On 10 Nov 2004 17:03:19 -0800, (Riz1) wrote:

Hi.
I liked the principle if having thermostatic radiator vales fitted as
i had the problem in my house that some rooms got stiflingly hot while
others remained relatively cool/just right [different amounts of heat
retention].

I also hoped this would help lower my fuel bills.
A friend of the family builder duly fitted for me and i note he has
fitted the Wickes TRVs..
I had simply assumed these would work [rather like a room thermostat]
by you waiting til the room gets to the desired temp and then moving
the dial until it just "clicks" off.

However these bascically have a dial numbered from 1 to 5 [and no
discernable noise of them "shutting" now matter if i swung the dial
from 1 extreme to the other]. I didnt patiently see if they work by
seeing if a radiator got cooler [ie no hot feed in] if i turned the
dial down to 1 or * but basically i don tknow how they work! Do i
randomly try different numbers in each room until i manage to match a
"number" with a comfirtable temp?

Do these valves simply work by restricting the amount of hot water
that enters depending on how high a setting is selected [and if no how
would that differ from the normal turn-screw valves that were on
there?]


Basically they have an expanding wax insert inside the valve head.

They do not click off, but gradually restrict the flow resulting in a
cooling of the radiator. As the room cools, they open more and the
radiator will become warmer.

All that you need to do is to adjust the setting of the TRV in each
room until yu arrive at the temperature that you want.

You will find that the radiator will reach an equilibrium temperature
and stay at that if the temperature outside remains the same.
If it cools down outside, heat loss increases from the rooms and then
the TRV will allow more water flow through the radiator to make it
warmer.

You can get a situation if the room is warm that the TRVs will close
off the flow completely.

In any case you should balance the radiators using the procedure in
the FAQ. THis would involve opening the TRVs full and adjusting the
lockshield valves to equalise temperature drops across the radiators.
Although TRVs will deal with this issue in part, it is best to have
reasonably equal starting conditons between rooms.




I appreciate helping me solve this simple but perplexing matter.
Thanks


--

..andy

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