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Easy way to bleed radiators with a combi boiler?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Downstairs is lovely and warm but upstairs is not. I was going to bleed the radiator in my room and then see if the other ones upstairs need doing too - but with a combi system aren't I going to need to the repressurise the boiler after each bleed? Is there an easier way?

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Do they need bleeding?

    Easy way to check is if the top of the radiator is colder than the bottom. If not then bleeding is unlikely to help.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yep they are all like that!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    repressurising the boiler usually isn't very difficult - it's just a tap on the bottom of the boiler, if you don't have the manual you can probably find it on line.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have the manual but its fairly useless! I know how to repressurise the boiler but I was wondering if I really need to repressurise it every time I bleed a radiator because there's one in each room so it'll take sodding ages to do.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No, make sure the heating is off, and bleed as many as you can. If there are a lot of empties you may well run out of pressure to bleed them before you're done so you'll have to re-pressurise at that point.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ok so do as many as I can before the pressure runs out then go repressurise the boiler and carry on, repressurising the boiler once I'm finished. Do you think this would have anything to do with only getting lukewarm water? I turned off the preheat in order to save energy and since then we can't get much hot water. Isn't too much of a problem as we only have a shower and that's cold fed, but annoying for the washing up.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    That's usually that the hot tap runs quicker than the boiler can heat the water. (even with pre-heat it quickly hits lukewarm?)

    If the boiler is in the kitchen, you can "hear" how hard it is working. Turn the hot tap on, then slowly turn it down until the boiler just starts to work less hard, after a moment or so that should give you the water as hot as it gets - you'll probably find it looks a little milky.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It was fine with the preheat, but its not now.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    OK, it sounds as though you boiler has a bigger internal tank than the one I was used to. How often do you use hot water? if it is fairly frequent it's probably worth turning the pre-heat on - it should be fairly well insulated (and in winter it's arguable there is such thing as waste heat anyway...)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'd try and stick to doing a couple of radiators and then repressurising the system. Reduces the chance of getting air locks and having to redo the job a few weeks later.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Miss_Riot wrote: »
    I turned off the preheat in order to save energy and since then we can't get much hot water. Isn't too much of a problem as we only have a shower and that's cold fed, but annoying for the washing up.

    How do you mean "much" hot water? The pre-heat function only affects how long it takes for water coming through your taps to become heated. When pre-heat is off and the sytems isn't being kept warm by providing heating, then you'll have to wait longer for the hot water to become hot.. Once it *is* hot, it should remain hot.

    if the water is not getting "hot enough", then it might be, as mentioned, because the weather outside is colder at the moment and the boiler has to work harder to produce the same temperature of water. You might be able to help it out by running the hot water more slowly out of the tap, so that he flow rate is lower and the boiler can deal more easily with it (though make sure it's not too slow that the boiler turns off or goes back to doing heating...)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It seems to be fine now - not bled the radiators yet but the hot water does seem to be getting hot now rather than just staying lukewarm. Maybe it was just a blip? Don't use much hot water just for washing up once or twice a day and that's it. The shower is electric.
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