Get rid of Cold Spots on Your Radiators

If your house is not as warm as you would like it to be, don't worry, you probably don't need to worry about anything as costly as boiler repair, it might be something much more easy to fix such as cold spots on your radiators.

Cold spots on your radiator may indicate pockets of air or a build up of sludge or limescale in the system. You may be able to fix the issue yourself by bleeding your radiators, or you might benefit from having the system power flushed to make it work more efficiently.

You might be able to solve this yourself

Before you pick up the phone, you might be able to improve the performance of your radiators and heating system yourself:

1. Turn on your central heating. Check that each radiator thermostat is set to the highest temperature and that your main thermostat is also turned up high. By warming up your heating system, you increase the pressure which allows any air in the system to escape more easily when bleeding.
2. Whist the radiators are hot, run your hands over them to check for cold areas. If you discover a radiator with cold patches at the top, you may have discovered an area of trapped air.
3. If you identify a problem radiator you will need to turn off the central heating to prevent further air from entering the system. It can also be dangerous to attempt to bleed a radiator whilst your boiler is still pumping hot water into it.
4. The radiator valve is located at the top of the radiator at one end. Some modern radiators allow you to open the valve using a flat top screwdriver, but for most you will need a radiator key to turn a square piece of metal which opens the valve.
5. Hold a cloth under the valve, steam and water will be released when it is opened. You might need to place a container or rag below the radiator to collect any escaping water.
6. When you open the radiator valve, you will hear the hiss of trapped air escaping. You must be careful to open the valve slowly and very gradually so that it doesn't pop open completely and allow the water to flood out. Only bleed the radiator as much as required to allow the air to hiss out. When the hissing noise has stopped, all the air has been releases and you can tighten the valve back by turning it in a clockwise direction.
7. Repeat this process for every radiator in the system. Once you have released all of the trapped air from your central heating you will need to check the pressure gauge. The pressure will have dropped following the radiator bleeding and should be between 1 and 1.5 when cold.

Once you have successfully released air locks from your radiators, you can turn the heating back on and check once again for any cold spots.

IF you find that you still have cold spots or that they develop again, we can help. Powerflushing is one of the safest and most effective ways to remove dirt and other unwanted debris from your radiators. Using a high flow system and a powerful selection of cleaning chemicals, ABS can clean out your pipework and leave it as good as new.