How to Bleed Radiators as Part of Your Central Heating System

If you have a central heating system, you will have to make sure you devote some regular maintenance time to check that everything works properly. This could be calling out an engineer to do a boiler service for you, or it could be a case of doing a little bit of DIY, and this means bleeding your radiators.

The Homeowner’s Responsibility

Many people overlook the need for bleeding their radiators, and some have never heard about it in the first place. Indeed, it has a rather funny name, but what you’re actually doing is making sure your radiators are fit for purpose and heating up properly when you need them to. If your radiator stays cold, it could mean you need to bleed it. Only you, the homeowner, will know if your radiators aren’t heating up properly, so make a point of going round and checking them every now and then. If you have a very old central heating system this may impact on how often you have to bleed your radiators. Although the boiler and other parts of the central heating system shouldn’t be touched if you’re the homeowner, bleeding radiators is allowed as long as you’re careful.

How to Bleed Radiators

So, how do you tell for sure if your radiators need bleeding? You’ll be able to tell if the top of the radiator is very cold and the bottom is warm. Take care not to burn yourself when checking this though – you could find that the bottom of the radiator is very warm.

Now the important part – how you go about bleeding the radiators. One of the essential things to remember with this is to turn your central heating off, as this could be dangerous otherwise.

Have a hunt around for the bleed key that comes with the radiators. On the top of the radiator you should see a slight protrusion and this is the bleed valve. Open the valve slightly to let some of the air escape, but at the same time make sure the water doesn’t pour out! The best thing to do is to get an old cloth and a little bowl ready to catch the water as it comes out of the radiator. There shouldn’t be a lot, but if there is then you don’t want it to stain your carpet. After this, make sure the bleed valve returns to its previous position. Then turn the heating back on and check there aren’t any leaks from the radiator valve.