How to Balance Heating System Radiators - Plumbing Tips 

*Links to the tools I use everyday here:* www.amazon.co.uk/shop/plumberparts Plus, follow my *Vlog “TimesWithJames”:* ru-vid.com

I have a radiator in my conservatory that hasn't worked right since the day I moved in. Tried bleeding it, flushing it and changing the TRV with no success. Did this and SORTED! Clear, concise and you talk to us like we're not idiots - great job, thanks!

Bloody ell years of the rads in my house being crap I watched your video tother day and it's now bloody great, warm all over. Such a good result for a little bit of work. Thanks muchly.

This young man is a marvel who is first class at getting all this advice across , Ten out of ten for all your advice

I've head 2 engineers on 2 separate occasions coming to do the balancing and £160 later they still did not manage. So I've taken it upon myself (a 44 years old woman with no clue) I have watched and listen to you on th8s video and I've sorted it myself. What can I say, you explained it in the most simple, way that can be understood even by myself. I thank you sooooo much and wish you well! You are doing a fantastic job helping others.

Had two radiators that stopped working from one day to the next, researched for hours to figure out what the problem could be and was about to call a plumber but with your help I fixed it myself. Bled all radiators, balanced the system, repressurised - sorted! Thank you!

Great tips! Just put the heating on for the first time in our new house and thanks to your advice I've now got heat in 2 radiators that had none! Thank you!

now walking like a boss after this simple fix resolved my heating issues :D thanks for this and "hold tight!"

I bought a house with an old gravity fed system. The engineer in me is enjoying learning how it all works and these vids are great 👍 replaced some dog old 1700w rads in the bedrooms. Ridiculous sized rads. Anyway, finally have a balanced heat output for the first time

Thanks PP, I have had a cold house for twenty years until I saw your presentation. Every plumber just said a new boiler was needed , not one checked the balance of my system even after a new boiler installation, Thank you, now in a tee shirt on Boxing Day!!!

Thank you so much! I've had one radiator not working for about 18 months. Paid a very well respected plumber who serviced the boiler and poured some fluid into the radiator, charged me a small fortune and it still didn't work. Followed your video and my radiator is now piping hot!! Thank you so much.

This has just fixed my problem after a few days of pondering why one radiator was stone cold, but the others toasting! Had to drain system to re-fit loose wall bracket on an upstairs radiator; cleaned the system out whilst I had the chance (replaced valve with bleed spigot version - now a doddle!); added inhibitor and consistently had a stone-cold rad downstairs. Followed this guide and all rads now nice and toasty; system cleaned out, with inhibitor, ready for Winter. Thanks ever so much for great advice; put across in such an easy-to-understand way. Expert!

Good video. Minor narration mistake, at 02:39 you are closing the Lockshied valve by turning it clockwise, not anticlockwise as you said. Good work.

I've read some frankly confusion instructions on line before coming across this fella. Within 30 minutes, the heat distribution in my house was sorted. Thanks very much for the no nonsense tutorial.

Just fixed my double radiator in living room - no more blankets required watching TV - thanks guys for easy to follow instructions - my radiator become hot as soon as the TRV came off which obviously released the tension in the pin - bit tricky getting it back on - at the correct setting - I initially put the TRV switch back on in such a way that it couldn't be turned through the settings 1-5 , but had another go and positioned it properly - now everyone is warm and i'm there hero !!!

Great guidance in a well put manner, hasn't let us down yet. Thank you

2 video (

Mate your clips are the dogs bollocks, you've saved me a little fortune and a headache. Thanks

Thanks so much for this! I spent the last two hours trying to figure out why my downstairs radiators weren't coming on, and then balancing it all out like you explained in this video fixed it! Legend.

Thanks mate I always had a problem with one of the radiators in the bedroom now BINGO thanks to you i now have hot radiators ready for winrer 👍👍

Genius! Well done fella. Just tried this method as my last 2 radiators in the new house were not getting warm. Restricted the upstairs ones slightly and hey ho, all rads warm again. Great vid!

Once again you have saved me money with your advice this is like the 5th time your videos have helped me fix the pluming. Your a legend

I watched this before I was qualified and I never had a clue what you was talking about but now I have some years experience under my belt I know exactly what your talking about now I understand your plumbing language. I appreciate your videos

Legit this plumber has saved me time & money. Thank you! 100% subbed 😊👍

Thanks, someone, who claimed to know, insisted I had it wrong. I've only been doing it as you described for about 40 yeas!

Mate! After days of scratching my head and arguing with the missus... five mins watching your easy to understand videos, a quick run round the house's radiators and I have heat in the two radiators at the end of the line that were previously cold! A hero! Subscribed, keep up the good work.

I’m in a bungalow. The heating has worked fine for 32 years then for no apparent reason two radiators on a spur wouldn’t get hot. Bleeding didn’t help so after watching this video I temporarily closed down three of the other rads and it cured the problem, proving that a bit of balancing might need doing, although it’s a mystery why it should happen after 32 years. Thank you.

Great stuff!...awesome educational video, covering all the necessaries, without any waffle!...Thanks a lot!

Dude you just saved Christmas!!! Ive had this problem for ages with two radiators at the front of the house never getting warm! I just followed your advice and they are all hot now! Have a brilliant Christmas my friend!

I can't thank you enough, sorted my recent cold radiator problem by balancing.

Your videos are great! I know a wee bit about plumbing so they all make sense to me and I've learned a lot. My dad's a retired plumber and kept a telling me to balance my rads and how to do it but he didn't explain why. You should have more views...

Excellent, thank you very much i thought I had a rough idea, but this REALLY helped me with my couple of cold rooms

wow that has solved my problem turned down lockshield valves upstairs now have a hot rad in kitchen happy wife and warm kitchen many thanks

Excellent advice 👍 I turned a radiator off at Xmas time as it was close to my Xmas tree. Only just noticed (February time) that I hadn't turned it back on and now it didn't heat up! Followed your advice towards the end of your video and managed to release the stuck valve. Thanks 😁👍

Brilliant. I've been back to this video a few times over the years...

Thanks for this worked a treat. Had three new radiators added to the system in the summer in a part of the house that has never had any. Two of the new ones had water in but never got even warm so turned the locksheild valves right down on all the upstairs radiators and like magic they got warm. Then just adjusted the vales downstairs to balance the system out. My first thought was that the pump was'nt strong enough to push the water around too the new radiators glad it turned out to be a simple fix.

Best plumbing vids on RU-vid. I have a trench radiator that doesn't heat up. No air in the rad, heat gets into the feed pipe by the boiler (it has its own feed and return pipes coming off the main F&R for the rest of the rads) but doesnt make it to the trench rad. No TVR, but all valves are open. The only thing left I can think of is sludge. Have i missed something obvious? Thanks for the vids, they have been really useful.

fantastic! Simple clear instructions now my heating is perfect throughout the house. Thank you

Thank you ***** - this video worked a treat! Our house is so much warmer now.

Thanks for the demo it has made a massive difference to the heating downstairs. 👌.

Just had a new combi boiler. The gentleman that installed it couldn't get the rads (upstairs & downstairs) to heat up evenly. Your excellent video nailed the problem and makes me think the installer doesn't know as much as he should do, before letting himself loose in other peoples' homes. Harrumph! Good show & Thank you!

Fantastic video! - Solved my issue of extending a radiator in the living room to another wall and it receiving no hot water. After balancing the other radiators its instantly hot! - who knew it was that simple

Bloody hell worked for me !! Heating working better than it ever Has. After decorating etc. and removing rads never realised how important it was to balance the system !

Brilliant Cheer's for the tip . Last radiator on line is really hot now. Thanks again

Someone has been out to fix my non working radiator today, fixed it and.left. Turned the heating off for a bit and back on and not working again! Followed your video half an hr ago and all working perfectly! Cheers! :)

All I can say is thank you! Had a power flush done because one radiator wasn't working, then after the powerflush all 3 downstairs radiators were stone cold. the plumber said my boiler was old and faulty and then tried to sell me a new one! I saw this video and rebalanced all the radiators myself and viola! have heat again!

Great video. Great advice. I had a problem with random cold radiators around the ground floor of my house. Followed your advice and all working well now. Thank you very much 👍.

This guy is a genius! Thank you so much!!!

Amazing Channel. This video saved me at least £60 today.

Your video helped me fix a cold heater downstairs and a tank with no hot water! Thank you so much!

Wow..... you have helped me out massively! Thanks... i was really struggling but you really have helped! Well done and thanks!

Thankyou so much i used this information to fix my heating in my house iv been in with my kids for a yr and a half,took a half hour to bleed and balance the radiators and they all work perfect now,im saving for a combi boiler and just for this information i am going to buy all the parts and boiler from you guys,many thanks this xmas from this now warm home,great stuff

Brills - was just about to call in a plumber to fix mine. So chuffed I have done it myself and saved money!

Got to say I have watched a few vids on balancing rads on youtube, and this is by far the easiest to understand.

Trikeman Hello having watched your video tonight carried out your instructions regarding water flow and closing lockshield valves on all radiators upstairs and upon switching system on again It was great to find that all radiators both upstairs and downstairs are now nice and hot. Heating has not been this good since last winter when all the downstairs radiators but one stayed luke warm. Thank you for your advice, one happy person here..

Your tip about balancing was spot on. Thank you.

You are so much calmer in these early videos. Fame has got to ya, baby!!! Thanks loads for these vids mate 8-)

After much persuading my husband tried this to shut me up, glad to say it fixed problem. Still no thanks from hubby but thank you.Plumberparts.

Fantastic presentation demonstration, all my radiator are now working perfectly, thank you Sir!!.

Trying this tomorrow - kitchen is FREEEEEEZZZING today!! Will keep you posted!

You have some really good videos very well edited and explained great sketches to this will help tons of people 💪🏽❤️👍🏽

Was panicking as son had no heat in his room and is severely disabled>Watched your very clear and easily descriptive videos and OMG problem solved. Thank you heat warrior you saved the day!!!!!

I have slowly unbalanced my central heating through years of DIY removal and replacement of radiators for decorating etc. This is soooo obvious once you see it. Thankyou so much.

You are spot-on . the system is working perfect now - Many thanks for great videos

thank God I found this video, now I don't have to sleep in the cold anymore. thanks alot 👍 👍

Straight to the point advice. Thanks.

Thank you for your video, you helped me fix my cold radiator. I have no idea how our lock valve got turned off but that's what needed adjusting :)

So. After 2 powerflushes and 3 plumbers (to be honest, I am sure our system needed the flush) the two rads in my 'man cave' still wouldn't work. 25mins after watching this... I was complaining to my wife I was too hot! Thank you very much indeed. We will be coming to you/ when we need any plumbing done. Nice one PP.

Good tip, but the boiler installer should do this. I haven't read all of the posts so apologise if someone has already mentioned this. As well as 'balancing' the radiators to get them all working you should use the lockshields to regulate the flow to give the proper temperature drop between the flow and return of each radiator. For a non-condensing boiler this is usually about 11 deg,C, for a condensing boiler the recommendation is 20 deg. C. If, like me, you have had a new boiler fitted to system which was not designed for a condensing boiler then you will probably have difficulty getting 20 deg. An experienced installer can check the temperatures by feeling the radiator pipes but I doubt if this is accurate enough. I bought a cheap and cheerful infrared thermometer, not completely accurate but it does the job. The idea with the condensing boiler is to get it to actually condense. The return water temperature at the boiler needs to be below the dew point of the flue gasses, about 56 deg C. The lockshield on my largest radiator is stuck fully open so I only have a 1 or 2 deg drop on that one. At the moment I have a 12 deg. drop between the flow and return at the boiler so I set the boiler temperature to 68 deg. and now get a constant plume from the flue showing it is working at the maximum efficiency. It will take a bit more fiddling with the valves to get the temperatures right. If you can live with a lower flow temperature then you don't need to worry too much about the temperature drop so long as the return to the boiler is below 56 deg. Another useful tip I spotted on a blog, to save money with a combi boiler, is to turn the pre-heat off. I am fairly sure I am now saving about £10 a month heating domestic hot water. I have to wait another 30 secs. or so for the water to run hot but I don't have a water meter and this is not an issue.

Just to clarify, at 2:43 you say close the valve by turning it anti-clockwise but I think you mean clockwise (the direction you look to be turning it in the video).

Just one thing, if you turn anticlockwise that's fully on not off.

Thank you for a straight forward explanation 👍🏻

You sir are a star!! Finally balanced my rads so that I have them all working, they were gradually dying one by one and I was running out of ideas other than flushing them all - way easier your way, Many, many thanks

Even tho some of these videos are straight forward to a plumber , they are still very well explained thanks for your time doin these 👍🏽

What a star, was on the verge of calling a plumber, tried this and as we speak the downstairs rads are heating up!!!

Nice one, couldn't get some of my rads hot now all working great! Spent ages previous messing about wish I'd have found this clip sooner!

great video, found out exactly what I needed to do!

This is a really good video on heating system balancing so far. It was quite informative. The problem is I have done the balancing to my heating system just the way you explained and the last radiator was still not getting enough heat. Few times it works but majority of times, there is a delay, like 1hr to 2hrs after the central heating had come on and others working fine. Sometimes the top is warm and the bottom of thiscradiator is cold. I have tried turning off the other downstairs radiators' lockshields and turning them on 3 turns instead of opening them fully, in conjunction to the lockshields adjustment already done upstairs, but I'm still experiencing the same problem. I have a feeling the radiator is full of sludge because inlet pipe to the radiator is really hot but outlet pipe is cold and the thermostatic valve is all the way out. I have turned the lockshields upstairs off on several occasions, in order to increase the pressure of hot water going to the last radiator and to remove the blockage. This seemed to work but I can't keep doing that every time, as it is a pain. I've invited someone to look at it and all they did was switch off all other radiators' thermostatic valves; both upstairs and downstairs and few minutes later, it started working. After like 3 days, back to square one again. What do I do here please? I have a feeling this radiator needs flushing. What do you think?

Great tip for balancing the rads Many Thanks for the tips . Shall look again if i have any more problems ( id put 2 rads in my conservatory and they were only warm not hot ) easy fix only took me 1/2 hr . THANKS AGAIN .

Brilliant advice, sorted my problem.

Thanks dude! All our radiators are working a treat..great tip..so smiple! Adz.

great video perfectly explained and so easy to understand.

worked like a charm, thank you

Perfect. Worked a treat

Yipeeee! Thanks mate! I had 1 rad luke warm - tried bleeding - also made sure valve open (broke the damn thing off but it is open) still not hot. Then went upstairs turned rads off. Presto! Luke warm rad now hot! Cheers! Saved me calling out British Gas.

Brilliant video and coach!

Great tips really helped me sort my heating out,I never knew they all used a common return, so now the flow Ballance makes perfect sense. Thank you

Wow. This is awesome. This dude does a great job describing how to heat balance your system.

good video. worked a treat. cheers.

Bloody brilliant advice, many thanks.

Mate, thank you for this series of vids. I did have a rad that wasn't getting hot. I changed the TRV and balanced the system and its now pumping heat into our lounge once more. I couldn't have done it with out your awesome vids. Thank you. 🔥🔥🔥🔥👌👌👌🙏🙏🙏

Excellent explanation.

Great video again!

excellent cleary described.

Hello mate. I had this problem you fixed it thankyou so much top man ;)

Excellent mate. Thanks a lot for this video.

We fitted a couple of radiators and they would hot heat up, flushed them out, nothing, after watching your video 30mins later system working good as new Thanks 😊

Great video mate, thanks!

still 11 years younger :) top video & most importantly presenter .. :)

Anne S. Great advice, radiator working now, many thanks.