The heating season is already beginning, and with it the annual problems: cold “batteries” in the apartments. The specialists of ROYAL THERMO, one of the recognized leaders in the production of high-quality radiators, have compiled a top list of reasons why heating appliances refuse to work. Perhaps he will help to make the correct "diagnosis" and return home the long-awaited comfort.

“To find out exactly what happened to your heating appliances and correct the situation,” says Julia Zvyagina, technical specialist at ROYAL THERMO, “in most cases, professional intervention is needed. Therefore, before buying a radiator, try to exclude future troubles in advance. ”

We note right away: before blaming the radiator for malfunctions, you need to make sure that the reason is not in the "underdrive" due to the fault of public utilities. To do this, you just need to ask the neighbors - if it is also cold and the heating pipe of the heating riser is the same throughout the house, then you need to demand the truth from your UK or HOA. If in other apartments it’s warm and the riser is hot, then it’s really the battery. And there are five main reasons for this situation.

1. Airlock. In general, this is the simplest and most common reason for the lack of heat, which, moreover, is the easiest to eliminate. If an air bubble forms in the upper part when filling the radiator, it is able, like a cork, to completely block the circulation. Fighting this trouble is quite simple: the radiators are equipped with either a special faucet, which is enough to open and bleed air, or with the so-called "Mayevsky taps" - a needle-type air valve. You need to press it with a normal screwdriver counterclockwise and also wait for the bubble to exit. In any case, performing these manipulations, it is worth substituting a container for the draining water under the radiator - this will save the floors.

2. Garbage in the radiator manifold. As you know, the quality of the coolant in most domestic networks leaves much to be desired. The liquid is often highly mineralized due to the constant replenishment of unprepared water, and worn-out pipelines also add a suspension of rust and scale. All this dirt inevitably settles on the walls of the radiator, narrowing the passage, impairing the thermal conductivity of the walls and disrupting circulation. But even if the coolant is devoid of flaws, pollution can appear due to the bad quality of the heater itself. “For example, the uneven casting of a steel manifold with aluminum, which is often found in cheap no-name models and fakes, will inevitably lead to corrosion,” explains Julia Zvyagina, technical specialist at ROYAL THERMO, “and her products will certainly be on the walls of the collector, which, of course, negatively affect the operation of the device. " Unfortunately, in the case of debris and deposits, the battery will have to be removed and washed or, in the advanced case, replaced with a new one.

3. The radiator is not connected properly. Determining this is quite simple: if only part of the device is heated (the top is hot and the bottom is cold or vice versa; only a few sections are heated), this is your case. Most likely, the wrong type of connection (the relative location of the input and output of the coolant) was selected. In total there are three of them: diagonal, bottom and side. The first is the most efficient and ensures uniform heating of the device. If hot water enters and leaves from below, then most often it just does not have time to warm up the top. In this case, an extension of the fluid duct is required - this is a pipe that allows water to “linger” in the collector, warming it more evenly. At side connection  (both pipes from one side of the battery) usually only the first 3-4 sections manage to heat up. In this case, you will have to call a specialist and reconnect the radiator.

4. Utility problems. Firstly, the presence of a one-pipe heating system. Unfortunately, since Soviet times, most of the old apartment buildings have been equipped with this system. Due to technological features, the farther the modern radiator is from the heating riser, the colder it will be. Secondly, the pressure in the system is too low. Usually due to worn-out infrastructure of old houses or design errors. Alas, in this situation only overhaul with a complete alteration of the circuit will help.

5. Incorrect installation of the thermostat. Saving rapidly rising heat with thermostatic heads is a good thing, but it requires a qualified approach. If the neighbors installed such a thermostat and did not take care of the bypass pipe (it will provide hot water circulation, even if the neighboring "battery" is completely shut off), the cold in your apartment is inevitable. Therefore, you need to boldly go to them and find out what and how. If there is no such pipe, request alteration. They will refuse - go to the Criminal Code or Homeowners Association, there they will be forced to do this revision forcibly.

So, we tried to find out why the heating season began, but there is still no heat. And since the causes of the problem are clear, you need to try to solve them yourself or with the help of a specialist. The main thing is not to give up!

• For construction - BiLiner bimetal radiators with steel manifold

  Royal Thermo - one of the largest manufacturers of radiators and accessories for heating systems, has been successfully represented on the Russian market since 2002. During this time, sold more than 25 million products under the brand name Royal Thermo. Since 2010, Royal Thermo has been collaborating with the Italian concern Faral, one of the market leaders who, in 1966, made a revolution in domestic heating, starting to produce the world's first cast aluminum radiators. Many years of experience, a highly specialized focus on production, the introduction of innovative technologies and revolutionary design solutions have enabled Royal Thermo and Faral to develop a unique range of aluminum and bimetal radiatorsoriented to the market of Russia and the CIS countries.

The powerful scientific and technical potential and market knowledge allowed Royal Thermo to create an ultramodern production holding with headquarters and its own design studio in the province of Vicenza, and with factories in Italy (the city of Ordzhano) and Russia (the city of Kirzhach, Vladimir region).

At a factory in Italy, RoyalThermo produces premium designer radiator models, professional piping and heating elements. The Russian plant in the Vladimir region is designed for the annual production of more than 12 million sections and specializes in the mass production of high-tech models of radiators and components for energy-efficient construction. A multistage quality control system at all stages of production allows us to produce high-tech products (more than 10 international patents) with excellent heat engineering and strength characteristics. The production of radiators is certified in accordance with the norms of the international standard ISO 9001, ISO 14001.

Royal Thermo - made by experts!

The causes of clogging of batteries or radiators can be very different.  Before thinking about how to clean the batteries, it’s important to figure out why the radiator is not warming, you may not have to clean anything at all. If your batteries do not warm well or do not warm at all, then there really can be many reasons, we will analyze them below:

The battery has an air lock

• If the batteries at home do not warm or do not heat well, the most obvious problem is the air lock in the battery.  An air plug can interfere with the normal circulation of the coolant in the system, which leads to cooling of the radiators.

• Today, with new systems, everything is much simpler, because they are equipped with a special faucet through which you can bleed air. Usually the faucet is mounted on the battery at the top, or you need to turn it with a screwdriver, or, if you have a special adapter, then just by hand. In this case, a hiss will follow - if there is still air in the system. If there is no air, the coolant and water will immediately begin to flow out. If the second option - then the problem is not in the air traffic jam and you need to look for another reason.

• Do not keep the tap open for too long.  After letting in too much coolant, your heating system may suffer a pressure loss and the boiler will stand up altogether. So it’s better to repeat the procedure over time until the air is exactly in the system. Then the process should normalize and the batteries will warm up.

• Worse if you have an old cast-iron radiator, because most likely it is not equipped with a drain valve. It’s good if you made repairs and even changed the supply pipe, in which case you can bleed air through a new valve, if not, then everything is a little more complicated and most likely you will have to get dirty. If there is an air plug in the cast-iron battery, then you need to find the connection in the pipe, on the approach to the battery, which is connected by the clutch and turn it. Yes, most likely a dirty coolant will stain your floor or clothes, but the heating system will obviously work more fun. It is IMPORTANT not to use unnecessary efforts, because the thread can be unscrewed in different directions and it is important not to tear it off, because then everything will be much worse and you will definitely have to call the plumbing to solve the problem. that you can flood the neighbors from below. So, at your own peril and risk, unscrew the coupling very smoothly, or call the plumber anyway. As soon as you hear hissing - stop twisting, blow out the air and as soon as the water starts - spin back. It’s a fairly common occurrence when you break the ancient pipe connections, then water oozes out of them, so before you wind it back, you can use tow or fumlent. I hope everything goes well and you will enjoy the warm battery. If not, then read on, perhaps the problem is as follows.

Clogged system - how to clean the battery?

First of all, check if the supply to the specific circuit where the battery is clogged is blocked through. In fact, clogging of the heating system is quite common and there is nothing surprising or sad in it. Either clogging occurred due to wear of the system, or the coolant is supplied to the system without a filter and the water is simply dirty. However, more often this happens simply due to the fact that for a long time working in radiators, deposits occur on the inside of the pipes and the system clogs. There are very sad options when only replacing the radiator will help. If you do not know how to clean cast iron batteries, then this is just that option, it is better to purchase bimetallic or other modern radiators, the efficiency of which will be higher, the view is more pleasant, and the work is more stable.

If the battery is already clogged with a modern type, then it is enough to know how to clean the battery at home. Let's look at a few points worth knowing:

A few suggestions on how to clean the battery at home

Remember that you carry out all the actions at your own peril and risk, if there was no such experience, it is better to call a plumber who is more experienced.

• If you still decide to do everything yourself, then when cleaning the batteries, it is worth remembering safety first. The coolant is very hot - do not get a burn!

• The radiator can only be cleaned by applying high pressure water.  Just “wash” the radiator under the tap and wash all the trash out of it this way will not work. Best of all, if you manage to connect a hermetically sealed special hose and thoroughly “blow” sections with water.

• Do not clog your sewer  clogged radiator products. It is better to perform this operation on the street.

• If serious blockages are found in one battery, then most likely all the others are clogged.  Repeat for all heaters in your home.

Incorrect connection - the reason why the batteries do not heat in a private house

There are many wrong design decisions.due to which the system may not work properly. As a result, they are barely warm or generally cold batteries.

Let's analyze the main mistakes and oversights:

• The very first reason is the wrong position of the crane on the bypass.  What is a bypass? This is a piece of pipe that connects the “feed” and “return” before entering the battery. Its design essence is to block the water supply to the battery, so that you can easily remove and mount the battery back. So, if the bypass is open, then the coolant will circulate through it, as through the shortest path, bypassing the battery and, as a result, idle batteries.

• Illiterate installation of the heating system.  Of course, you can outline in general terms the features of a high-quality installed heating system, but this is a whole science.

• Even incorrect selection of pipe diameter  or improper combination of the type of batteries and the heating boiler can lead to permanent malfunctions.

• Often the cause of poorly heated batteries may simply be their features. It is very difficult to say which radiators are of high quality  and which ones are not, therefore, read the forum, communicate with trusted consultants and do not let “fake” low-quality products.

The main reasons why after repair the batteries may not work

The very first “logical” step is to blame the builders for everything and look for the reason for what has changed during the construction or repair process. However, all decisions were made directly by the customer? Therefore, if you intend to make repairs - do not make the most common mistakes:

• Do not plug in batteries., so you reduce the chances of heat entering the room. The maximum that can be is a wooden lattice thin pad, which, by the way, will also take on heat and prevent normal heating. In addition, if the old system is sewn up, then this is even dangerous, because at any moment everything can leak, and you won’t even know about it in time.

• If the batteries are still worn, make sure nothing touches them. Perhaps the heat goes to some metal structural element.

Why are radiators still not working well?

In fact, the reasons are simply “wagon”! Each heating system is inherently unique and each can have its own problems.   It happens that the pipe diameter is incorrectly selected and the coolant is distributed incorrectly or, in general, due to a problem in throughput, it can simply stop the operation of the entire system somewhere.  Or there is not enough pressure. Or the circulation pump or expansion tank is to blame. Be that as it may, only a professional can understand all the intricacies and wisdom, so if all of the above recommendations do not help, contact a competent plumber.

Do you think that the heating battery is not warming well? There is only one reason: no hot water enters the radiator. There is no unique algorithm for choosing subsequent solutions. Only a qualified specialist will be able to openly understand the situation and give suggestions regarding your heating system. However, before a decision is made to call plumbing, much can be done by yourself.

Maybe the neighbors are to blame?

It may sound corny, but first make sure that you have hot water at home, if the tap is open for it to come in, or the riser is blocked due to plumbing in the basement. Do not be too lazy to go over the neighbors from the upper floors. In the case of unprofessional repairs, one of them will have a radiator temperature that is comfortable, but all tenants will not receive heat from the bottom of the riser, they will be cold.

You have every right to neighborly come up with the question “batteries do not heat up: what to do”, at the same time, and check their heating temperature. If the battery is found to be warmer than yours, then the problem that has arisen may be outlined by simply incorrectly installing the valves at the neighbor. Your further actions will be based on the situation, perhaps stop valvesthat deprived other neighbors of comfort will be deleted without scandal. Or call your housing and communal services structure and, with the help of the administration, restore civil justice.

Briefly about the heat supply of an apartment building

If there is courage to figure out why the batteries do not heat well, it will be nice to get acquainted with the basic concepts associated with heating a residential apartment building.

Most high-rise buildings use a single-tube system equipped with U-shaped risers. We show the conditional heat supply scheme of three floors.

Hot water (red color on the diagram) rises one riser and passes, for example, through the bedrooms, to the upper floor, where, looping, it goes down through other rooms (blue color). Such a scheme has been designed since the Soviet era for the use of cast-iron radiators. Hot water enters the lower collector of the radiator and, having passed through all sections, leaves the battery through the upper collector.

A special role was given to jumpers (bypasses). They kept the general forced circulation throughout the U-shaped riser pipe (on the diagram for the six radiators shown), being a safety net for cases of clogging of the radiators with liquid technical mud that accumulates during many years of operation. When the riser passed, some part of the total volume of hot water supplied from the bottom turned to the radiator on one floor, and the rest passed unhindered, delivering heat to the apartments adjacent to the riser.

The appeared aluminum heating radiators are designed based on two-pipe systems with the supply of hot water through the upper collector and its exit from the lower collector. They have a completely different design of the internal cavity, respectively, a different hydraulics. When they began indiscriminately changing morally obsolete cast iron radiators  on modern aluminum, but preserving a one-pipe scheme, the heat flow from the hot water inside the batteries began to weaken due to the mismatching directions of convection heat flows from the cooling water and the hot water pumped by an external pump.

Concerned that the heating battery was not heating up, the residents began to take various technical tricks, not caring at all about the freezing law-abiding neighbors. Such a discrepancy in the types of structures and a decrease in the rate of passage of water through the radiator led to deposits of dirt in the sections. Every year more and more sludge is deposited, and the last battery, which is completely clogged with sludge, is no longer warming. Then this epidemic covers the entire radiator.

The main reasons for cooling radiators

So, everything is fine with the neighbors, the riser in the apartment is hotter than the cooled battery. So, the problem is local, the whole thing is in the radiator. An excursion into the basics of heat supply convincingly showed that the main reasons why the last battery does not heat up and causes such a longing for the freezing host will probably be:

1. Clogged radiator sections. Due to scale deposits, rust, mineral salts and other impurities settling on the radiator walls, the bore for hot water in the battery is sharply narrowed, the radiator becomes almost impassable for the coolant. Multilayer pollution of the radiator walls has a low heat transfer coefficient, which negatively affects the transfer of heat from the battery to the air in the apartment.
2. One pipe heating system. As discussed above, the batteries of this system are doomed to a sort of thermal injustice: distant batteries do not heat up.
3. Incorrect connection. Only part of the battery warms, and, for example, the bottom of the battery does not heat.
4. An air lock formed by the accumulation of air in the upper part of the radiator. It practically paralyzes the circulation of water and leads to corrosion of steel surfaces.
5. Reduced system pressure. Accordingly, less heat enters the living room.

What can be done for a cold battery

Eliminate blockage in the radiator

In this case, rinsing with water under pressure will help. In order to remove the radiator without problems during the heating season, a bypass must be installed. But it is better to resort to the services of a plumber, who with a special chemical composition will clean the radiator capacity from sludge.

Redo single pipe system

Nothing can be changed in the single pipe system itself. It remains only to mount a two-pipe water heating system.

In case of incorrect connection, it is necessary to redo the circuit

In the event of a connection error, an uneven heating of the sections and their parts is an obvious sign, for example, the lower part of the battery does not heat. The sections closest to the connection point will be warm, the rest almost cold. With a lateral connection for a multi-section radiator, the water will generally not “want” to flow around the entire battery, but will go along the shortest path from the lower pipe to the upper one. Only an experienced plumber will help deal with this confusion.

To correct all connection errors, an injection tube is recommended, which is essentially a duct extension. It is inserted into the battery nut, effectively imitates the diagonal pattern and contributes to the fact that the coolant passes more than 70% of the entire working length of the passage. By increasing the length of the hot water supply, the unevenness of the heating of the battery is corrected, and the heat transfer of the heating system is improved.

In the absence of a normal supply of heat to the riser, it is necessary to “pull out” locksmiths from the housing and communal services structure serving the house. But problems with a low coolant temperature should be in all apartments in a riser, above and below yours.

Eliminate the air lock

One of the reasons why the battery does not heat up is the air lock in the radiator. To eliminate it, it is recommended that a special Mayevsky tap screwed in instead of the side cap of the radiator. If there is a need to bleed air from a cooled battery, this can be done independently. To do this, insert a screwdriver into the thread on the tap and slowly turn counterclockwise. As soon as you hear the sound of air escaping with a hiss, the working rotation of the screwdriver must be stopped.

It is important!  In preparation for opening the tap, you need to clear a place near the battery, because a stream of dirty water can escape with air, which can stain everything around. Place a basin underneath the radiator.

If everything is done according to the instructions, but the battery does not heat up, it means that the radiator is thoroughly clogged. You can’t do without plumbing.