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!!
RotorMotor schrieb:
Okay, the overall flow rate looks good.
The valves appear to be fully open.
Are the flow meters fully open as well?
Then start by slightly closing the rooms that are too warm or warmer than the others.
This way, the cooler rooms will automatically get warmer. I thought the idea now was, before throttling anything again, to lower the heating curve in order to identify the coldest reference room! I mean, lowering the heating curve is the goal of this whole exercise. Or am I mistaken?
Joedreck schrieb:
I would start at zero and then open everything accordingly. Then wait one day. Then continue as described. What do you mean by zero? All heating circuits are open, we are still undecided about the flow meter setting :-))
R
RotorMotor3 Jan 2026 22:13Jschm88 schrieb:
I thought the point was to lower the heating curve first, before throttling anything else, in order to identify the coldest reference room! I mean, lowering the heating curve is my whole goal here. Or am I wrong? Well, if the valves AND flow meters in the rooms that are too cold are fully open, then there’s nothing more you can optimize there.
If that’s not the case: do that first.
Then you need to partially throttle the rooms that are too warm, which will make the colder rooms warmer.
If the whole house then gets too warm or too cold, you can adjust the heating curve!
R
RotorMotor4 Jan 2026 09:13That fits together because the world isn’t black and white, and you’re allowed to think for yourself.
You can simply bring it together iteratively, from both directions.
You’re approaching this way too analytically and theoretically.
Basically, it’s quite simple: the heating curve adjusts the overall temperature of the house, and the flow rates change the balance between the rooms.
Have you started by now, or are you still waiting for the perfect plan?
You can simply bring it together iteratively, from both directions.
You’re approaching this way too analytically and theoretically.
Basically, it’s quite simple: the heating curve adjusts the overall temperature of the house, and the flow rates change the balance between the rooms.
Have you started by now, or are you still waiting for the perfect plan?