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Is Traditional Radiator Balancing Tosh?

 
Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)
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 markspencersmith
(@markspencersmith)
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Joined: 2 hours ago
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Topic starter 10/05/2026 2:52 pm   [#2989]

So, conventional HP wisdom says to balance the rads by dT or dflow as a proxy per the rad size and required output. As a physics guy this seem to be putting the conclusion ahead of the measurement.

If the heat demand was perfectly static and mapped to the WC curve exactly then great, but the real house will have varying non-ASHP input (solar gain, electronic wast heat, occupants) and varying non-OAT demand (wind, humidty, wetness of exterior brick, ventilation etc).

So what you're doing is either tring to anticipate an 'average' of these effects or ignoring them altogether. Some use TRVs im high solar gain areas or bedrooms to limit inside T.

Thinking on this, I have to agree with a guy I saw who concluded this is tosh. Open all the lockshields fully. Smart TRV every radiator. Master thermostat in coldest room. Run the ASHP on WC and 24/7. Have the WC adjusted dynamically according to % of TRVs open. What happens?

ASHP runs on standard WC. Heat flows fully to all rooms, satisfy demand *for whatever reason* and close TRVs. Heat flows to other rooms. A threshold % of TRVs close - WC is decreased, a further threshold % close - ASHP is off. Master stat satisfied - ASHP is off. OAT exceeds threshold - ASHP is off. Tune the WC curve and 2 TRV thresholds to keep flow and stop overshoot.

The fully open lockshields ensure min flow is retained. Make sure the rads are hydraulically well designed - don't place 5 on the end of a 50m loop - use pipe diameter and branches to roughly balance on paper if all were to call for heat at same time.

Thoughts?


This topic was modified 1 hour ago by Mars

   
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