How to balance a radiator

A properly functioning radiator is crucial to maintaining a comfortable temperature in your home during the colder months of the year. However, if your radiator is not balanced correctly, you may experience uneven heating throughout your home, which can result in wasted energy and higher heating bills. Balancing a radiator involves adjusting the flow of hot water through the radiator to ensure that each room in your home is heated evenly.

In this article, we will explore the process of balancing a radiator step-by-step, from identifying which radiators need to be balanced to making the necessary adjustments. We will also discuss the tools and equipment you will need to complete the task and provide some tips and tricks to make the process as simple and straightforward as possible.

By following the instructions in this article, you can ensure that your radiator system is working efficiently, effectively, and is keeping you and your family warm and comfortable all winter long.

A central heating system may need balancing for several reasons. One of the most common reasons is that the system may not be distributing hot water evenly throughout your home. This can be due to a variety of factors, including the size of your property, the layout of your home, the position of your radiators and if you've had additional radiators added to your system.

If some rooms in your home are warmer than others, this could be an indication that your central heating system is not balanced correctly. When a heating system is unbalanced, it can result in hot spots and cold spots throughout your home, which can be uncomfortable and inefficient.

Balancing your central heating system involves adjusting the flow of hot water through your radiators to ensure that each room in your home is heated evenly. This can be done by adjusting the valves on your radiators, which control the flow of water. By balancing your central heating system, you can increase the flow of hot water to the colder areas of your home and decrease the flow of hot water to the warmer areas, resulting in a more even distribution of heat throughout your home.

A balanced central heating system can not only make your home more comfortable, but it can also save you money on your heating bills. An unbalanced system can cause your boiler to work harder than necessary, resulting in higher energy usage and higher bills. By balancing your central heating system, you can ensure that your heating system is working efficiently and effectively, keeping you and your home warm and comfortable without breaking the bank.

In the helpful video below, James the plumber explains how water flows around your central heating system and what to do to rebalance the system. By following his advice, you'll be able to get your hot water flowing evenly around your home and will ensure that all of your radiators are heating up properly.

1. Turn off your central heating

Before you do anything, make sure that your heating system is turned off and you give your radiators a chance to cool down. Scalding yourself due to hot rads is not a good way to start so take this step seriously.

2. Bleed your radiators
If you identified any radiators that were only getting hot at the bottom, then this would be a great time to bleed any air out and get this issue resolved.

3. Go to radiator number 1
This will normally be the radiator that gets hottest the quickest. It's often the closest to the boiler and will quite often be upstairs, if you're in a two-storey home. This is likely to be the radiator that is responsible for pinching all the hot water and sending it back to the boiler rather than to the rest of the radiators.

4. Close then open the lockshield valve
On radiator number 1, go to the lockshield valve. This is the valve that usually has a pointed plastic cover on it and looks like it doesn't do much.

Take a flat head screwdriver (or a pair of grips) and fully close the valve by turning it clockwise as far as it will go. Then open the lockshield valve (anti-clockwise) by a quarter or half turn.

5. Repeat this process on all radiators
You might find that just closing and opening the lockshield valve on radiator number 1, described above, is enough to solve the problem and get all your radiators heating up equally.

After dealing with the first radiator, you could switch your central heating system on and find out. However, just to be extra sure you should go through this process on all of your radiators and then switch your heating on.

You should find that this has solved the problem and all radiators are getting up to temperature exactly as they should be. If not, them it's time to call in a professional.

As well as making sure that hot water is flowing smoothly around your entire central heating system, it's also important that each of the rooms in your home are being heated up evenly and efficiently. There are some things to keep in mind that will make this process much easier.

It's fairly common in older properties, or properties that have had an extension built, that the installed radiators are actually too small for the room. If this is the case, then your radiator may well be on full blast but will still struggle to emit enough heat to comfortably heat the surrounding area. This is an inefficient use of energy as the householder may try to turn up the temperature of their heating to compensate, or in the case of thermostatic radiator valves, the room may never get hot enough for the valves to stop the flow of hot water into the rad.

If you think your radiator is too small for the room it's situated in, then the best thing to do is to put the dimensions of your room into a heating calculator. The calculator will take into account all the aspects of your room and will give you a BTU heat output figure that you can use to choose a new, correctly-sized radiator.

If your radiators have trapped air inside, they will not heat up properly. Bleeding your radiators will release any trapped air, which will allow hot water to circulate freely and heat your room evenly.

Radiator reflectors are panels that can be attached to the wall behind your radiator. They reflect heat back into the room, which can increase the efficiency of your heating system and reduce energy waste.

Make sure that your furniture is not blocking the flow of hot air from your radiators. If your sofa or curtains are blocking the heat, this can result in uneven heating.

By following the steps above, the hot water in your central heating system will be flowing evenly to all the radiators in your home. Within each individual room, you'll also be making sure that the space is set up correctly to maximise the heat in the room. As a result, you'll be doing all you can to use energy efficiently and keep your bills down to a (somewhat) affordable level.

If your radiators are more than 15 years old, then it's worth considering updating them. Modern radiators are more energy efficient than ever before and with the huge choice of styles available, you might be pleasantly surprised at the massive range of options open to you since you last upgraded your radiators.

The range of energy-efficient radiators here at Trade Radiators offers homes practical and cost-effective heating. As an industry leader in the UK, we provide an extensive selection to choose from for all rooms in the home.

Take a look at our top radiator brands online and purchase an energy-efficient radiator for your home now!