balance your heating

How To Balance Your In Home Heating System?

If you have ever done any research into improving the performance of your home heating system, you may have come across the concept of “balancing your heating system”. If you haven’t heard of this term, let me just say from the get-go that it doesn’t have anything to do with ensuring your boiler doesn’t tip over!

Balancing your home heating system involves optimising how hot water flows through your radiators. It is a fairl straight forward process which can dramatically improve the performance and energy efficiency of your heating system. It can also make your indoor climate much more comfortable.

In this post, I’ll explain when you might need to balance a home heating system and how it is performed. For more information on balancing a home heating system or to make a booking, give Quantum Gas Engineering a call on +44 20 3633 2322.

What Is The Goal Of Balancing A Home Heating System?

The goal of balancing a home heating system is to ensure all radiators in your home are producing enough heat. Most homes have some radiators which are quite warm, while others are cool because they don’t receive enough hot water. This makes some parts of the home less comfortable. Balancing your home heating system solves this issue.

Why You Might Need To Balance Your Heating System

Ground Floor Radiators Are Cooler Than Top Floor
Many homes in the UK are two storey residences with a boiler located on the ground floor or basement. The boiler sends hot water to radiators on the top floor first, before running through the ground floor radiators and returning to the boiler.

However, because hot water naturally gravitates to higher elevations, you can end up with a situation where the radiators on the top floors are hotter than those on the ground floor. This can occur even if your boiler has a powerful pump installed.

The Last In Line Radiators Are Cooler
If you have several radiators in your home and notice that the radiators located further away from the boiler are cooler, it can indicate that you need to balance your heating system.

How To Balance A Home Heating System

Balancing an in-home heating system is a simple task which most homeowners can handle themselves. However, if you feel that you require some assistance or you don’t have time available to get the job done, give Quantum Gas Engineering a call. We would be happy to come to your home and balance your heating system.

The process is as follows:
1. Bleed radiators with cold spots
If you have noticed that some radiators have cold spots, they may need to be bled. You can watch this video to learn how to carry this out, or give Quantum Gas Engineering a call.
2. Turn off your central heating
Next, turn off your central heating system, so all of your radiators can cool down.
3. Identify your radiator valves
You should have either 2 lockshield valves or a Thermostatic valve (TRV) and a lockshield valve. These valves are located on the side of each radiator. This is what they look like. The lockshield valve is typically located on the return side of the radiator.
4. Open all valves
Make sure all of the valves on your radiators are fully open and check that your central heating is turned on. To turn a valve fully open, turn it anticlockwise. The lockshield valves may have a plastic cap on them, so remove this before turning the valve.
5. Find the warmest radiators and make adjustments
Locate the warmest radiator in the house. It will probably be the one that is being fed first by the boiler. Turn the lockshield valve completely off (clockwise) then give it a quarter turn on (anticlockwise). Repeat this process for all of the radiators that are very warm. This reduces the hot water entering these radiators, allowing more to flow to the cold radiators downstairs or at the end of the chain.
6. Repeat until cool radiators warm up
Test the temperature of the coolest radiator in the house. If it is nice and warm, you can open up the valves on the hotter radiators a little more.

What Are The Benefits Of Balancing Your Heating System?

The main benefit of balancing your heating system is that your home will be more comfortable. That previously cold room will now be as toasty as the rooms with radiators close to the boiler.

The other advantage is that you won’t need to turn your heating system as high to obtain warmth in all rooms. This can save you a lot of money on your energy bills and greatly reduce your carbon footprint.

If you need any help balancing your home heating system, give Quantum Gas Engineering a call on +44 20 3633 2322. We would be more than happy to make your home more comfortable and help you save on your energy bills.

How Quantum Gas Engineering Can Help

Quantum Gas Engineer is the number one provider of boiler maintenance services in Primrose Hill and North London. We provide a maintenance service that is reliable, affordable, and thorough. Our team would be more than happy to schedule a boiler maintenance and clean the magnetic filter attached to your heating system.

If your boiler doesn’t currently have a magnetic filter, we could install one for you. It will extend the lifespan of your boiler, improve its reliability and help you save money on your heating costs. Give us a call today on +44 20 3633 2322 to learn more.

Quantum Gas Engineering Ltd. Are Accredited Viessmann installers.

Interested In Learning More? Contact Quantum Gas Engineering

For more information on Vaillant boiler installations in Primrose Hill, give Quantum Gas Engineering Ltd a call on 0203 633 2322 or email us at info@qge.ltd