So I tried to bleed a radiator with the key I turned it but only water dribbled out I couldnt hear any hissing. I have lived in my house for 18 months and never bled the radiators before so shouldn't there be at least some air in there?
2007-01-15 01:33:58 · 12 answers · asked by cigaro19 5 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Check to see if the radiator is hot all the way up. Run your hand up from the bottom to the top. If there is a cool area at the top, that means there is air - so it needs bleeding. If its warm right to the top its OK and doesn't need bleeding. Check all your rads. You only have to bleed the air if there is a problem, its not like checking car tyres.
2007-01-15 03:44:02 · answer #1 · answered by David W 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The highest radiator in my system (top of the towel rail radiator in the bathroom) was always getting air in it and turning cold at the top so our plumber fitted an auto-bleed valve that lets the air out when it appears. Now we don't have to bleed our system at all. Perhaps you have the same?
2007-01-15 02:14:26 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
If a radiator is hot at the bottom and cold at the top then it may need bleeding, If there is nothing wrong with the system don't bleed them, Heating water is treated with corrosion proffer so a correctly installed and maintained system should not need bleeding at all.
2007-01-15 07:40:27 · answer #3 · answered by Friends unknown 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I suspect it depends on what type of pressure bladder is on your furnace. Older units used a tank which held a lot of air. When water heats in the furnace, it expands - into the bladder 'pushing harder' on the air pocket. Some air dissolves into the water and gets circulated in your rads, hence the need to bleed them once in a while. If the bladder is like a sealed balloon, it expands , but the water inside does not come in contact with air, so the water remains air-free.
The older style must be drained about once a year to allow more air in the expansion tank to replace air absorbed into the water.
If your furnace is old, the expansion tank may be water-logged...
2007-01-15 01:44:16 · answer #4 · answered by waynebudd 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You say the top floor is cold, and heat on the first floor, so maybe you need to balance the heat between the two floors. Turn of all the rads on the first floor and see if the top floor heats up then. If it doesn't, then your circulating pump could be worn and not pumping the heat to the top floor. When you turn the rads on the first floor off and if the top floor does heat up, then open the valves on the rads on the first floor half a turn and check if they heat up and the first floor as well. This is "balancing the heat" and it is a bit of trial and error. Good luck.
2016-05-24 05:22:50 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Once the air is out of the system its GONE, unless you open the system for maintance, then only will you have air in the system to bleed out.
2007-01-15 11:45:59 · answer #6 · answered by wilson 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i take it the problem is the rad does not warm up? Is it a combi boiler or an open system central heating? Can you find your water pump is it vibrating slighly when heating is on? Is only one rad cold while all others are hot?
HI CIGARO19 IF YOUR RADS ARE HOT YOU DON'T NEED TO BLEED THEM!!!!!
2007-01-15 01:41:52 · answer #7 · answered by Trootie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
did you start at the top of the house with the last radiator on the system and was the system cold?
2007-01-15 01:39:41 · answer #8 · answered by *♥* donna *♥* 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not necessarily, after only 18 months. You don't say how old the heating system is ?
2007-01-15 01:38:09 · answer #9 · answered by Scotty 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1st. Steam systems have radiators. 2nd. boilers have hot water and baseboard or radiant tubing. 3rd. Furnaces are hot air. So which one do you have ? And why are you bleeding anything ?
2007-01-15 01:59:12 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋