too.
Do you know how to turn off all electricity in your house? Get familiar with your Consumer box.
Do you know how to turn off all the gas to your house?
Can you read a meter?

These are all basics that anyone living alone might want to learn how to deal with if there’s an emergency.

Thanks. Don't think we have the manual any more as the boiler is about 20 years old.
I know where the stop cock is. It also turns the neighbour's water off!
I turn the water off for the outside tap in winter.
I used to read the metre but I've got a smart metre now.

Heating engineer here. First, don't worry about the pressure — it's completely normal for it to drop after bleeding radiators. Check the gauge (usually under the boiler): if it's below 1 bar with the system cold, top it back up to 1–1.5 bar using the filling loop. Your boiler's 20 years old so the manual's long gone, but most manufacturers keep old manuals as PDFs on their websites. On the upstairs question: trapped air rises, so upstairs radiators are the most likely to need it — but any radiator that's cold at the top and warm at the bottom can need bleeding, wherever it is. If you do switch to a local engineer, ask what's actually included — a proper boiler service in Woking covers the system pressure, radiators and controls as well as the boiler itself: