How to Balance Your Radiators

Now your radiators are in and working: its time to balance them

What is Balancing your radiators?

What this is – is to now get all the radiators at the one temperature

You would have noticed with your new system that some radiators are very very hot – and others almost nothing…

By now adjusting your “lock- Shield” valve on every radiator – you can now change the amount of flow to each radiator – making them all balance

What is common practice is to do this a good week after a new system is installed

This allows plenty of time to bleed all the air out of your system – by “burping” or “Bleeding your radiators” 

For more on " how to bleed your radiators" - CLICK HERE

How to balance your radiator

On every radiator you will have 4 points.

1. One is the Air Bleed – it MUST be one of the top points
2. One is a Blanking plug
3. One is your valve control – this is the one with the adjustable knob to control the heat
4. And the other is your lock shield…

The lock shield is set up to be able to balance how much water flows into each radiator

To adjust

• Remove the cap
• Using an allen key – screw in fully – and count how many turns it takes you to do this
• Then unscrew the same amount of turns..

( The reason you do this – so you know where that radiator is set… )

Tricks

If you have, say 6 radiators….

On the furthest away radiator, lets call this radiator No 1…

–     Leave fully open

The next closest radiator, lets call this radiator No 2

-      give this a 1/3rd turn closed

The next radiator, lets call this radiator No 3

-      give this a 2/3rd turn closed

The next radiator, lets call this radiator No 4

-      give this a full turn

and so on

This is a simple way to getting the flow more to the furtherest radiator.. pushing the heat more distance

You will find that 80% of the time – this works

FAQ

Q        This works for most my radiators – but Radiator No 3.. is still not hot enough

A         open your lock shield by 1/3rda turn… - you may need more but always go 1/3rdat a time

Q       one radiator is so hot to touch – all the rest are ok

A         give this radiator a 1/3rdclosed turn on the lock shield - you may need more but always go 1/3rdat a time

Q        Ive followed everything – but I have one radiator that just does not work

A         this could be a number of things

1.    The pipe work to this radiator is kinked – restricting the flow

Trick to know – if you touch the valve on your radiator when the system is on, and its cold.. this is a good chance the pipe work is kinked..

2.    If the valve is hot –the radiator may have a air block

Trick to know – open the air bleed fully and let it flow for a bit ( make sure you have a bucket and a towel to catch this water )

3.    The radiator has sludge in it

You will need to remove the radiator – completely screw in the lock shield and turn the valve off

Disconnect the radiator and flush with a hose

4.    faulty Valve

From time to time you can get a valve, that even know it unscrew: the “seat on the valve” sticks

If this is your case purchase a replacement