The job of radiator balancing can be known by many names. You may also hear it described as balancing a central heating system. The only exceptions to this is a warm air central heating system or underfloor heating. The process makes sure that all the radiators get equal heat. In an ideal situation, they would all get hot together, in roughly the same time. Should all your radiators get hot evenly, then you don’t need to balance the system. It can be a DIY task but if you are unsure, ask a professional plumbing like Highgate Plumbers to help. Note: 1x Clip-on Thermometer is required and can be bought or even hired. This is required so that you can accurately monitor the radiator temperatures. Here is a basic guide: Isolate the central heating boiler and wait until the system is cool enough to allow the work to commence, as balancing can’t be done when the radiators are hot. Open up each pair of valves fitted to all the radiators in the circuit. Now, fire up the boiler and wait until the heat radiates through the system. A Highgate Plumber is trained to work on all appliances. Go through the circuit and write down the order in which the radiators heat up. You will need help if there are many radiators. This section of the job is quite time consuming and needs you to be really methodical. Once completed, you will need to cool the system once more. Start the boiler again and then from your list go to the first radiator and shut the lock-shield valve, then re-open quarter of one turn, noting the temperature with clip on thermometer at the flow and return pipes just below the valves. Make the same adjustments to every radiator in turn until you have done them all. The proof that you have balanced the system correctly, will be the valves say, on radiator number three will be slightly more open than on radiator number two, and so on, to the point that the valve on the final radiator in the circuit will be almost fully open.