Reasons why heating radiators do not warm well.

If winter is on your doorstep and your home is cold, you need to find out what the cause is. Roman Shidlauskas, an expert of the Italian radiator manufacturer Global Radiatori, helps you to find out who is to blame and what to do.

The management company is to blame

There is a possibility that there are not yet severe frosts outside, so the management company is not yet heating to the maximum. That is, heating the coolant that enters the heating system, not to 70 °C, but only to 50 °C. Then the heat output of a radiator section will be, for example, not 160 W, but 110 W.

What to do? Residents of houses connected to the central heating system, unfortunately, there is nothing much to do, because the water temperature is set uniformly for several districts. But those who have a house boiler, you can agree with neighbors and the MC to increase the temperature of the coolant. This is, of course, provided that all the residents of the house are cold. Keep in mind that this will be reflected in the heating bills.

Blame the neighbors

It happens that someone in the entrance changed the heating batteries in the apartment, without consulting the management company, let’s say, put devices more powerful. For this reason, the pressure in the system is not enough to supply heat to the radiators of all apartments. Or just a neighbor blocked his radiators without putting a bypass, so your radiators do not receive heat at all.

What to do? Talk to your neighbors, persuade them to open the ball valves, if the reason for the lack of bypass. And complain to the MC, if the neighbors have changed the heating system in their apartment without approval.

Blame the installers

And this can be, especially if the masters were without special engineering education and knowledge of the nuances of the heating system. They could, for example, install too voluminous radiators or improperly choose the type of connection. Because of this, the radiators may not warm up completely and the apartment will be cold.

Choose professional installers with references, a contract and a guarantee for the work performed. And if the problem has already happened, you can contact the MC to send their own installer. But it is better to find an experienced specialist who will fix the problem.

The manufacturer is to blame

You can comply with all the rules of installation, but the radiator will be weakly warm simply because it is so made. For example, aluminum radiators from China often have smaller dimensions than European devices. Because of the smaller area, they give off less heat. Also, some manufacturers save on raw materials and instead of quality aluminum alloy, which is good at transferring heat, use cheap metal with many impurities, which will eventually have a bad effect on the heat output of the device.

What to do: choose quality batteries with high heat output. The optimal option – European radiators with a heat output of not less than 175 W per section. By the way, they last twice as long as Chinese radiators.

You are to blame

Yes, without noticing it, you can reduce the heat output of batteries. For example, if you decide to “sink” them in the wall and close them with a blind screen, blocked by a cabinet or a sofa. In this position, the heat from the radiator simply has nowhere to go, so the room is cold. Even thick curtains can be a barrier to warm air, especially if the windows are panoramic, and radiators are on the sides and completely hidden behind sliding curtains.

What to do: free the radiators from furniture and curtains. If you really want to hide them, use not blind screens, but decorative panels with many holes on all sides. And to avoid covering radiators on the side of windows, you can use Roman curtains instead of ordinary curtains.