Ah, February. Time to put on your touque, pull on your mitts and zip up your parka. Now you're ready for a visit to…the living room! If your hot-water radiators are giving you the cold shoulder, it's time to give them a proper tune-up.
For starters, you may be disrupting airflow around the radiators by blocking it with furniture. Allow the heat to circulate by leaving at least six inches of open space around each unit.
Now that you have enough room to manoeuvre, you can start “bleeding” the rads. (No, you're not attacking them for shirking their duty.) Make sure that the furnace is on and that the circulation pump is running. Start with the rads farthest from the furnace, usually those on the top floor, and work your way down. Each rad will have either a dial you turn or require a key to open an air-bleed valve. Catch water spurts by holding a cup or bucket under the valve when you open it. Listen for air rushing out and keep the valve open until the hissing stops or water spurts out. You should do this at least once a year; more often if the heat diminishes.
Next, check the angle of your rads using a level. They should slope slightly toward the outflow line. If they slope the other way, adjust the legs by sliding shims under the opposite side. You want a slope of five degrees or less.
To maximize the warmth, apply heat reflectors to the wall behind each rad for further efficiency and heat retention. These prevent heat from escaping out through the wall and, as their name suggests, reflect it back into the room. Panels can be cut or pasted together to fit any rad. For aesthetics, measure panels slightly narrower and shorter than the rad itself. On the other hand, if you find certain rooms get too hot, many systems will allow you to shut off an individual rad by closing the inlet valve at its base.
You should also completely drain the system periodically. This once-a-decade job removes impurities in the water and improves water circulation. But if your system has an expansion tank for water overflow, you should drain it once a year.
Once the heat is on, there are a couple of things you can do to make your radiant heat more comfortable. While it may seem counterintuitive, a ceiling or low-speed room fan helps circulate warm air from your rads throughout the room. And the heat itself can be lip-cracking dry. The cheap remedy is to rest a bowl or pot of water on top of each radiator.
Finally, you probably noticed all the dust bunnies breeding between the rad ridges. Before you pack up for the day, give them a cleaning. Once that bit of housework is over, sit back and bask in the warmth.
What you'll need:
To turn up the heat, you'll need a level, hammer and shims, bucket, bowl, tape measure, scissors, double-sided tape and heat reflectors.
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