How To Bleed A Radiator In Five Easy Steps

How To Bleed A Radiator In A Few Simple Steps

If you’re turning on your hot-water heating system for the first time this year and you notice one of the hot water radiators doesn’t seem to be heating, you may need to do some quick maintenance to get it up to speed. If some radiators in your home are working fine, but others remain cold, it could be that there is air trapped inside one of the radiators. This can prevent the hot water from circulating properly to provide the heat you need.

Letting the air out of the system, or bleeding the radiator, may be an easy solution.

How To Bleed A Radiator

Before you call a professional to provide bleeding radiator services, you may want to consider doing it yourself. It’s a fairly easy process. Finding your radiators bleeding key may be the hardest part!

Here’s a step-by-step how to bleed radiator guide that can show exactly what you need to do.

Step One

The first step is to make sure you have turned off the heat in your home. It’s better if you can wait until the system’s been off for a while to avoid hot water spraying out and potentially scalding you. Then, when you are starting to bleed the radiator, make sure the circulating pump is in operation. This is what adds pressure to the system and pushed the hot water through the pipes.

Step Two

Locate the radiators bleed valve. It’s a small valve that’s usually near the top of your radiator on one of the sides. You will need a radiator key to continue on to the next step. If you don’t have one handy, your local hardware store should have them on hand. If you can’t find your radiator key or don’t want to make a special trip to the store, you can sometimes make it work with pliers or a flathead screwdriver as some valves also have a slot in the top.

Step Three

Grab a cloth and a small bowl before you insert the radiator key and start to bleeding radiators. Water may drop when you bleed radiator valves and you do not want it dripping onto the floor. Hold the bowl or towel under the radiator valve and turn it counterclockwise. Start with half a turn. This should release the built-up air pressure.

The bleed valve will let the air out. At one point, it will suddenly start releasing a steady stream of water – that why you need the bowl and towel. When this happens, you have successfully completed bleeding the radiator. Close the valve again and you should be good to go. Make sure the valve is tightly closed to avoid water leaking out or air leaking in.

Step Four

You likely have more than just one radiator heating your home. You’ll need to do the same things with each one of them. It’s a good idea to do all of them even if they seem to be working fine.

This relieves the pressure on your heating system and makes sure the hot water is flowing properly through the pipes. You should expect to bleed your hot water heating systems with radiators at least once a year for proper operation. We recommend doing it at the start of the cooling season.

Step Five

Pat yourself on the back. Congratulations. You’ve learned how to bleed radiators.

A Note About Stream Radiators

If you have a steam radiator, you won’t need to bleed it. They are equipped with air vents that are specifically designed to automatically let air escape from the radiator as the steam enters. If you’re having similar problems with a steam radiator system, you might have a clogged vent.