Are radiators and fan convectors clear and well maintained?#
Radiators and fan convectors require light maintenance to work effectively. If your radiators are dusty, this will make your system less efficient because they won’t shed heat as quickly. It’s also very important to clear the dust from filters on fan convectors because it both impedes the airflow and if it’s thick enough, can damage the fan. If your convectors are in high use that might need to be done twice a year.
If a radiator gets warm at the bottom but not the top, it needs bleeding. You also need to bleed the air from wet system radiators while the system is cold. If you have old cast iron pipework there may be unusual bleed points in the system where air collects that are easy to forget. In extreme cases, this could stop the heating in a whole circuit of radiators.
Radiators and fan convectors must be kept clear so air can move freely through them. Sometimes users pile things in front of them, and sometimes you’ll find them built in with joinery that blocks the airflow, either to make them more attractive or to keep children from touching them. If you’ve done this for safety, consider whether you can turn down the boiler flow temperature and still be warm or whether you can replace the joinery with something more like a fire guard, or you may be able to get low surface temperature covers that fit.
In this radiator, the air can’t go in the bottom and out the top like it should.
Different kind of radiator, but this arrangement works for all of them. Sometimes the wire guard is screwed to the wall with enough finger access to change the controls.