ᐅ How to Perform a Hydraulic Balancing of a Radiant Floor Heating System Yourself?
Created on: 2 Jan 2026 12:31
J
Jschm88
Hi,
we have been living in our newly built house for a year now, so I thought it was time to optimize the underfloor heating for this second winter.
There are two heating manifolds on two floors, each with several heating circuits. Some of them are controlled by actuators and electronic radiator regulators (ERR), others are not. Overall, the ground floor tends to be slightly too warm, and the upper floor a bit too cool.
I understand the basic concept of balancing: open everything, lower the heating curve, and then fine-tune. But how do I do this precisely?
we have been living in our newly built house for a year now, so I thought it was time to optimize the underfloor heating for this second winter.
There are two heating manifolds on two floors, each with several heating circuits. Some of them are controlled by actuators and electronic radiator regulators (ERR), others are not. Overall, the ground floor tends to be slightly too warm, and the upper floor a bit too cool.
I understand the basic concept of balancing: open everything, lower the heating curve, and then fine-tune. But how do I do this precisely?
- Topic "Opening everything": Where I have room thermostats, I set them to the maximum. This causes the associated actuator on the heating manifold to open the circuit. But I also have circuits without actuators. Do I need to open these as well? Do I just remove the orange cap and loosen the screw with a wrench (see photo)? Do I need to do anything with the flow meters in this process?
- Topic heating curve: How do I handle this for the two floors? There is only one heating curve. Do I turn everything up at both heating manifolds on ground and upper floors at the same time, or do I proceed floor by floor?
- Topic fine-tuning: In the end, do I close the circuits where necessary that I opened under point 1), or do the circuits stay open, and the adjustment is done via the flow meters (this would make more sense to me)? So, at the end, do I have permanently open circuits that I adjust with the flow meters / flow rate? Can anything go wrong if I open everything fully?
Thanks a lot!!
R
RotorMotor4 Jan 2026 12:05You could roughly add up all the flow meters and see if you reach the total flow rate of the heating system (pay attention to the units).
If there is a significant difference, a considerable amount might be passing through a bypass valve or even a separate circulation pump behind a buffer tank.
That could, of course, be checked as well!
If there is a significant difference, a considerable amount might be passing through a bypass valve or even a separate circulation pump behind a buffer tank.
That could, of course, be checked as well!
R
RotorMotor4 Jan 2026 13:08Unconventional design, but it doesn’t look like a bypass valve. Check the boiler room to see if there is a valve somewhere connecting the supply and return lines.
I would highly recommend checking the manufacturer’s manual. This is not a "standard" setup. The adjustment screws under the orange caps are flow restrictors. According to the manual, the maximum flow rate set remains constant, even if adjustments are made on the other heating circuits.
You can base your work on the existing balancing, but this can be problematic if all circuits are restricted too much. My heating technician had the circuits relatively well adjusted, but in a way that the required flow could only be reached with a 10 m (33 ft) pump setting at maximum (150 W power consumption continuously). I was then able to reduce this to a 3 m (10 ft) pump setting through readjustment, which resulted in significant energy savings.
Therefore, I would not only adjust the circuits relative to each other but also open them as much as possible overall to reduce resistance for the pump.
You can base your work on the existing balancing, but this can be problematic if all circuits are restricted too much. My heating technician had the circuits relatively well adjusted, but in a way that the required flow could only be reached with a 10 m (33 ft) pump setting at maximum (150 W power consumption continuously). I was then able to reduce this to a 3 m (10 ft) pump setting through readjustment, which resulted in significant energy savings.
Therefore, I would not only adjust the circuits relative to each other but also open them as much as possible overall to reduce resistance for the pump.
RotorMotor schrieb:
Wild construction, but it doesn't look like a bypass valve. Check the boiler room to see if there is a valve connecting the supply and return lines anywhere.That should be an automatic air vent.