Heat and draught hardware

These notes are the kit that lets heat out or leaves a rad doing the wrong job. I write them when a room is wrong and I have already blamed the boiler. This is not a boiler job. I do not write gas. I do not drain a system for a pin or a hiss of air.

This is not a second homepage. The home page already says what I keep and what I skip. This page is only a way into the notes by the way they fail.

A house does not need a new heating system because a pin has seized or a hatch does not latch. It needs the pin to move, the bleed to let air out, and the lid to shut. If a note is here, it is because I have already wasted time on the wrong fix.

Most of the failures repeat. A rad that stays hot on zero is a stuck pin. A rad that is cold at the top is air. A landing that feels like a chimney is a hatch that does not catch. People buy a new head, or a roll of loft wool, and leave the pin, the key, and the catch as they were.

I isolate a rad if I have to. I do not drain down for these jobs. If I cannot isolate that rad, I stop.

Pins, air, and lids

• A TRV that will not shut is usually the pin
• A radiator that stays cold at the top is usually air
• A loft hatch that dumps heat is usually the catch
• A letterbox that howls is usually the brush
• A sash that rattles is usually the fastener
• An unused chimney that howls is usually the balloon

I am pmac. There are no buy links on these notes. If I later add one, it will be labelled Advertisement.