Advice on central heating plumbing problems

Ok, I almost put the subject plumbing experts, but then I stopped myself...

So in my apartment, I do not have one single warm radiator. The pipes feeding them are warm yet it appears no warm water gets past the thermostat into the radiator.

Anyone got any suggestions?

There appears to be a weird gauge in the middle the the radiators, does this have anything to do with it?

TIA

Pootle

Don't worry about the weird gauge, that's nothing to do with it. Some dodgey blokes will come along once a year, write stuff down and bugger off in ten minutes. Your problem sounds like you need to bleed the radiators. There's basically too much air inside the rad and so the hot water can't get in. Go to any hardware store and get a radiator key. It's a standard size so shouldn't be a problem. At the end of each rad, usually the opposite end to where you control the temperature, you'll see where the key fits. Kind of a small square shaped bolt. Place a few towels on the ground around the bottom of this and slowly open the bolt a little bit with the key. You'll soon hear air hissing out and after a little while some manky black liquid will dribble out. As soon as that happens, close the bolt again as the air is all now out. Once that's done the rads should work perfectly.

Good Luck!!

Sorry meant to add that I had tried bleeding them, and water came out straight away...

After a phone call home to my ever helpful father (who did take 50 minutes to come out with tis suggestion) I opted to put the the thermostat coils in some mugs of ice, so see if that would force the temperature low enough to get the heat on 8)

low and behold, i have heat, but no ice for my whisky...

Thanks all

pootle

I had a problem with this last year and phoned my landlady to ask her to fix it ( :!: do you know you are entitled to 100% return on your monthly rental if the heating doesn't work?). She came over and showed me what to do. Where the dial is, inside is a little pin that sometimes gets stuck after several months of disuse. You have to unscrew the dial part and you'll see a little pin sticking out. Whack it until it moves again in an in-out motion (not much, half a cm) and then screw the dial back on.

I've just had a similar problem with the central heating. You have to check to see what the "bar" reading is. If less that 1 then you have to put water in. In my case the radiator in the kitchen had a hose connect to a tap under the sink. connected it for 3 minutes and the bar was over 1 and it all works!

Get the Hausmeister to look at it, he will know how to sort it out.

My suggestion would have also been there is air in the heating, as happened to me last winter (and man, was I cold for a couple of days). [Because we thought the reason was something else at first and the heating worked again for a very short while and stopped working again.]
But if that is not it, I am not sure, good luck anyway.
I do not even have heating here. :/

German central heating systems are closed system relying on internal pressure to maintain their circulation efficiency. You've not so much filled with water as simply re-pressurised the system ("bar" is a unit of pressure measurement) and improved the ability for water to circulate around the system. Much though the original post is over 5 years old (and 6 days before I joined TT), the radiator problem was simply a jammed valve. This often happens when the radiators are not used during the summer. Most valves are simply stainless steel pins pushed into a water release allowing water to flow from the main system through the radiator. A coiled bi-metal strip releases or pushes the pin in according to temperature. Pootle solved the problem by forcing the temperature on the valve so low that the pin was pushed hard releasing the jam. An alternative approach would have been to remove the outer valve casing (usually a single screw on a "jubilee clip") to expose the pin. Tap the pin hard but gently, ideally with a rubber hammer to free its' movement in the valve - don't worry if it flies out (with accompanying water leak) simply replace it in the hole. Be careful not to bend it! Replace the valve casing and all should be well.

A stuck valve is easily distinguished from "air in the system". When one or more radiators stays completely cold then the valve is stuck. When a radiator is hot at the bottom and cold at the top (sometimes cold at one end and warm at the other depending on radiator design) then there is air in the system and the radiator needs bleeding to release it. If ALL radiators are cooler than you expect then then the system probably needs re-pressurising

Last year we managed to solve the stuck valve problem by doing what you suggested -- " remove the outer valve casing (usually a single screw on a "jubilee clip") to expose the pin. Tap the pin hard but gently, ideally with a rubber hammer to free its' movement in the valve - don't worry if it flies out (with accompanying water leak) simply replace it in the hole. Be careful not to bend it! Replace the valve casing and all should be well."

This year the pin doesn't move at all. Any idea or suggestion as to what we should now try?

Using a pair of pliers try pulling the pin out completely (there might be a small squirt of water, you can seal it with your finger) and replace it... Then back to the hammer to force it into the valve. Main thing is the pin is free to move...