Energy advice update: Getting the most out of your radiators

Our energy advice service team is on hand to help people in Greater Manchester and Lancashire with queries, requests for help and advice. 

Whether that’s support with reducing energy bills, how to make homes more energy efficient, or for advice around energy debt, the team is always happy to help.

Here, they tell us more about how to get the best results from the radiators around your home…

How do radiators work? 

The idea of a radiator is quite simple.  It takes the hot water from your boiler, that is flowing around your home, and creates hot air to keep you warm.  The radiator is transferring heat from water to air so that hot water and cold air go in, and cool water and hot air come out. 

Radiators are full of water and are specially designed to have a maximum surface area to allow the heat to move from the water, through the radiators surface to the air it is touching.  This is why they are often metal, thin and have lots of fins – all a part of helping the heat transfer to happen. 

The heat from the radiator then makes its way to you in two ways: 

• Convection – the movement of heated air around a room distributing heat.
• Radiation – heat transfer through infrared light (you can’t see it, but you can feel it when you hold your hand near a hot thing.   

Valve settings: 

To control your radiator, there are valves at either end that change the amount of water going in and out.  One valve should be fully open and is only ever closed by a plumber if they want to remove the radiator from the wall.  However, the main valve is the control valve which changes how much heat you get from your radiator, by changing how much how water goes in.  More water in, more heat out. 

For a long time, this was a simple turn valve, like a tap, that you would adjust yourself in response to the temperature of your room.  However, things have progressed and most radiators now have a TRV (Thermostatic Radiator Valve), with numbers up to 5, a frost setting and a fully closed position. 

A TRV automatically adjusts the flow of water into your radiator in response to the temperature of the room.  

So instead of having to open and close the valve manually, the TRV allows you to set a target temperature and let the valve do the hard work for you.  Every TRV manufacturer is different, but typically the numbers indicate the following room temperatures:

There are lots of guides online about setting your TRV temperatures, but in general, set them at 3 and once your heating has been on for a couple of hours, work your way around your rooms and decide if you would like them a little hotter or colder.  Move the numbers up and down by 1, wait another hour and check again.  Keep repeating until you’re happy with every room you have set.  Just remember it takes time for the temperature in a room to settle and the changes aren’t instant.  Small changes on the valve are all you need. 

Most importantly, remember that the number on the TRV is the target temperature for a room.  Turning it up to 5 when a room is cold will not get you there any quicker, instead you are just setting a higher maximum and risk overheating. 

Getting good results: 

To allow your radiators to work at their best, there are a few steps you can take to help them work so they can get the most heat into your home: 

• Obstructions – Try and keep the area around your radiator clear.  It needs to breathe so that the warm air can circulate.  Avoid clogging it up by putting furniture in font or wet washing on top.  Both of these will slow down the process of heating up the room.
• Cleaning – The fins inside your radiator can get blocked up with dust and dirt.  Vacuuming with the crevice tool or using a long radiator brush, will help your radiator breathe clearly and work much faster. 
• Insulation – Radiators on external walls can waste heat.  To help prevent this you can buy and instal simple reflectors that keep the heat from your radiator in the room.  They look like silver panels and hide out of sight but focus on keeping the warmth in the room and not escaping out through your brickwork. 
• Bleeding – Radiators can build up air inside them which is then trapped.  Trapped air means less warm water and less heat from the radiator into your home.  The answer is to release the air through ‘bleeding’.  You can tell if your radiator needs bleeding when the bottom is hot, but the top, where the air is, is much colder to the touch.  To do this you need a bleed key and a rag (it can get messy).  There are plenty of tutorial videos how to do this online but only attempt it if you are confident in what you are doing.  

If you have any queries about radiators, or about ways you can save money on your energy bills and keep your home as energy efficient as possible, why not contact our team?

We’re always happy to help and you can find us at one of our regular free drop-in sessions, or can get in touch by emailing energyadvice@caritassalford.org.uk. 

We also do home visits and can do a quick review of your whole heating system in person, check for damp and its causes and check your energy tariff too.  All designed to help you keep warm, healthy and to save you money too.

Get in touch!