Radiator Valves: All You Need to Know

If you’re buying new radiators, then you will want to ensure that you look after your new investment. Part of this is buying the correct type of valves. With some radiators, the valves come as standard, but with others, you must purchase them as separate items. It is important that you first establish whether you need to buy valves, and then, that you make the correct choices. Many people forget to buy their radiator valves, and at best, this leads to delays in refitting the system, but at worse, it can cause damage to the radiators, necessitating an entire replacement. Here, we’re going to discuss the various things that you need to consider when buying modern radiator valves.

What to the Valves Do?

There are two types of valve: the bleed valve and the temperature valve.

Bleed Valves

The radiator valve has an important role. Over time, the radiator system will let in air. This creates pockets of air, and where the pockets of air occur, the radiators are less efficient. If you touch the radiator and the heat distribution is uneven, then this can often be due to the presence of air in the system. It is important that the air is let out of the system, and this is done through the valve. Different valves work in different ways, but they all follow the same principle: they are one-way valves that let the air out of the radiators.

The process of letting air out of the radiators is known as ‘bleeding the radiators’. You need to be careful when bleeding the radiators, because if you let the air out too fast, it can let water out too, which will splash everywhere. More important, though, is that you ensure that the radiators are cool before you bleed them, otherwise, when water splashes out it will burn, and so too will the air. Although air burns less than water, you still don’t want to be on the receiving end of a blast of boiling-hot air.

Temperature Regulating Valves

These valves control the volume of water in the radiators. The greater the volume of water, the hotter the radiator.

·         What are the Various Types of Temperature Radiator Valves

Modern radiator valves are more diverse than traditional valves. Today, there are three general types of valve, these are:

1.       Manual radiator valves: here, you operate the valve by hand. Either you use a bleed key, or you simply twist the valve with your hands (or maybe a wrench) if it’s too tight. Manual valves work like taps.

2.       Thermostatic radiator valves: these are relatively sophisticated and they control the radiator automatically – you don’t have to do anything unless they need replacing/fixing. They use a thermostat to determine how much water the radiator will allow in. The greater the volume of water, the hotter the radiator can become.

3.       Lock shield valves: these are slightly more complex than the other two types, in that they ‘balance’ the system and ensure that there is an even distribution of water in the radiators.

We understand that radiator valves can be fairly complex, so if you would like further help and advice about modern radiator valves, then please visit http://www.designerradiatorsdirect.co.uk.

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