I understand radiator balancing to mean, with the TRV set to maximum, closing the other valve to create a temperature differential of some suitable value between inlet and outlet.
Is it necessary/advisable/prudent/worthwhile to do so? What is the 'suitable' value for the differential? Where do I get suitable clip on thermometers, and what are they called?
TIA
Richard
Richard wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@pipex.net:
Yes; some radiatpors or branches have lower impedance than others, so the hot water flow will favour them and not heat the others so much.
What is the 'suitable' value for the differential?
20 deg F/11 deg CWhere do I get suitable clip on thermometers, and what are they called?
Erm.... someone will know; I much prefer to use an infrared thermometer like this
Its instant - the clip on pair takes ages to settle, you can read both ends in seconds with one of these, it does lots of other things, and you can play with the laser. Some folks put a bit of blacl tape on the rad to assist in taking a reading
When the rads are balanced, each one should be working at an equal temperature and proportion of it's rated power, (dependant on heatant temperature). So you'll get more out of the big ones than the little ones
One, the farthest/highest impedance - should have it's lockshield wide open; don't get sucked into gradually screwing them all down till they're all shut DAMHIK
mike
You'll find all these answers in the FAQ
You might consider an IR type - useful for other things too.
Sorry Dave
Yep, been looking at the one from Maplin. But £40-odd quid . . . might take a bit of convincing of SWMBO!
>
They have had it on special offer occasionally. I bought a couple of them for £25 (one for someone else). (OTOH, one died and had to be replaced under warantee.)
Have they gone up again? I bought one about a year ago or more from Maplin for under 30 quid.
You might try Ebay, though.
I think last time I saw clip on thermometers they were about a tenner each.
It would make an excellent Educational Toy for a child. You might even let them play with it occasionally.
Owain
====================== Here's one source but most local CH stores will have them:
Cic.
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You can speed up their response by putting a dollop of heat sink compound on the metal pad at the back which touches the pipe.
If you buy two, make sure they are correctly calibrated before you start by putting them on the same pipe and adjusting to read the same. It doesn't matter if they are not accurate in absolute terms, but it does matter if they are not identical. There was about 5C difference between the two I bought to put on the boiler flow and return pipes -- that's more than enough difference to screw up radiator balancing.
It's a damn sight more accurate than those clip on thermometers...
Might want to avoid the type with laser aiming, in that case. That's a toy for the adults...
...providing you don't point it at a bare copper pipe, on which it doesn't work at all (copper is the infra-red equivalent of a mirror). Put some tape or paint on the copper, or I point it at the white stub on the radiator the pipe is connected to.
I'd echo that. I was amazed, both at how little heat was radiated from bare copper pipe, and by how much is radiated from a white radiator surface. I assume the paint finish by the manufacturer is optimised as a good radiator, it is white, but very close to a black body in the infra red region.
Thanks for all replies. I'll work on SWMBO regarding an IR thermometer. Can't use the educational toy argument as, fortunately, we have no children. However she maintains that, although frequently infantile, I'm unteachable!
Richard
snipped-for-privacy@cucumber.demon.co.uk (Andrew Gabriel) wrote in news:44e6d5e6$0$632$ snipped-for-privacy@news.aaisp.net.uk:
Yeah, great, aren't they?
Oh gawd, am I an adult?
mike
============================ You might also consider a 'Gunson's Pocket Meter - 2' (note -2) - about £18-00p from Halfords. It needs contact but the readings are quick and possibly more reliable than the infrared meters suggested. Definitely quicker than the clip-on things.
Cic.
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Thanks Cicero. And at £18 I get lose it in the accounts!!!
Richard
You can fool yourself with some of them as there's a parallax error between the laser spot antdthe sensor.
It was only when I noticed implausible readings that I started investigating and discoverd just how misaligned the two beams are when you're targetting a small object ( like a pipe ) at close range.
I found that if I scanned the thermometer across the bit of black tape stuck to the pipe and observed the readings, the peak happened with the laser more than 1cm past the pipe.
Once you know the direction and amount of the misalignment, it's dead easy to aim accordingly. Aligning the laser and sensor along the pipe reduces the error, but you can still end up missing the bit of black tape if you're using some.
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