Like everything else in your home, radiators get dirty over time. This not only looks ugly, but can also impair the efficiency of the radiators. In this guide we will show you how you can easily clean your radiators to keep them looking good and working at their best.
Keep your home radiators clean to keep them working at their best
- Turn off your heating.
- Vacuum up the dust.
- Clean the inside of the radiators.
- Clean the radiators from the outside.
- Clean the environment.
Clean radiators inside and out
Turn off your heating
Before you start cleaning the radiators, turn off your central heating, turn the temperature control down to 0 and let the radiators cool down for a few hours. This not only prevents you from burning yourself, but also prevents the convection currents that the radiators create from drawing even more dust into the radiators when you clean them.
Before you start cleaning, you must turn off the central heating
Vacuum the dust
Next you need to vacuum as much dust as possible from the radiators. To do this, use the extendable hose on your vacuum cleaner (if you have one). After cleaning the radiators from the outside, try to run the vacuum cleaner hose inside the radiator and vacuum the dust from there. If your radiator has a top cover, you will need to remove it first.
A long-handled brush is a good helper when cleaning the radiators
Clean the inside of the radiators
After removing as much dust as possible with the vacuum cleaner, you need to clean the rest with a radiator brush. This is a long-handled brush that allows you to get into the hard-to-reach areas of your radiator and remove dust.
If you don’t have a radiator brush, you can make one yourself. Find a long piece of wire or something similar, such as Take a coiled wire coat hanger, for example, and attach a feather duster to the end. This should get most of the dust out of the inside of the radiators.
While you’re doing this, you can place a towel or duster under the radiator to catch the dirt.
Wipe the outside of the radiator with a microfiber cloth
Clean the radiators from the outside
If the inside of your radiators is clean, you can now start cleaning the outside:
- Mix some dish soap in a bucket of hot water until it becomes sufficiently sudsy.
- Dip a sponge and squeeze out the excess water.
- Wipe down the outside of your radiators, plumbing and valves.
- If you want to thoroughly clean your radiator, you can remove it from the wall.
Remove the radiator from the wall to clean thoroughly
Clean around the radiators
When your radiators are spotless, the last thing you need to do is clean the area around them. If you live in an apartment with smokers or pets, sometimes the heat from the radiator can cause smoke, dirt and hair to stick to the walls. In this case, you can wash the walls with the same sponge and soapy water. You’ve probably vacuumed a lot of dust and dirt from the back of the radiator, so clean the baseboards and floor around the radiator as well.
Don’t forget to clean around the radiators too
How often should I clean my radiators?
We recommend doing this once a year before turning on the heating for the first time during the cold season. But it also doesn’t hurt to clean the radiators all year round.
If you have just bought or rented an apartment/new house and the radiators are looking particularly dirty, we strongly recommend that you tackle this task before you move in, as it can create a lot of dust.
Wipe the surface regularly with a paper towel
Why do my radiators keep getting dusty?
There is always dust in the air. The reason for the clumping and back pressure in and around the radiator is the air flow that distributes the heat in the room. Warm air rises and cool air falls down. As the air sinks, it takes dust with it, and as it is drawn up through the radiator, the dust collects on the back and fins of the radiator.
Effective cleaning helps to keep the house and apartment warm
Remove dust from the heater
Sources:
obi.de
fürsie.de
haus.de
