How to Balance Heating System Radiators - Plumbing Tips
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
- A brief video on how to balance heating system radiators. Includes lockshield positions and TRV's. For more information visit our website at www.plumberpart...
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Thank you for this. I've had one luke warm radiator for seven years. Followed your advice and in 20 minutes now it's toasty hot. Thank you, thank you.
What a day to be having heating problems. It was a very cold night last night and two of my radiators were stone cold this morning when I woke. Thankfully the boiler is still working fine!
Today I have balanced my radiators with thanks to your helpful videos.
Thank you for saving my Boxing Day!
No worries dude!!!
Thanks a lot for the video, the kitchen radiator was cold but upstairs was boiling, all sorted now 😊
This has just fixed a small radiator that wasn't heating up in my hall way, I flushed it as per your other video as it was sludged up, now balanced the system and now works perfectly. Thanks for the brilliant tutorial!
+Aaron Green No worries Aaron, glad to help!
Brilliant Video, had problems with 1 Radiator down stairs that would heat up 1 day and cold another. Done exactly what you said in your video and all the heating and Radiators are working perfect now.... Thanks Alot :)
Perfect timing! I've just flushed the sludge out of two of my rads and taken a break with a cuppa and come online to brush up on balancing the system. I didn't even have to search, this was top of my sub box. Result! ;¬)
Great video. Had an airlock in rads on second floor but older type so could not unscrew complete bleed valve. Instead screwed down valves, cracked open coupling onto rad and used wet vacuum to suck water out of rad. Then lifted rad off wall and connected washing machine hose to each valve and put end out of window. Opened each valve and let air out, reconnected radiator, bled and all done. Many thanks!
I live in Denmark, and my main enjoyment in watching your videos, is to see how things are done differently in the UK as compared to where I work in Denmark.
For example, where I work in Denmark, a lot of the balancing (at least in the somewhat modern installations) is often done using specifically adjustable valves, with number-settings on them. It basically does the same function you mention there, except that there is clear numbering on them, so you know how much each valve is at.
And, some of the newer Radiator-valves (which sits behind the thermostat-unit), has a simple built in regulation, where you can determine the maximum water flow for that radiator, which is really neat.
Those balancing valves are coming over here soon too with Danfoss. Got my hands on a few already! SUBSCRIBE! ➡️👉 ua-cam.com/users/plumberparts 👈⬅️if you haven't already!
thought i was a competent DIY plumber and never knew about balancing a heating system!!.... every-days a school day!.. clicked on it as i've never heard of it.. now following on ye olde twitter ;)
Hey PP i've just got a plumbing apprenticeship & your videos have been very very helpful, keep it up man!
excellent none time wasting explanation.thanks
This has just helped me big time! My house hasnt been heating up that great and after doing these adjustments it's nice and warm now . Thanks 😁
No worries bro! Glad to help!
Your video's on Rads have been very helpful last few days , fitted a new bigger upright kitchen rad but could not get it to heat up? but this balancing has done the trick, so big thx man for the video's.
Thx Paul
Thanks and as always very informative. I did find the section around 1:40m very confusing as I have a couple of radiators in my bungalow not getting hot.
thanks mate,,just strangled slightly the return on cylinder coil now have rads that works a load better cheers
@plumberparts thanks a lot ! this fixed the issue I was having where the radiators was not getting hot after running for a while !
Thanks very much you've helped me sort out an imbalance on my radiators, worked a treat !
Cheers for that video..
I have just done exactly what you say with the lock shield valves and.now all the rads heat up evenly n hot....
Big thanks......
Thank you I was having problems downstairs now I will try this
genuis videos. keep up the great work. thanks for all your help, humor & youtube love.
+IOB1 Shrine X Cheers!
very good videos, good explaination and entertaining .good one ppp
As per your diagram ,from left to right the upstairs 1st rad is fed by the boiler pump .The 2nd rad is fed from the 1st rad's output (or return).This implies they are connected in series ,but their return is parallel.The ground level rads are connected identically.Why should the hot water from the 1st radiators bother to enter their series connected rads when the water has an easy return path back to the boiler?
keep it up man, good help with my training
mr michael Will do!
You are a star
I have a rental opposite my house that I look after for a Landlord.
The radiators at the back of the house, 3 bed semi, are roasting, it's the front of the house where the radiators don't come on, boiler is at the back of the house too, I get a call out every other week. Boiler was losing pressure found a leak and sorted it and now the boiler is holding pressure.
I'll give it a go balancing it on Sunday when I'm due to start decorating the place and see if it makes a difference.
So when you say turn a quarter, which side will it be, the knob head with numbers on it or the other side without numbers?
The other side 👍
The coldest room in the house now has a nice hot rad. Thanks sir.
I'm confused! Some videos say to close the lock shield valve turn it clockwise, but you say turn it anti clockwise! Help
Alri pal.. Is that why the overheating light is coming in at the Boiler?? The rads upstairs in my mother's house are too hot and the 3 downstairs just won't Heat.. I rang the maintenance department and they said it sounds like a balancing issue..
It looked as though you turned it clockwise to turn it off and anti clockwise to turn it back a quarter?
Yes he said anti clockwise when he should have said clockwise
Thank you for your great made simple information .
Water temperature pushed to maximum on the boiler , the water is coming out tepid . When its cold outside the water is colder .
Any tips , I would be grateful x
What if both sides of the radiator have the same valve, do I just have to work out which one is the return??
I'm having trouble working out which radiators are first and last. Most pipes are hidden away, and I've been at it for days. Is there an easy way to figure this out? I don't see many videos explaining such. I'm on one floor, if that helps.
Hello. I have an old radiator / central heating system (gravity system). The radiators are old cast iron ones and none of them have lockshield valves. How can I balance them?
For the downstairs lockshield valves, are these also set at the "quarter turn" - so as to "give each component in the heating system an equal amount of flow". In my head when I'd watched the first part of the video I was thinking that you were throttling down the return on the upstairs and opening up the returns downstairs ....... but no its equal flow on all parts. Have i got that right now? P.S. great videos have been super helpful to me today in removing a drop loop kitchen radiator CHEERS!!
Being at home during the day I've noticed I felt like fainting in the heat upstairs and downstairs was freezing! Gotta try this now
Hi there, just looking some advice. I have had a new boiler fitted. It's a grant vortex 50-90 condensing boiler. Problem is its worse than the original 25 year old warm flow 70-90. My rads take hours to to heat. Do you think this is a flow problem or boiler size problem. The new pump supplied with the boiler is supposed to up to the job but is very small by comparison to the original. House is about 290sqm and 22 rads (3 are towel rails) overall run is about 22m there and back between the floor and celling with all downstairs rads on drops. I really need help. Bodge it and scarper plumbers won't answer the phone!
well explained. well done
+Barry Parks cheers Baz!
Hi
My flow pipe to radiator is burning hot to touch, radiator is hot however return pipe is tepid to touch any ideas, could this be a balancing problem??
helpful and good looking thank you :)
Ha! Thanks Zena! Have a lovely day!
Hi, I'm sure this is answered somewhere in ur vids. my combi boiler is situated upstairs, my rads upstairs get hot really quick but downstairs takes about 10/15 mins. Not good for winter mornings. Is this normal.
Also with combi bring upstairs do u think sludge is more likely to be pushed to settle in downstairs rads.
Thanks
great job, thanks very much
+Cioran Hickey No worries!! :)
Hi boss my boiler is up in bedroom pump is going all rads down stairs are could any suggestion
Recently moved into a new home with 24 !! Rads ,a New Baxi 32 system boiler with unvented cylinder .I have one radiator in a conservatory that only gets Luke warm at the top cold at bottom .bleed radiators and with all the other radiators off the one in question then the flow is red hot radiator is also hot all over return is hot but not red hot . i know it wont be but with this the only rad on then i would expect it to be hotter . When i start putting the other rads on then this rad goes back to warm at top and cold at bottom .
Any thoughts ???
why do boilers, like Rayburns cookers, have 28 mm flow and return pipes to the hot water cylinder when the coil is 22 mm. Do the pipes to the radiators have to be 22 mm and not the more usual 15 mm? Rayburn insist that there are 28 mm pipes to the hot water cylinder.
Good videos and well explained
Do you lecture in plumbing if not your talents are being wasted, wonderful documentary dialogue and simple to understand.
+Qee Zee Thanks again!
4:26 - Yes Sir! :D
My bedroom is always cold, so I've restricted the flow of the downstairs radiators nearest to the boiler.
Sorry James look at your drawing the flow goes through the first upstairs rad to the second upstairs rad and the same for downstairs. If the first rad was shut off by the TRV the second wouldn't work at all. That's not a two pipe system you have drawn!
Apart from that it's a pretty good video give yourself a cigar!
Hi on your other video 'How to fix one radiator not working', you say the opposite regarding the lock shield valve, could you clarify to close the valve is it clockwise or anti clockwise?
Thank you - top man.
+Kevin Emmerson Cheers!
All magic, I'm going great guns here,suddenly extra rads in my house are heating up, I mistakenly opened all of the valves up thinking it would help a while back. I did as you say, but two towel rails are still piping hot. do I shut off both inlet and outlet valves (they don't have TRVS on them)?, Also the return pipe to coil, how much do I need to close that off? cheers for help
Brilliant videos, it'd be great to see how one would fit a flow regulating valve to the heating cylinder as I loose loads of heat when the water is heating :)
stelmara111 Added to the list!
Hi, if some rads don't have tcv's, how do I balance the system?
My upstairs are all tcv, room thermo is non tcv obviously but have 2 other non tcv rads downstairs.
Cheers
I've just been round our 4 upstairs radiators, have closed the all then opened them all to 1/4 turn, so, it's fingers crossed.
I have weird problem you might be able to help with. Previously we had a lovely warm airing cupboard, then a couple of weeks I found it stone cold (no more nice warm towels). We have hot water and radiators are mostly hot ( just trying to balance them). Any idea why this would be.
Correct sir.....and...you must have one rad with no TRV valve, because if all the TRVs on the rads happen to shut off, the pump will still be trying to pump the water but the water will have no where to go and the pump will fail and leak.
Why does it matter on which side of the hot water coil circuit that a regulator valve is installed? It will surely do exactly the same job.
how to find a under ground leak from radiators with no signs of water but the water tank will not stop filling up thanks
sounds like your pressure release valve is stuffed..
thanks and subbed
What happened to holding tight, I feel loose now lol
Hi should the downstairs lockshields be 1/4 turn also or fully open?
My boiler is up stairs rads up stairs always getting air in, ones down stairs are always nice warm, I've got a combi boiler
Hi my poilar is up floor, is it have the same idea or different
you turn both sides of radiator by quarter of turn?
one of my radiator in bedroom does not work properly the top half is hot the bottem half i cold the flow is at the bottem and the TRV is on top oppisite side any ideas people???
2.35---- anti clockwise ??
Always get picked up on this little slip up!!!! Cheers, PP!
The previous owners of our house removed a radiator without removing the pipework. Obviously this will affect the balance but would the water be flowing correctly? ? The two valves aren't connected so there would be no through flow. TIA
andrew harwood Should be fine!
That's good. Thanks
andrew harwood
Take this and as many as you like out, it is just going to make what is left work better and HOTTER!
luv yah stuff buddah
Cheers dude!
Erm On your schematic why does the flow go through each radiator in series rather than in parallel?
He''s clearly drawn it wrong.
On the balancing systems video you say to close the lockshield valve by turning anti-clockwise. I think you meant to say clockwise ?
Yep! Always kick myself for that!
I can't help, but notice that you only cut out the "sponsored by heat and plumb" lines at the start and end from your year long video. Is there some "falling out"?
Anyway, keep up the good work.
Never had to balance radiators due to fitting larger pipe to first radiators then smaller to the last, we never fit same diameter pipe to the system
It would be great to a video helping change mechanical programmer to digital for gravity systems. Please
I'll try and add it to the list!
what about a differential bypass valve ????
Cheers
HI there can you do a video on a boiler installation pls
Surely to close a valve you turn it clockwise...?
helpful vids, but didnt you say anticlockwise and then turned it clockwise?
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Hi, I noticed that your installation drawing showed the Radiators having a single supply (assume HOT( in and 2 outlet pipes, one going to the next radiator and one to the Boiler Return.
Now I can see as an Engineer lots of problems with this configuration and whilst it may be the Indunstry Standard it does seem to me to have issues with it, as your video points out.
Now from a non plumber aspect and sticking my neck out here and not wishing to piss anyone off, but why not just whip a Flow pipe out of the Boiler and take it around the building/home and then put it back into the RETURN of the Boiler.
Effectively having a loop, this allows water to travel un-interrupted all the way along a nice big juicy 22mm pipe back to the boiler.
Then where ever you want a Radiator, simply cut into the pipe and put in a T but making sure you do it to both ends of your Radiator, in event DO NOT BREAK the Main Loop, this will balance the Radiators input and output automatically.
I have installed three Full 4/5 bed houses using Method/System and it works like a dream, I never balance a thing, be it they are all running from a Combi Boiler and do not have any need for a water storage vessel.
Feedback appreciated, but be nice!
Mr Spence Eng
Hi mate, that's called single pipe system and they work fine! They only get a bit grumpy if you have loads of rads on the loop. If they work ok, then well done!!! PP!
***** Hi Plumberparts, thanks for the feedback, but what do you think could be the tops as to the number of rads where the Boiler is on the Ground Floor and the building is just ground and first floor?
I would be interested to know, it could for warn me, before I do another plumbing loop in my place in France, now that is a biggie and over 3 floors.
Another problem I have is I am not sure what is the min height I should set the Header Tank to feed a Direct HW Tank, which is feeding an on-suit in the bedroom on the floor below and what size it should be, much appreciate any help here or formula.
Mr Spence Eng
I'm neither a plumber nor an engineer, so I know that what I'm about to say a load of ............unprofessional pointing out! Especially as the professional plumber has agreed that yours is a great "single pipe system".
I love the sound of your system I cannot figure out how you force the water to go through each radiator instead of just continuing along the easy route, along the 22mm loop back to the boiler. Even with T joints on the loop, at entrance and exit of each radiator, how can you get the water to make a right turn at the entrance T joint into the radiator. Won't it just continue straight along the 22mm loop, which offers the path of least resistance?
apache16789 wow nice to see someone thinking of the backside of an idea, be carefull you could end becoming an engineer. Your response is bang on, the path of least resistance will always win.
A System using a flow and return will want to simply return to the source. But here is the real thought process, think in simple terms of what is going on, simply think of a river, running free, the flow is fast and seems unstopable, however, what happens when you put in a trench to that river, well it simple forces it's way along and into your trench and given an outlet exit it will carry on, whilst giving up some of it's energy/power, exactly what a radiator does when put it onto a loop Central Heating System, and no balancing problems!
Hope some of that helps.
Mr Spence Eng
keithspence Well, Mr Spence Eng, Thank you for taking the time and bother to reply. You are one of only two people who has ever done it!
If you say it works then I'm 100% convinced that it does! I just cannot visualise how it does it. I understand your analogy with the river and a channel going off to the side; water will certainly divert itself into the channel.
But if you were to hold a 15mm pipe (or any size of pipe) vertically in the middle of the river, water would not divert to flow upwards into it!
Or dangle a radiator above a fast flowing river, with an entrance pipe and an exit pipe both submerged in the water flow and I don't think you are going to get water flowing through the radiator!
And that is what, it seems to me at least, to be happening in the case of a Loop Central Heating System. You've got water flowing round an enclosed loop; at some point it meets a T joint where it is supposed to make a 90 degree turn upwards for say, 3ft as it fills the radiator, progresses through the radiator matrix before exiting at the other end where it rejoins the flow in the loop and continues to the boiler.
There must be some law of physics or law of running stuff or law of something at work here, that I don't comprehend. But it is my stupidity; I shall deal with it!! Thanks again.
Can't get hot water , why?
Now then, now then.........Jim'll Fix It
Hello! WHAT about combi boilers that reside **upstairs**? How do you balance these systems? Opposite principal (i.e. downstair ¼ turn or not)? Excellent Video, love the humour too! ta :)
No, just the same. Hot water likes staying high and needs to be cajoled down!
Thank you! Clever man :) Do you work near Hertfordshire? How much do you charge? My radiators get hot when hot taps open also boiler losing water+all pressure daily. just moved into first home wish i had checked boiler first! :/
Whoops, I meant trv!
anti clock wise , , , , ahh austrailia mate
:)
I mean old, by "long", sorry. :-)
Bb
This is WIERD wait is this for adults
???