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The Plumber’s Guide

Plumbing & Heating Blog

The Importance of Bleeding Your Radiators

META: Bleeding your radiators is key for an effective central heating system in your home. Here, we discuss the benefits and how to maintain your radiators. There are many household maintenance tasks that can be neglected or forgotten, and regularly bleeding your radiators might be one of them. With a lot of focus put on your central heating and your boiler itself, it’s easy to forget to check up on the actual radiators themselves around your home. Bleeding your radiators is important for an optimised heating system and can also help save money by more effectively producing heat in your home.

What Does it Mean to Bleed a Radiator?

It’s always possible for air to become trapped inside your radiators. This means that your heating system cannot work as effectively as it should to circulate the heat. Bleeding a radiator means this air escapes so that your radiator can work more efficiently.

Why Do You Need to Bleed Your Radiators?

This trapped air in a radiator can prevent heat from spreading throughout the radiator, meaning less effective heating in your home. It can also cost you more money in heating bills due to your heating system failing to warm up your home as easily as it should.

Signs Your Radiator Might Need Bleeding

There are some key signs that your radiator might need bleeding. These include:
  • Your radiator is warm at the bottom but cold at the top, or you can feel various cold spots
  • You can hear gurgling in hot water radiators when first turned on
  • You’re noticing your home is struggling to be heated

How Often Should You Bleed Your Radiators?

It’s good practice to bleed your radiators once a year, even if you feel they are working properly. If you’re ever in doubt or run into problems with your system, you can consult with plumbing services to help.

How to Bleed Your Radiators: A Step-by-Step Guide

Bleeding your radiators doesn’t have to be a stressful job, and is quite easy to do. If you know your radiators need bleeding, it’s important to fix the problem as soon as possible. To bleed your radiators, you will need:
  • A radiator key
  • A cloth to catch the drip, or anything to catch water in
If you’re missing a radiator key, you can find one at your local hardware store. Here are the steps to take to bleed your radiators:
  • Make sure to turn the heating off first
  • It’s a good idea to set up your cloth or container ready to catch any water
  • Find where the radiator bleed plug is located. Open the valve using your radiator key
  • Turn the valve in an anti-clockwise direction until you hear a hissing sound
  • Wait until the hissing sound stops, and then close the valve
  • Do this for all radiators in your home
  • When complete, turn your heating system back on and check the pressure using the gauge on your boiler
  • If, after doing this, you have any problems relating to your pressure, boiler, radiators or hot water, you can find boiler servicing and professional assistance.
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