One radiator not working in living room

Landlord Discussion Repairs & Maintenance
1

Hi,

We have new tenants who moved in on 4th Nov. We have a living room with 2 radiators. One of the radiators is not giving out full heat output. It’s warm but not heating enough. We have had an engineer come and have a look, who advised that we will need to flush out the whole house heating system to get it working properly. The estimated cost for this is over £2000.

We have offered to buy and give the tenants an electric heater to support the radiator, but they are demanding that we get the radiator fully repaired and are not accepting the electric heater.

They have also said if we don’t do it then they will get it repaired themselves and give the bill to us to pay.

All other radiators in the house including the one in the living room is working absolutely fine.

We are very stressed and don’t know what our legal position is.

We would really appreciate your advise, thanks

2

assume the valves either side ARE open?

3

Yes, engineer has checked

4

Tell the tenant to wind their neck in diplomatically. This is minor, the rest of the property is heated and they have hot water. Again offer the use of an electric heater while you attempt to get the situation sorted. If they refuse that’s their problem. As it is only the one radiator that is not working it is likely to be air in the system and simply bleeding the radiator will most probably solve the issue. If you don’t know how YouTube it. It’s a 2 minute job which involves opening the the bleed valve at the top of the radiator with a radiator bleed key. It is really quite simple. Buy a key from any DIY store (£3.50). Open the bleed valve at the top of the radiator and allow any trapped air to escape. When water starts flowing out of the valve close it. Job done. Give it to the tenant for them to do it themselves if necessary.

5

Have you bled the radiator
Have you checked the trv and lock shield
If the radiator can’t be bled because it’s rusted ,and it’s air, change the radiator for a couple of hundred pounds

Get a second and third opinion
The tradesperson saw you coming

You are being ripped off
One radiatior working does not require a power flush for £2k
A power flush for a four bed house is £350
Even if the rad is full of debris it’s cheaper to change one rad than power flush the whole house

2 Likes
6

red flag. Follow advice above and never, ever use that engineer again.

2 Likes
7

Thank you for your reply and advise

8

Thank you for your reply and advice. The radiator has been bled, but it’s still not heating up.

9

I had a rad like that once I turned off all the others and that one full on waited several minutes till it got hot, then increased the flow rate on all the other and slightly lowered the flow on the dodgy one. A bit like “balancing” them all .It worked ok. But I do not know why . (I had thermostatic valves)

2 Likes
10

Sometimes the pin in the TRV sticks closed (if TRV is fitted) Remove the head of the TRV and see if you can push the pin in(closing the flow), it should then return(opening the flow) .

2 Likes
11

That’s what the engineers do
It’s usually a s all blockage so redirecting pressure to that radiator can unblock the debris and get it going

A poor man’s power flush

12

Do t forget to turn the heating off first
My colleague pulled the pin up because it was stuck and it pulled out and he ended up with a boiling fountain

13

Thank you, will try it, fingers crossed it will work.

14

Oh dear, i hope he didnt burn himself.

15

A British gas engineer showed me on a job how to do this and I thought I must remember this for future use

1 Like
16

Yes he did
That’s why I said turn the heating off first and make sure the rads are cold
If you are bleeding rads leave heating on but have a towel to absorb the hot spray so you don’t burn yourself