- [Host] George says if you've been lucky enough
to stumble across this plumberparts.co.uk video
trying to find out about what to do when you're
first turning your heating system on, then great.
You're going to find out all the information you need
in the next few seconds.
But first, George would like to tell you to subscribe
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week.
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Don't run away moody cat.
Since George can't be bothered to talk to me,
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Plumberparts.co.uk Honest reviews and advice.
Hold tight and welcome to this Plumberparts.co.uk video.
My name's James and today we're here to have a very
quick look through the little checklist that you should
do when you turn on your heating system for the first time
after a balmy British summer of rain and sort of
twenty degrees, you know when it's just not very nice.
The temperature outside at the moment has dropped down
like below zero degrees or whatever and it is getting cold.
So, people are thinking about
turning on their heating systems.
If you're hard, and you haven't turned it on yet,
and you just put another jumper on.
If you're like me, you're thinking about wacking
on your heating now
And this is basically a brief checklist of the things
you should do.
Anyway, I'm going to divide the checklist into two things.
Firstly, just the really simple stuff.
Any kind of house I know what DIY can do with really
simple tools.
And then the slightly more advanced bit.
Don't get me wrong, it's not really, really difficult
but you sort of need slightly a bit more knowledge
or, you know, cojones to have a look at the
certain things we're going to do.
So, firstly, let me just go over the really really basic
start bits.
I hope you enjoy the video.
And I hope you subscribe.
And I hope that you hold tight.
So, number one on your list of things to do is to
get yourself a little radiator bleeding key like the
one I've got here.
There are a few different types.
And just go around each one of your radiators in the house
and bleed the air out of the top of the radiator.
You're probably going to find there's not a lot of air
or there's none at all.
I mean, that's brilliant.
It means the heating system's been well-inhibited,
which is a treatment you put in the water to stop air
happening.
If you do have loads of air,
might be a good idea to give your plumber a quick
call once you've got all the heating working.
And just say, mate, can you pop around and wack some
inhibitor in the heating system.
Or, you can click on the link that's appearing now that will
show you how to put inhibitor in your heating system.
We've also left a link to that in the description below.
So the usual way to bleed a radiator is to make sure
that both valves at each end of the radiator are fully open.
And then, grab your radiator bleed key and just open
that.
Open the key up.
You'll see which end it is on the nice cross end here.
Just open that up like that.
And as you can see, we've got water coming out here
straightaway.
Once you've bled any air out of the radiator,
the next thing you're going to need to do is get a pair
of grips.
Remove the radiator TRV, if you've got one.
And then use the grips to wiggle the pin underneath
the TRV and make sure that that's free.
Once you've done that, go to the lock shield end,
which is the other end of the TRV on the radiator.
Completely close the lock shield by turning it clockwise.
And then give it half a turn to three quarters of a turn
anti-clockwise, and that radiator is set up
and ready to use.
Do that to every radiator in the house and then we can
move on to the next (mumbles) we need to do
before turning your heating system on.
So once you've got that done, obviously, you know
if you're letting water out of the radiators,
if you haven't got an F and E tank in the loft,
which will automatically refill the heating system,
then, you're going to need to use the fitting lube
on the boiler or on the pressurized kit to just top
up the water level in the heating system.
If you're not happy doing this bit, then get a plumber
in for you.
I mean, it is really, really easy and I've left a link
in the video description below
as well as how to pressurize a heating system as well,
we're using that method.
So, the next thing you'll do is go to your room
thermostat.
If you've got one like this, make sure it clicks
(clicking sound)
Yeah, clicky click click.
So make sure that that's working.
And then really we're at the end of the beginner's
department, okay.
You've gone around every radiator.
You've effectively done a thing called balance
the system,
whereby you've shut down the lock shields and just
cracked them open a little bit.
What that does is evenly distribute flow throughout the
whole heating system, so all the radiators get nicely warm.
We've made sure that the TRVs aren't stuck shut
because sometimes they can be shut for the hold of the
summer, and then not spring on again.
And also, we've made sure that there's no air in the
heating system.
The next few things I'm going to show you are very
very simple.
Before you turn the heating system on,
it's very important that,
number one, you know that the pump has got water in it.
If you can get to it.
And also that the pump empeller inside is nice and free.
And then secondly, if you've got any zone valves,
either two port or three port valves, just use the lever
arm on them to make sure that the valve body is completely
free.
I'll show you how to do those bits right now.
Alright, so I just so happens I've got a nice little
pump like this just hanging about.
I've taken it out of an hold house.
A real old Grundfos, this one is here.
But most of the pumps are the same.
A lot of the time now the pumps are self (mumbles) and you
won't have a knot on the end of it like this.
But, if you've got a knot on the end of it
like this one here, it can't hurt just to whip this
knot off using a large slotted screwdriver like the one
we've got here.
You're going to get a little bit of water come out of
here, so you might need a little towel or something
like that.
And then inside you've got the actual end of the
impeller.
We pop our screwdriver in there and as you can see
we can wiggle around the impeller on the inside.
So now we know that the pump's going to be free
and it isn't going to seize up and burn the pump out
when we turn the power on.
What we do, once we've done that, is is just pop our
little nipple back on here and tighten that up.
So the next and slightly more advanced thing is
where after we looked at the pump is to make sure
all the two port and three port valves are
motoring okay.
Really really simple to do.
You can either grab the lever on the end.
Most different manufacturers of two port and three
port valve have a motor on the end as well,
so you can have a look at that.
And if you really, really want to go into it, you can
unscrew the little screw at the end.
Make sure the power's off of course.
Which it should be because we haven't
turned the heating system on yet.
And you've got a little screw in here that
undoes just like so.
And you've got a little screw on the other side
here that undoes.
Then, you'll be able to pull off the head
without having to drain anything down.
You can only do that,
especially with these Honeywells,
with a head that's got a dimple on it.
But every other top manufacturer,
Drayton, Morrison, Danfoss,
there's loads of them.
All of their heads can come off pretty much without
having to drain anything down.
And then, you've got the actual valve body here,
just make sure that that's nice and free and easy
to move as well.
And there we go.
That's lovely there.
And we know that's working okay.
And we know that the motor alright on here.
Now once you've done all those checks,
I always advise that if you want to pop half
a tub of inhibitor in the heating system,
make sure that's topped up, if you really want to
go into things specially you can drain the system
out and flush it all through and all that sort of
thing.
But really, for most DIYs, what we've just done there
should be by far like what you need to do to make sure
the heating system's okay.
Now, all you need to do is turn your thermostat right
up.
Turn your programmer on to "heating constant" ,
and obviously turn the hot water on if that's on as well.
And then, you should find the valve opens, the pump
cuts in and works okay, and all the radiator's getting
lovely and warm as well.
So there we go.
As if I was going to finish off a video without
giving Mr. G a nice big gut scrub.
I hope that video has given you a better idea of the
small little checks you can run through to make sure
the heating system's going to be okay.
And make sure that it's going to work alright.
Obviously, if you've got any problems or you
need any more information, then contact us on the
comments section below this video.
Please share this video with your mates as well
on Facebook and Twitter or wherever.
Or you can also follow us at our Facebook Page.
I'm leaving a link to that right now.
And also there's a link to it in the description
of the video below.
So, if you go through a quick run of what we've done there,
We've made sure that all the radiators are working
and that they're balanced out.
We've made sure there's no air in the system,
and if there is, we've topped the water up,
and also we've put a little bit of inhibitor
in as well if we needed to.
We've made sure that our pump is not seized up,
and that it nicely runs and wheels around.
And we've also made sure that the two port or three port
valves that we were looking at,
all the motors work okay,
and the valve bodies are free and clear
and ready to use.
Obviously if you do find that you've got
any problems, then call a qualified plumber in
to come and sort it out for you.
Don't try and do anything more than that if
you're not happy doing it.
So, anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this video,
I'll see you in our next video which is an
Ask the plumber video,
With all the plumbing disasters that you guys
send us in on a daily basis at our Facebook page.
Remember, if you've got any photos or videos,
or anything like that,
send them through to us for our perusal.
And you never know, you might win a sticker and a
scrub from Mr. G.
Anyway, I'll see you in our next video,
and remember everyone, what are you going to do?
You've got to hold tight.
See you later.
Plumberparts.co.uk
Honest Reviews and Advice.
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George!