Balancing rads

[spongebob59]

So we have one radiator that runs cold (pipework at the bottom feels warm, not hot) so I checked all the lock valves and the were all fully open ( including the cold one).
So I cranked them all shut and opened then up two turns apart from the cold one which is now toasty, which I opened fully.

They don't seem to heat up in any particular order so shall I just leave it at that or is there some fine tuning I can do ?

All the rads have trvs so I can control the heat output that way.

 

[Mel Smooth]

Personally when I'm doing them I work on the basis of the location of the boiler in relation to the system - so if the boiler is upstairs, the radiator furthest away on the lowest floor is going to be the one I crack open the most, and then gradually open the the lock shield valves less on each rad as I get closer to the boiler.

Run the system and then see how they all feel and tweak from there.

As long as the water on the return to the boiler has cooled sufficiently and all the rads are hot top to bottom, I'd leave it at that.

 

[jim8flog]

When you balance you are not controlling the heat (as in what TRV does) you are trying to ensure that the water goes goes round the entire system and not just through the first rad and out of the lockshield valve.

Balancing a radiator is about checking the heat drop between the inlet pipe and the outlet pipe.

Quite a few 'how to' videos on youtube . You do need a a thermometer to read the temps, I use the gun type, they cost around £10 read the instructions as the pipe should have a bit of masking tape on as the pipes reflect to much (which I found out after trying it out).

You are OK to leave the last one before the boiler fully open.

From memory the video I watched said start at the one nearest the boiler and work away from that.