Radiator suddenly stopped working
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Paukel
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Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2010 5:09 pm

Radiator suddenly stopped working

by Paukel » Sat Jan 02, 2010 5:30 pm

Hi
I recently did an attic conversion and decided to put a radiator in it. I knew it was tight for header pressure as the header tank was only a couple of feet above the top of the radiator but I gave it a try anyway. I took a T from the expansion pipe where it comes up through the ceiling to the feed side of the radiator and from the outlet of the header tank to the return side and it worked perfectly for about a year. Then suddenly one day I went up and the radiator was cold. Tried bleeding it. No air. Then turned the stop valves off on both sides of the radiator and unscrewed first the return pipe and then the feed pipe. Plenty of water coming at the return side, but at the feed side the water just came very slowly for a moment and then stopped completely.
Now where the pipe comes through the wall it turns down about 6 inches before coming over to the radiator so I thought it must be air locked there. I cut the pipe at the the highest point and put on a T with a stop end on one side so that I could unscrew it to let the air out, but when I filled the system again I still had the same problem. I can unscrew my "bleeder" T and no water comes. I thought water always finds its own level, so the water in the expansion pipe should be at the same level as the water in the header tank so why does it not come out the other end of my pipe which is about three feet lower than the water in the header tank
and only about 8 feet across the floor?
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

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