Towel Radiator valve question - noobish

lmfy2k · 3 Dec 2015 at 21:24

I've been balancing our central heating system at home and our bedroom rads have trv and usual lock shield on them.

On our bathroom towel rad it seems to have a pair of lock Shields on them, so how do i set them to balance? Or leave both full open?

At the moment I've left them both half turn from being off position, rad gets hot nicely but is this the correct way to do it?

free upload image

dholdi · 3 Dec 2015 at 21:43

How did you balance the others ?

lmfy2k · 3 Dec 2015 at 22:06

Trv full, lock shield closed, then Quarter of a turn open of the lock shield

Then trv set to temp desired

I assume I just do quarter / half turn of the towel rad valves

BigBoy · 3 Dec 2015 at 22:33

Wide open on the towel rail, you want it as hot as can be as it is very thermally inefficient.

dholdi · 3 Dec 2015 at 22:46

lmfy2k said:
Trv full, lock shield closed, then Quarter of a turn open of the lock shield

Then trv set to temp desired

I assume I just do quarter / half turn of the towel rad valves

To balance them correctly you need a thermometer.
The inlet should be 12 deg higher than the outlet.
Rads nearest the boiler will only need the lockshield slightly open whereas rads further away will need more.

JohnnyG · 4 Dec 2015 at 08:56

Leave them fully open, you have to have at least one rad permanently open so the pump can always push water round the system when it's on.

Shelster · 4 Dec 2015 at 09:21

Slight hijack as have never heard of this and now want to do it......have just read some instructions and need a wee bit of clarification.

When doing the balancing, the lockshield refered to is the outlet, correct? And do you set the inlet (TRVs mostly in my case apart from manual in living room and en-suite bathroom) to fully open?

Shelster · 4 Dec 2015 at 09:24

...or have I just realised that I have been thinking about radiator valves the wrong way round....is the TRV on the outlet of the rad?

Shelster · 4 Dec 2015 at 09:34

tis ok....have just read this article and now makes sense.

Will do doing this over the weekend. Have IR thermometer so can get readings on the inlets and outlets. WIll have to go on valves as we have plastic piping in our house

lmfy2k · 4 Dec 2015 at 09:38

Hi mate. Watch this video, gives you an idea https://youtu.be/6slCr3Vdv1g

I believe the newish trv are bi directional so can go on either end,

You just need to lock shield end