i have a long standing problem with my heating, when the heating kicks in the radiators downstairs get hot for about half an hour to an hour then they go cold and don't heat up again, even the pipes to the radiators go cold, the radiators upstairs have no problems and always remain hot when heating is on.

i have tried shutting all the other rads off but this doesnt seem to help and i've tried balancing them aswell, the pump doesnt seem to be sticking either.

can anyone help

wesley j, October 2008

in what way did you balance rads?did you throttle down the lock shield valves?sometimes these valves need to be almost closed to force water downstairs,start at hottest rads and close lockshield valve completely then crack open 1/4 turn until heat is felt coming through pipes and ensure all downstairs rads are fully open,is there a bypass fitted between flow and return?check it isn't open too far,if it's an old system then try system flush.all the gunk will collect in lower rads so might just need cleaned out

steeveepee, November 2008