Central Heating Radiators – What’s Wrong and How Do You Fix it?

The operation of central heating radiators is fairly simple, which in turn makes them reliable. However, even reliable systems can experience problems. If you find your central heating radiator acting up, here is a list of common problems, their associated symptoms, and how to fix them.

Air Trapped in Radiator
If one radiator in your home is not heating properly, while the others are scolding hot, the problem is probably air trapped in the radiator. The air will not allow the warm water to fill the radiator, thus it doesn’t heat properly. The problem can easily be fixed by loosening the bleed valve at the top of the radiator, allowing the air to fizzle out. You will easily be able to hear the sound when the air is leaving the radiator. When water starts squirting out, it’s time to tighten the valve again.

Loose or Corroded Cap Nuts
If you find out that water is leaking onto the floor near your radiator, it’s likely caused by the cap nuts, meant to be fastening the inlet valves, being corroded or loose. In the latter case, tighten them, after you have turned off the system. If they are corroded, your only option is to replace them.

Wrong Angle on the Water Return Lines
If your radiators are keeping you up at night due to constant banging sounds, as if someone was using them as percussion, the problem could be an unlucky angle on the water return lines. The steam from the radiators can have trouble returning to the boiler, if the radiator is not angled, slightly, towards the inlet pipe. To fix the problem, all you need to do is place a piece of wood underneath the far end of the radiator, thus tilting it a bit.

Always remember that if you experience a problem with your central heating radiators that seem beyond the scope of do-it-yourself home repair, always contact a professional.

Central heating radiators are used to distribute heat in a central heating system. Central heating is the most popular form of heating in the UK and is used in the United States and other locations as well depending on the climate. If central heating is the most suitable choice for your locale, then it is useful to know what makes central heating radiators efficient in general, how to improve on their efficiency even more and how to balance radiators in a central heating system for maximum efficiency of your system.

What makes central heating radiators efficient?

Central heating radiators are more efficient than other radiator types because their heat output is much greater.  Greater heat output from the same device means that you get more bang for your buck. Since heating is required on a regular basis in the winter months, the fact that a traditional radiator such as a central heating radiator produces more heat for the same price as other types of radiators will save you a lot of money.

How to further increase the efficiency of central heating radiators

Although this sounds counter intuitive, one way of further increasing the efficiency of your central heating system and save money is to actually add the amount of central heating radiators that you have in your home. The reasoning behind this is that most home boilers have a heating capacity that supersedes the needs of the home. When you only have a few radiators in the home, water gets channeled to those radiators and is swiftly returned to the boiler which tries to re-heat it before returning it again to the same few radiators. This means the boiler is reheating hot water which is very wasteful. If the number of radiators in your system equals the power capacity of the boiler than when water completes the entire cycle it will have sufficently cooled down and the boiler will be heating up cold water and not wasting energy on trying to heat hot water.

Balancing Central Heating Radiators

Not only do you need to have enough radiators in your central heating system to make it run efficiently, the distribution of water through the system needs to be even as well. What this means is that you want to make sure that the hot water is evenly distributed to all the radiators in your home. Since radiators produce heat as a result of hot water pumped through a system of pipes, radiators that are closest in the system to the boiler tend to get a disproprotionate amount of the system’s hot water. Your first line of defense to balance this out is to use locksheild valves on the radiators. What these valves do is restrict water to some radiators while allowing more hot water to reach other radiators. The idea is similar to closing the vents in some rooms on a central air conditioning system forcing the cold air into other rooms that need it more. You will need to play with the valves to achieve an even distribtuion of water and a proper balancing of the system. Pipe thermostats will further help achieve this goal.

Evaluating your central heating systems for the right type of radiators, the right number of radiators and the right balance of those central heating radiators will result in the most efficient use of your central heating systems and substantial savings of energy bills.

Many people are aware that central heating radiator systems can save them money but they do not understand the variables making central heating radiators more efficient then other radiator types. What follows are some frequently asked questions and answers about how central heating radiator systems can save you the most amount of money possible.

How do my central heating radiators save me money?

Central heating radiators save money because they simply produce more heat than other radiator types using the same amount of energy. If you buy a concentrated floor cleaner that is the same price as your regular cleaner but will last longer than your brand, you save by getting more for your money. This is the same principal by which central heating radiators save you money.

Can I do anything to further increase my savings?

Even a good system can be improved upon and made better. To further save on energy bills, you may need to add more radiators to the central heating system in your home. This may seem illogical but there is a reasonable explanation. Many domestic boilers are overly efficient for the central heating system they control. This means they are too strong for the amount of radiators in the central heating system and constantly waste energy by trying to reheat already hot water. If your home has the right amount of radiators to match the energy output of your boiler then the boiler water will cycle through the whole system and the water that is returned back to the boiler should be cold. Your boiler will then be heating water with less frequency and the water will be cold and not hot, cutting back on your boiler’s previous wasteful expenditure of energy.

I’ve heard that balancing my central radiator system can help. What does that mean?

Balancing your central radiator system is the process by which you regulate the distribution of hot water evenly to all radiators in the system. Balancing is necessary since the pipe system connecting your boiler to all your radiators creates a system where the radiators closest to the boiler gets more hot water than other radiators. Balancing the system using locksheid valves and thermostats on the pipes are ways to balance the radiators and increase the central heating system’s efficiency so that you will save money in the process.