How to balance a central heating system.
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2019
- Do you have a radiator that never heats up or only gets warm? Here is an easy fix that cost you nothing and is easy to do.
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Many thanks Al and Jan. 
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I don't normally comment on RUclips videos but I have to say a massive thank you for this video. Managed to balance the heating and get my downstairs radiator working, saving a lot of headache. Thanks again for your video sir.
You're very welcome!
Brilliant, thank you. I have managed to balance the heating for the first time in all the years we've lived in our home. Much more comfortable. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Glad it helped
Best & simplest video on RUclips to balance radiator, 💯👍
Wow, thanks!
Your videos are so helpful with full of knowledge and experience. Thanks for sharing your expertise with us really appreciated.
No problem tahseen.
Thank you,I have been messing about bleeding rads and trying all sorts for the last day or so.this is indeed valuable information that has sorted my issue out. Simple if you know how but a mine field to us who are not plumbers
No problem Gary.
I was just watching this video and I remembered that I had turned down my pump from III to I last time I was inspecting it....that explains why I had underperforming radiators!!! Thanks for this video and all the others that I have watched avidly.
No problem John.
thank you so much, live in single storey house, use to turn radiators off so my daughters aluminimum rads would get some heat. thought you balanced by tvrs. now after seeing your vid, every rad in house gets hot. no rad turned off. cant believe it, perfection now . and my daughters rad is hot over full length. thank you thank you.
No problem
Great vid, thanks! Plenty of detail explaining how it works so I actually understand how balancing works. Thanks again!
Very welcome!
Another great video! Very informative and simply explained, good stuff 👍
Glad it was helpful!
Great informative videos from a master-plumber. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it. All the best.
great video, thanks for your clear explanation and making the process seem less daunting!
No problem
Cheers gaffa. Your a legend.
Much appreciated for breaking the info down.
Thanks adda.
Thanks this has inspired me to take a look at mine.
Awesome video. Just got my Radiator working following these steps.
Glad it helped
@@dereton33 Cancelled my heating engineer coming out tomorrow. Saved me a few quid. Thanks again.
Thanks for the video mate, i like that your happy to share your knowledge and expertise too many engineers out there all for themselves. Think I'm gonna have a vid binge lol thanks again.
No problem SxCurl. Thanks for your kind comments.
Brilliant you make it all so clear and I now have a warm room Excellent
Glad it helped
Great video. I need to do this to sort out my front room rad. Thank you.
No problem Richard.
Your vids are awesome, u make it sound so simple, luv your style dude 👌 ty
Thanks.
Thanks Del, that worked a treat!
No problem Michael.
thanks for sharing this information with us al found your video (plumbing handy and useful).
No problem Ratch I love giving away plumbing secrets.
Thanks very much. The first part worked for me. I now have heating downstairs and still enough heat from the rads upstairs which I turned down. 👍
That's great
Hi Al great video goot tip mate
Thanks David. Nice to hear from you hope you are keeping well.
Thanks Del, that worked for me !!!
No problem Rodney.
Just like everyone else says , thank you very much for your truly inspirational explanation as to what's required to get that last lazy rad going at long last .
It did once throw out a lot of heat , but over time something must have happened to send it to sleep .
I'm going to have a go in a couple of days time , but having watched your video , I appreciate that's it's going to take a bit of time to sort it out properly .
However now I'm totally confident that I'm going to crack it at long last .
I'm coming for you sleepy head !!!
Good luck with it.
@@dereton33
Thanks , I thought I'd tackle I'd it in a couple of days ..
I don't want the other half blaming me for spoiling her Christmas television schedule .
While I'm at it , can I wish both your good wife and yourself a Very Happy Christmas ,
with not too many call outs , and a Happy New Year .... finger's crossed !!!
Really good explanation thank you.
You are welcome!
I love your videos! thank you so very much x
You are so welcome!
You are very helpful - thanks
You're welcome!
If I’m trying to balance my radiators to get the one in the living room warm what do I do to the one that’s constantly scolding hot? The towel rad in the bathroom that has two lock shield valves. How should I adjust this one please. Your advice is top too thanks very much
Funny innit? You think of all the over-complicated boiler speak (crap) and it all boils (pun!) down to tweaking the rad valves! And I LOVE you diagrams! I did invest in a "point and shoot" thermometer which kind of took the guesswork out of checking the rad temps. Also handy for checking the food warmed up in the microwave too! Keep it up!
Ha ha thanks Colin.
Another great video thanks
Pleased you like it Justin. Thanks for your kind comments.
dereton33 it’s great you can pass on your knowledge to help people and save money on over priced call outs keep them coming 👍
Great Derek .
Who's Derek?
@@cliffcarlo180 your mum
Great video 👍😊⏰️
Thank you 👍
Thanks
Thanks a lot Charlotte.
Best plumbing videos on RUclips! My TRV valves are on the outlet end rather than on the inlet end on some of my rads. Should I remove these and put them on the right way around or can I balance them as they are?
Best to change them around. for better balancing.
I've got old rads - not thermostatic valves. Is the on/off valve always on the right of the rad? Both ends look the same to me. Great vids - use them all the time
Hi Bob, the on off could be either side.
Good video! Very useful :)
I always wonder -- if we're closing all of them except for a single radiator, does this put more resistance on the pump? Could I risk burning it out whilst we're balancing?
No you will have a bypass fitted. It will not burn out the pump.
@@dereton33 Regardless of by-pass or not the pump is a centrifugal pump not a positive displacement. The by-pass will take place in the pump chamber around the impeller if it is totally dead headed at the outlet. The only consequence then is heat build up within the pump relative to the power of it's motor. As there is still water in the pump - single radiator loop any heat build up would be absolutely negligible. The main requirement is to maintain water in the pump as it is usually a canned rotor pump which requires liquid to lubricate the impeller bearing.
I had an extension done 3yrs ago and the radiators were cold the guy that did the job did not come to rectify the issue. I had been using a convector heater in the small extension. I then called another plumber and he flushed the whole system and that didn’t work it was suggested my pipes were too narrow not the standard 22mm and I would also need to balance my radiators.
What was that I thought so I you tubed it and found you. I cannot thank you enough Ive managed to get the radiators working took 2hr as I have a 4 bed detached.
.
That`s great.
Fantastic video,can you please help witch side of the radiator locks sheld Is it the one feeding the radiator or the taking the water back to the boiler thanks
Usually it is the thermostatic or wheel valve fitted to the flow from the boiler.
Very good video - even I can mostly understand it lol. I live in a bungalow using a combo boiler and there are some rad pipes that go into the loft. How do I know in which order they go? Or do I just go by how far away they are from the boiler?
When the boiler is first switched on put your hand on the pipes which ever one heats up first is the flow. You may have to go into the loft to see which room order they drop into.
Can you do a video on how to work out the correct speed setting for the pump? Thanks.
Will do.
Excellent Video, very informative. Is there a way to work out which rads are closest to the boiler and those furthest away, or is it just luck? Reason for the ask is that we have recently moved into a new property and like you said the living room is the coldest one.
Yes turn on the boiler from cold and as the heat reaches the rads feel the order that they each get hot.
@@dereton33 Lovely thank you.
@@philandmanuelafreeman3532 don't forget to open all lock shield valves and turn TRV's on full though to test this. I always make a note of the original settings too, so I can always go back to the start.
Thanks for the video. Very useful. I just wanted to ask what you do with a radiator that has 2 lock shields? I have a new build house and one rad has no TRV. The radiators seem to be much hotter upstairs than down. Boiler is upstairs. It's a dreaded electric boiler and has been horrifically expensive so really need to get the most from the rads. I also have a vertical rad which I think has been plumbed in the wrong way i.e. flow and return are on the wrong side. It has really poor heat output and I believe it has a flow diverter so I presume that the flow inside will not be as it should. Any advice would be welcome.
The rad with the lockshields both ends is a by pass radiator, so leave that alone, you can however balance the rest of the system.. You can tell if the vertical rad is plumbed the wrong way round by putting the heating on from cold and seeing which pipe heats up first it should be the one with the thermostatic valve.
@@dereton33 Thanks for getting back so promptly. I presume that if the vertical rad has been plumbed the wrong way and it has a diverter at the flow end (which means it now is at the return end) that will make it much colder? it is also the last rad on the system from what I can tell. I also got the system flushed ou t(not a powerflush) to try and help and the water has gone from the colour of cola to an apple juice colour. Plumber said that should be fine. I'm not convinced. He put inhibitor in too.
I’ve been working up my knowledge before tackling a few checks and attempting to improve my gf’s boiler. On her boiler it seems to go up too far if left on above 3 bars and into the red then drops back to 1 when cool. I’ve been reading about the pressure vessel in tboiler, the red tank in the Combi, and setting the pressure correctly via a bike pump valve whilst checking for water leaking from it.
She also seems to have the cold at the bottom and warm in top of some of her rads so I could do with approaching things with a hose like you did in the other vid. Was considering hiring a flushing system and just doing it myself but I’m paranoid of doing anything until I know 100% how it all works. Cheers for this vid as I’ll try doing this as well.
Good luck with it. Al.
Thanks a lot
Regarding manual radiator valves, does it make difference turning each one of them in different number of turns? ie, do inlet and outlet have to be evenly opened or it doesn’t matter?
It does not really matter as long as one controls the temperature.
@@dereton33 Quick response, Thank for your attention
@dereton33 my radiator in my living room is not turning on. The pipes dont get hot either. However it does occasionally warm up a tiny bit but that's it. I've now noticed the radiator in the bathroom and just outside have the same problem. What could the problem be and what can I try. Many thanks
Try balancing the system. I have a video on it.
Is it correct the with system balancing to operate effectively. For example my house has double rads in every room, upstairs gets really warm whilst downstairs rads hardly at all, should I downgrade the double rads upstairs to singles and the double rads downstairs to larger double rads to ensure when system balancing the heat output is aided by the correct radiator sizes assisting the downstairs rads to get much warmer
No just system balance them all out.
How do I know which side of the radiator is the lock shield as my rads don’t have thermostats on and look identical both sides with a square adjuster on the top like you are adjusting on the video , thanks
Turn the heating on from cold and feel which pipe heats up first that one is the flow and will be the thumb wheel valve the other one will be the locksheild.
Thanks for the video.
I have one concern. Boilers in basement and the house is 3 storeys, one of the bedroom radiator furthest from boiler up occasionally heats up so what's the way round it?
Sorry I need more detail does it heat when it is not supposed too or only gets some heat occasionally when heating is on.?
@@dereton33
Thanks for the reply.
It heats up luke warm when the heating is turned on.
Check it for air. If no luck re-balance system, first though, check the rad valves are fully on.
Hi, great video thankyou. Im just after a bit more help please. Ive copied you and turned the valves on the right on no more than a turn upstairs. How many turns should I do on the valve on the left of the rad ? I dont have the numbers just a metal pin
If you just have a metal pin then check with plyers that they are full on. That is the ones on the left of the rads.
@@dereton33 I will do. Thanks for your help and your videos 👍
Did this the other day with a friend whose a heating engineer. I had one not heating up at all. I'd put a bit of cleaner in, but the radiator wasn't particularly dirty. We did upstairs 1 and half, downstairs 3 turns and the one closest to the thermostat we did three-quarters of a turn. Best thing ever!
Great.
What if you have a 2 zone heating system ie seperate zone valves controling upstairs rads and downstairs rads. Do you balance 1 zone at a time or all at once
No balance both on together.
I have radiators upstairs on the same level as the boiler
I only want heating downstairs so can I turn off the upstairs rads on both valves ? So TRV and lockshield ?
Thankyou
Yes.
If I move into a new home, can I start fresh and open both valves on every radiator and balance the system then use one side for adjustment going forward to turn off and on each rad. Also, does it matter on each rad in the house which is the one used for balance or adjustment? Do I need to check each rad which is in and out? Or can I balance using the out and adjust the in going forward or balance the in and adjust the out going forward. Is there a rule on flow direction what needs to be the balance valve vs adjustment valve?
The locksheild valve should be used for adjustment. The flow pipe into your radiators will be the one with the TRV.
@@dereton33 Thanks. My current home does not have TRVs downstairs. Are TRVs always on the flow in then? Also, my downstairs have non adjustable caps on one side and the other just a turn knob to turn off and on. I assume the in is on the knob adjustment side? Or is this not always true?
I wonder if you could help me please, I have one rad that is colder than the rest and takes ages to get warm, I think it’s the last one on the circuit, I followed your guide and when I took the temperatures I found that the temp on the lock shield is higher than the TRV? Any help would be gratefully received.
Barry
Could be the TRV is on the wrong pipe the return and not the flow.
Thank you. Is it the same for combi boiler?
Yes.
@@dereton33 Thank you for your help and advice.
Hi, could help me regarding a indirect return hot water balancing valve, when there is a heating demand, my hot water tank is also heating up via the hot water return valve being fully open, my kids have opened this and destroyed the balance in the system. How do I reset this
By trial and error, turn it right off then open it one full turn. if the water balance is right then leave it, if not enough then give it another turn and so on.
Thanks for the video, if I run my pump on max and it doesn't need to be will there be any damage. Thanks
No it will be fine Shane.
Hi, is there a way to balance without a lock shield valve? I am in the US and I have 8 radiators in total and 2 of the rads have Lock shield valves and they are on the 2nd floor. The other 6 do not. I have 1 radiator that's not heating up and trying to fix the issue.
If they have normal turn valves you can still turn those down by hand.
Just a question, once you have the sequence of radiators heating up and you have shut down the system to go cold, do you shut all the lockshield valves and open all the TRV, then once you do the first rad and move on to the next then start opening the lockshield valve on that one until you have gone through all the rads?
Yes that is correct Robert. Make sure all TRVS are fully open.
@@dereton33 Do you close all the lockshields at the beginning? only opening them when you start the adjustment process? Sorry I am just trying to get my head around the process. I had thought that you had to let the system cool down each time before moving to the next radiator. :)
Hi,
If heater is on basement floor and no heat comes up to 5 floor?
What to do?
My problem is cold elemnsts on top flor?
Tips what to do from You is welcome!
Pal Johnny
Check for air, also check heating pump.
My first rad won't go off.was cold at the bottom so i added cleaner and that's sorted the sludge.I have changed the trv tee pipe had a new numbered trv and now have hive thermostats fitted and aladdin autovents breather valves fitted. Even on half a turn or 1 turn on the lockshield the first rad is hottest pipe at 21degrees when all the others are 19 when I set them to be all 19. I thought about swapping around the lockshield for the trv on this 1st rad but I think both valves are bi directional so won't make any difference? It's confusing as hell as if I turn off all the rads with the hive thermostats they will all go off but soon as I turn on the 2nd rad in line the 1st one gets piping hot even though it's off by the trv.So what gives here? Thanks for advice on aladdin autovents and
eezyfill. was a bit unsure what you meant by the pump in the combi in this vid and also I have added a hive thermostat to a rad that had two lockshields and was told 1 rad always has to remain on. Well I ignored that advice as it's a waste of energy and hope my combi has a water switch inside most have I heard.Hopefully I'll figure out soon what is wrong with the rad that won't stay off when the the next rad is switched on.
Still might be worth swapping that lockshield around with the TRV. I am sure they work better when placed on the flow and return the right way around.
Can you explain how to balance radiators using the flow and return pipes with a temperature unit I hear you can balance then more using a 10c difference in the return and flow of the rad pipes.?
Will get to doing it soon Rawruss.
I believe it is actually 12 c.
Does this guide also apply to a combi boiler?
Yes it does.
Hi, I have a problem trying to balance my system, I have a 3 bed semi, I can only get upstairs or downstairs hot., not both. Please help, what am I not doing. Thank you, mike, love you're videos.
Try turning your heating pump to full speed. If that is not successful you may need a new pump.
@@dereton33 thank you. Mike
We have our boiler in the kitchen......it looks like the CHW first goes through the kitchen rad (which is immediately below the boiler) and then obviously returns and then goes back to the boiler to the other rads in the house. Is this possible? Or am I misreading it and it's not the first rad on the system but the last? Sorry if this sounds stupid
It is the first.
@@dereton33 Thanks, but does it seem correct that the radiator immediately putting the flow (return) back into the boiler and then from the boiler the flow going to the rest of the rads in the house? I thought they would go from the 1st, 2nd and so on and then return back to the boiler before continuing again.
What should the WALL Thermo be set at. What part does it play? Thanks
Set at 21%. Keeps the house to that temperature, turns heating on when temperature drops below this level.
HELLO JUST BOUGHT THE RAS-B2 TO FIT ON ALL MY RADS WHEN I JUST CAME TO A PROBBLEM WITH THE ONE RAD ITS A T22 600/1400 KUDOX ITS SAYS ON THE APP THE VAUE CANNOT PROVIDE THE FLOW NEEDED PLEASE CHANGE SYSTEM AND OR RADIATOR PROPERTIES MY SETUP IS FLOW TEMP 70c RETURN 55c DEFFERENTIAL PRESSURE IS 10KPA HOW DO I SOLVE THIS
Turn up the pump speed. Or buy better quality rad valves.
Can this method be used on single pipe systems?..or is it completely different?..thanks👍
Yes, absolutely
Thanks pal..legend 👍
Can you damage the pump by setting back all the valves
No there will be a bypass fitted somewhere.
Hi how do I change a Aqualisa thermostatic mixer control can I just unscrew it to take it out or do I have to turn of hot and cold supply
You must turn off the water first.
Hi i have a new combi do I have to turn the hot water off as well as the cold
@@dereton33 Hi do I have to turn the combi boiler off as well s the cold to change the aqualisa thermostat to turn take it and put a new one in
How do you know which radiator is the first, second and last?
Work away from the boiler location if a combi , if an F and E system, work back from the 3 port valve.
How do you know which rads are 1st and last upstairs or downstairs
By turning the heating on from cold, start with the rads nearest the boiler, just keep checking which are getting hotter with your hand.
Is there any need to off the boiler before all this please ..?
Leave the boiler running.
Thanks, enjoy a Tea, coffee or beer on us. 👍
Thank you so much. Al and Jan
How do you know which order they go in? Downstairs (where the thermostat is) is 20 degrees, middle floor 17.5 and top floor 16 🥶 British Gas said the rads up there are Luke warm because they’re the last on the system 🤷♀️
The pump is relatively new 🤷♀️
For now just try switching all the rads off downstairs, just to see if those upstairs rads get hot, if they do, then just turn all the downstairs rads on just one full turn of the valve. Do also check there is no air in the upstairs ones.
@@dereton33 thank you I’ll try that
One of my former customers, long since deleted from my contacts for reasons that will become all too apparent, supplied rad valves on a job that I did. All the valves were wheelhead. None were supplied with cover caps and no TRV's I balanced the system and just pulled off the wheel head caps, leaving the balancing side with the valve spindle on show.
Ex customer, a landlord in Rotherham, refused to pay me because I had removed the wheelheads off the balancing side.
I had to re-attend and put them back on. I did have some spare cover caps but the landlord insisted. I told the tenants to turn the radiator up/on and off/down using the valves on the right hand side and not, under any circumstances, to touch the ones on the left hand, balancing side of the rad.
Guess what happened next?
BTW got a fixed penalty notice today for entering a bus lane approx 10 to 15 metres from where it became non restricted. Not a bus in sight and very light traffic. Just paid it off. I'll never ever give way for another bus ever again.
Yours, Livid Loafer
.
Thanks for your story and sorry to hear you caught a fine, it is just so hard to get by and make a living these days, all you need is big brother watching your every move waiting to bang another fine on you, speed cameras, parking, private land the list goes on and on.
Cynical, moi! It's a method of raising additional revenue for the councils and people wonder why the city centres are dying?
Every one wants a slice of tax pie.
Hi, just check. Rad valves on clockwise. Rad valves off anti clockwise? Thank you...
No the other way. Clockwise off anti clockwise on.
@@dereton33 thank you so much. Valve is stuck on two rads. Cant move them. I'm afraid ill break them. I put wd40 on them. What would you suggest. Again thank you...
If they are turn valves remove the tops and use pliers on them.
i live in a bungalow with 8 radiators running on a oil boiler but also open fire with back boiler. My radiators never get really hot and always filled with air.
Those two systems combined will always pull air in.
@@dereton33 nothing I can do about it ? When I lit the fireplace and turn the pump on the noise is unbearable, literally like a waterfall running through my radiators ..bleeding doesn't help . If I run on oil boiler I have lots of bubbling but bleeding help , until I use the fireplace again
What is the difference between and indirect cylinder and a direct cylinder
An indirect can be used with a central heating system a direct one cannot. It has no inner coil.
dereton33 okay thank you
What if the TRV is on the outlet side and the lockshield is on the inlet?
They can work ok fitted either way. Just adjust the lockshild valve.
@@dereton33 Thanks very much. Your videos are excellent.
Can you talk me through how to balance rads
It would take me too long I have lots of videos on how to do it.
How do igetwater into my washing machine
Turn on the tap.
What if you don't know the order... Do yo start with hottest and work backwards?
Exactly.
@@dereton33 already seeing some progress with this... Bit of trail and error, little adjustment and check... Repeat repeat repeat
at this rate AL in the next ten years no one will need a plumber anymore
Hey I might even be famous.
😂
But how do you know what order the radiators have been plumbed in in?
Follow the pipework or just work backwards from the boiler.
Al please stop drawing the diagrams after you've been drinking heavy 😁 Great video though 👍
Was a bit wobbly, guess I did have an odd tipple doing this one.
OK but you could have covered ideal temperature drop across the radiator (supply and return ends). Laser thermometers are cheap these days.
I do cringe a bit watching folks use bodge tools on non ferrous valve heads.
Didn't want it too technical.
I hope you have a dog and its not Jan with a squeeky toy 😁
Ha ha she is a sweetie. The dog I mean ha ha.
If I’m trying to balance my radiators to get the one in the living room warm what do I do to the one that’s constantly scolding hot? The towel rad in the bathroom that has two lock shield valves. How should I adjust this one please. Your advice is top too thanks very much
Just turn any one of the valves right off then back a complete turn only.
If I’m trying to balance my radiators to get the one in the living room warm what do I do to the one that’s constantly scolding hot? The towel rad in the bathroom that has two lock shield valves. How should I adjust this one please. Your advice is top too thanks very much
Just turn any one of the valves right off then back on one turn.