"Haymish" wrote in message
. uk...


Hi all

I know nothing about central heating so please don't flame me.

We have a small annexe over our garage which is not being used at the
moment. I want to set the heating system up so that it uses the least
amount of energy while protecting the pipes from freezing, is that
necessary?

The system comprises a 'Worcester 240' boiler which heats the hot water
and feeds 3 radiators. All of the radiators have thermostatic controls
fitted but I am not sure what to set them to, to avoid frozen pipes.

I have some questions I was hoping you could help me with:

1. I was going to set the thermostats on all three radiators to the 'blue
snowflake' setting which is the setting below a single red line, Is this
right? My only concern is that when I set it to the blue snowflake (on all
three radiators) it seems to cut off all the water (perhaps some is still
flowing but I can't tell). If I turn the thermostat up to the mid point
halfway between the blue snowflake and the single red line, I can hear
water start to flow and the radiator gets quite hot but that seems to be
too hot. Any advice?

2. I was going to set the boiler thermostat to the minimum setting. Is
this right? This article
https://www.energyefficiency.powerge...Thermostat.htm
on the Powergen website suggests that the boiler works most efficiently
when set to high but I only want to heat a little water to stop the pipes
freezing so I'm not sure what to do for the best.

3. Do I need to turn the hot water setting on to protect the pipes?

4. If I can figure out how to program the boiler, is there a recommended
time when you should switch the boiler on over night to stop pipes
freezing? Say 10PM - 8AM or something like that.

5. If I can't figure out how to program the boiler is it OK/economic to
leave the boiler switched to the ON position for the next few months?


Hope I made some sense.

Thanks for any help.

Pete


This will be our last winter in the house and money is tight so we don't
want to go to the expense of fitting a room thermostat if possible although
it is a good idea.

I set the boiler temperature to minimum and the 3 radiators to the 'blue
snowflake' setting aboy 4-5 hours ago. Now I have a few more questions:

1. The boiler seems to be going crazy switching on and off every few
minutes, is this normal for my settings?

2. Despite the radiators being set to 'blue snowflake' setting 4-5 hours
ago. I just checked and two of the radiators are so hot you would not want
to touch them for long and one of them is luke warm, is this right? I would
have thought they would get just warm enough to stave of freezing pipes
rather than a heat up really hot / cool down cycle. Could someone confirm
what should happen? (present conditions are very cold in the rooms).

3. I bled all the radiators, one of the radiators had a lot of air in it but
I expect they have not been bled for a long, long time. Am I ok to do this
as I assume this is a closed system.

4. The pressure is about .75 bar, is about right for the above mentioned
settings.

Thanks for all your help

Regards

Pete