At a time when many households in the country prepare to switch off their central heating systems as the early spring sunshine warms up their homes, few will consider maintaining the radiators and pipe work, but they should. Many people only think about their heating when it goes wrong and by then it is often too late. A cold house or even worse a leaking radiator that leads to a household insurance claim can be avoided by a little forethought and planning.
There are many simple things you can do to solve the problems with a central heating system before arranging an engineer visit or purchasing a new unit.
System running hot and cold
The most common problem is that your radiator is hot at the bottom but cold at the top. It means that air is trapped in the system preventing the efficient circulation of the hot water, so you need to bleed the radiator. You need a radiator-bleeding key which you can buy at DIY store. There are sophisticated automatic bleeding keys which cost around £10. I bought a manual bleeding key at a DIY shop for £1.99 which works perfectly. It is very easy to bleed a radiator and if you are not sure there are many how-to videos posted on YouTube and other DIY websites. You only need to bleed it once a year or so. This simple operation can save you a couple of hundreds on your energy bills.
Leaky valves can be sorted out
The other common problem is radiator leakage. Sometimes, especially in winter when the heating system is in constant use the pipes just wobble and the nuts and screws loosen which may cause a small leakage. In some cases the leakage might be temporary and stop in a couple of days – it happened to one of my radiators. If not you need to get a spanner and tighten the gland-nut and the cap-nut. If it still does not stop the leak then you can try applying PTFE tape down into the valve spindle, which can be done without draining the system. Again, you can find many video instructions on the internet.
When all else fails make sure you are covered
If the above methods fail then it may be time to call an engineer. It is worth watching out for leaks and checking radiator temperatures from time to time. It is also worth bearing in mind that central heating systems are made to last a long time and should do so. Many homes still house radiators and pipes that were installed in the 70s and 80s– and they are still in perfect working order.
It is always a good idea to make sure your home insurance broker includes heating cover in your policy as it can often be an emergency situation when the home loses all heating options, and that is why the system should be sorted out now.