Are you experiencing problems with your radiators, for example, is one of your radiators hotter than the others are? You could have a balancing problem. In this article, we are going to explore how you can balance your radiators, what this means, and why you need to do it.
Don't worry if you think this is a daunting task, because although it might sound complicated, it is actually much more straightforward than you might at first assume.
What does it mean to balance a radiator?
Before we move on to explaining how you can balance your radiators, you first need to understand why they need balancing in the first place. We use the term balance because it refers to the unevenness in the way that heat distributes through your central heating system.
When your central heating system is not correctly balanced, the heat will not move through the system in an even manner. This gives rise to differences in temperatures between radiators when they're valves are fully open.
Of course, if you set the valve to different temperatures then the radiators will feel different but if they are fully open and the radiators still feel different, this indicates a problem with balance.
To balance your radiators means to create an even heat distribution throughout your central heating system.
Whether you have horizontal radiators vertical radiators, column radiators, panel radiators, if you heat them using a central heating boiler, they are susceptible to balance issues. Therefore, we recommend that you check the temperature of your radiators at least once every two months with all of their valves fully open to make sure they are working correctly. If they are not, you will need to balance your radiators. Let's turn our attention to how to do this now.
How to Balance the Radiator
When you balance your radiators, you have to start from a cold system. This means that an ideal time to balance your radiators is in autumn just before the winter hits.
Fully open the valves on your radiator so that the water flows through each radiator fully. This means opening both the lock shield valve to its full turning and ensuring any manual or thermostatic valves are set to the highest temperature/opening.
Now switch on your central heating system to around 22 degrees Celsius. Walk around all of your radiators to see which ones get hottest fastest. You will have to do this quickly in order to get it right or have your friends help you out. You need a thermometer to make sure that you can genuinely test the temperature of each radiator and are not simply going off your perceptions.
You should then be able to tell which radiators in your system heat up the quickest and will probably notice that those near the central heating boiler are fastest to heat up.
Then switch off your central heating system. Then once everything's cooled down, turn the system back on and make sure you have a thermometer handy. Measure the temperature of both the inlet and outlet valves. The inlet valve should be 10 degrees warmer than the outlet valve - keep adjusting the valve until you get this difference.
If you do this for each radiator in the house, they will all meet up at the same time and each radiator will have its inlet (lock shield) valve open at different degrees.
Balancing radiators can be confusing but well worth it long term. You can always ask a central heating plumber to do this on your behalf, especially if your radiators are a little bit complicated, such as with column radiators.
We hope that you have found this article useful. It can be complicated but with a little practice, you'll get it right.