Balancing central heating

Ebe_Scrooge

I'm wanting to balance my heating - I think over the years it's been fiddled about with so much it's become unbalanced ( I know how it feels ! :rotfl:)




Anyhow, I know how to do it in theory, which is essentially having the lockshield on the rad nearest the boiler only open a crack, then having the others progressively more open as you get further away from the boiler.


My question is - how do you determine which rad is "closest" and which is "furthest away" from the boiler. Surely one doesn't have to lift every floorboard in the house and physically trace the pipe run ????

martinthebandit

Make sure all your TRV are fully open.
Open all the lock shield valves half a turn.
Run heating for 30 minutes.
On any radiators that haven't got hot open the lock shield valves another half turn.
Run heating for 30 minutes.
On any radiators that haven't got hot open the lock shield valves another half turn.
Repeat till all radiators are hot.

Jobs a good 'un

Alex1983

Open everything open fully and put the heating on. You can then slow the quickest down and fine tune accordingly.

Or use temperature sensors and set them so you get the correct temperature difference between flow and return.

Ebe_Scrooge

Thanks folks, I'll give these suggestions a go at the weekend :beer: