Heating system was making some funny noises, noticed that one of the rads upstairs was cold 1/2 way up. I bled it and let out loads of air – the rad heated up ok straight away.

This morning the house is ice cold 😕

Checked the control and the heating says it on, turned water and heating off, switched heating only on a I can hear the pump start but nothing to any rads.

Anyone got any idea what I've bu99ered up? Its not a new system, prolly around 15 years old when the house was built.

TIA

What boiler?

No pressure left after bleeding?

You've probably let ait out of the system and it's dropped the pressure too low. There should be a pressure gauge on the boiler somewhere, and a tap to fill the system up with water again. From cold, get the gauge up to 1.5bar at least.

Suspect you've got a pressurised system. Air out, pressure drops, boiler refuses to fire.

You should have a dial somewhere on or near the boiler that shows the pressure – it should usually read between 1 and 1.5 – and a tap/valve to top the water pressure up on the pipes around it.

Its a Baxi SOLO boiler thats in the downstairs utility room, can't say I've every noticed any pressure gauges anywhere but it does sound like thats what I've done.

Off to hunt for a gauge then…..

Unless of course, you have a leak as I once had where when you open the bleed valve it lets air in and the system drains. If you had water come out at the end of the bleed procedure then you're OK on that one.

If you don't have a header tank, it's a pressurised system – gauge and filler may be inside or outside the boiler. If you do it's probably not. I think.

Once re-pressurised, you may find you are able to bleed more air out.

All of the above…

Our Combi boiler did exactly the same thing, so I phoned up the service engineers. The very nice and helpful lady said to me

Nice lady: "I shouldn't really tell you this, but have you checked the pressure recently"

Me: "Erm, no, how do I do that?"

She then explained to me that there should be a wee black plastic tap on the inlet pipe under the boiler and that I should open it to let water into the system up to about 1.5 Bar. Finally, she said:

Nice Lady: "You should really check you're system every 6 months or so and top it up if need be. How long have you had the boiler?"

Me: "Erm…12 years?" 😳

So following nice lady's advice, I re-pressurised the system and everything was hunky-dory again, until a few days later when No.1 wifey pointed out a strange bulge in the hallway ceiling. Giving it a poke, I was treated to an impromptu shower as gallons of water poured down on top of me, as well as a fair amount of plaster etc.

Nice lady hadn't said, "Oh, and remember to shut the tap off properly won't you?" I'd have thought by that point she would have realised I was a completely useless spoon. 🙄

Hope you get everything working again, and keep a leery eye out for any strange dripping noises. 😆

B.

Could be all of the above or one from a range of other issues. Is the fan working? If not it will not fire. Take off the front cover and open the boiler up to check this.

Or call an engineer. Emergency call out of a plumber? They love those jobs. Kerching!

BAXI very helpful if you need to call them.