“Bleeding” Radiators

If you notice that a radiator isn’t working as well as it should, this could be down to trapped air bubbles in your central heating system and can easily be remedied by “bleeding” the radiator, the process of releasing the trapped air from inside the system.

When water is heated and cooled continuously, air bubbles can be created.

If air gets stuck inside a radiator, it prevents it from emitting the maximum amount of heat into your room.

So it costs you more money, wastes energy and doesn’t heat your bathroom as well as it should.

You should ‘bleed’ all your radiators twice a year to make sure that they heat your rooms as efficiently as possible.

If there’s a big difference in temperature between the top and bottom of any of your radiators, then it needs bleeding.

Here’s how to go about it:

• Turn your heating off.
• Use your radiator key and insert it into the valve at the top of the radiator and turn it anti-clockwise, by no more than half a turn, to open the valve. (Do not unscrew the nut by more than one complete turn.).
• Make sure you have a cloth and a bowl ready to catch any excess water that drips out!
• Turn the key slowly until you hear a hissing sound.
• As soon as the first drop of water hits your cloth, the radiator has been bled of air.
• Immediately turn the key clockwise to the closed position.
• Repeat for all your radiators.

Bleeding your radiators can give your heating a whole new lease of life but, if any of your radiators are still underperforming after you’ve followed these simple steps, call a professional to have the system checked out.