Radiator balancing with Evohome/Hometronic/etc.

[JohnnyP]

I've been using Hometronic for years now, but only recently started wondering about the position of the lockshield (return) valves on the radiators. When first installing hometronic I'd just left the lockshields in the existing positions, but now wonder if there is a rationale for changing the positions since one can never really predict which radiator HR80s will be open at any particular time, therefore throwing off any "balance".

Just interested in any thoughts....system working well anyway.

[Hot]

Johnny P - I am using Heat Genius system for my heating controls and I keep my lockshields in the same position for all my radiators as you never know which radiator is going to open up next. My valves are Danfoss and I counted how many screw turns it took to fully open my valves fully and it took 8 1/2 turns so I configured all my Lockshields to be open by 5 turns and now all my radiators are getting enough heat when my Smart TRV request heat from my gas boiler. I believe the same rule will go for your Hometronic lockshields.

[The EVOHOME Shop]

The radiator lockshield valve is there to balance the heating system and it makes no difference if the system is smart controlled or not. Water will always flow the easiest route so the idea of 'balancing' is ensuring the water cannot be pumped to 'easily' through the most direct route (the pipework/route with less frictional resistance to the others). You will find 'correct' balancing of a system will mean most lockshield valves are literally open 1/2 a turn from the fully closed position with only the index circuit lockshield open fully.