Cost-of-living crisis – learn how to balance your radiators and save money

An accredited heating and utilities training provider has provided tips an how to balance your radiators and stay warm without spending too much.

During colder months, many people typically crank up their thermostats to keep themselves warm. While it seems like the most sensible thing to do, did you know that you could be raising the thermostat too high and ultimately costing you hundred's of pounds to stay warm?

Scottish accredited heating and utilities training provider Skills TG provide top tips on how to balance your radiators.

A survey across 2500 UK residents revealed:

• 67 per cent do not know how to bleed a radiator
• 88 per cent didn't know what radiator balancing is or the cause

Along with the survey results, it was found heating problems to be on the rise via Google search data, revealing a huge 1200 per cent increase from last year for the search term "Radiators not heating up or Radiators not working".

What is an unbalanced radiator?

An unbalanced heating system means that your rooms are being heated up at different rates. This can be caused by a number of different things, but you’ll most likely notice it if you spend a lot of time in a single room and adjust the thermostat based on those conditions.

For example, if you spend a lot of time in the living room and aim for a temperature of 20°C, then you’ll probably set your thermostat to 20°C as well. However, if you notice that your bedroom is much hotter at 24°C and your basement is colder at 18°C, then it’s a sign that you may have an unbalanced heating system.

Skills TG suggests checking that your heating system is actually unbalanced by following these steps (you can view the full guide at: www.skillstg.co.uk/blog/how-to-balance-your-radiators/):

• Start by turning off the heating system and letting it cool completely.
• Once it has cooled you should bleed your radiators to remove any air which has collected in them since it can cause the radiator to heat unevenly. For more information and instructions visit the guide to bleeding radiators.
• You should familiarise yourself with the valves on your radiators – these may differ between radiators of different ages and models. Generally a lockshield valve will have a cover – remove these covers and open all of these valves fully by turning them anticlockwise. You will also need to open the thermostatic radiator valves (TRV’s) to full. Whilst wheelhead and thermostatic valves can be turned by hand, lockshield valves will need a special adjuster or adjustable spanner to do the job.
• From here you may want to grab a pen and paper or create a spreadsheet and make a list of all the radiators in your home.
• Turn the heating back on and write down the order in which the radiators start to heat up – it’s likely that the ones nearest the boiler will be first. This will give you an indication of the order in which hot water reaches each radiator, numbering them can make the process a little simpler.
• You can then turn the heating back off and wait for the system to cool once again.
• Turn the heating back on and go to the radiator on your list which heated up first.
• You can then turn the lockshield valve clockwise until closed and then open it again by one-quarter of a turn.
• Once the radiator has heated up you will need to take the temperature of the pipe leading to one of the valves and note this down.
• Now take the temperature of the pipe leading to the other valve on the radiator. Then open the lockshield valve gradually until there is a 12 degree Celsius difference between this and the last temperature you took.
• Now repeat this for each of the radiators in your home and this should result in a balanced system.

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