I've recently had an extension made to my home which has included
additions to the central heating system.

All the rads, apart from one small one, have thermostats fitted.

Even on the highest setting (5) the rads do not appear to heat up much
even when it is quite nippy.

If I open the collar, even slightly, fixing the thermostat to the rad
it heats up nicely so it is not air in the system.

What temperatures do the numbers 1 to 5 actually relate to.

Geoff Lane

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 20:59:35 +0100, Geoff Lane
babbled like a waterfall and
said:

I've recently had an extension made to my home which has included
additions to the central heating system.

All the rads, apart from one small one, have thermostats fitted.

Even on the highest setting (5) the rads do not appear to heat up much
even when it is quite nippy.

If I open the collar, even slightly, fixing the thermostat to the rad
it heats up nicely so it is not air in the system.

What temperatures do the numbers 1 to 5 actually relate to.

Geoff Lane

0 off
* frost 6C
1 10C
2 15C
3 20C
4 23C
5 26C

(honeywell)

"Geoff Lane" wrote in message
...
I've recently had an extension made to my home which has included
additions to the central heating system.

All the rads, apart from one small one, have thermostats fitted.

Even on the highest setting (5) the rads do not appear to heat up much
even when it is quite nippy.

If I open the collar, even slightly, fixing the thermostat to the rad
it heats up nicely so it is not air in the system.

What temperatures do the numbers 1 to 5 actually relate to.

Geoff Lane

Wouldn't it be the valves themselves closing down a bit? The temperature in
the room might feel nippy to you, but the stat' might not think it is that
cold. These valves never close off completely when the settings are
selected, they just close down a bit to restrict the flow of hot water to
the rad. This is also borne by the fact that loosening the collar of the
stat' head opens the valve so the water flows un-restricted.

It might also be the stat on the boiler is set to low for heat you want at
the radiators.

"BigWallop" wrote in
. uk:

The
temperature in the room might feel nippy to you, but the stat' might
not think it is that cold. These valves never close off completely
when the settings are selected, they just close down a bit to restrict
the flow of hot water to the rad.

I was thinking of fitting bigger rads in some rooms, and fitting TRVs, but
I wonder about the positioning of TRVs, way down there in the draught.

Are they made to take this into account?

I was thinking of mainly regulating my main room temperatures with TRV's,
but if they're always shivering, would this work?

mike

"mike ring" wrote in message
. 1.4...
"BigWallop" wrote in
. uk:

The
temperature in the room might feel nippy to you, but the stat' might
not think it is that cold. These valves never close off completely
when the settings are selected, they just close down a bit to restrict
the flow of hot water to the rad.

I was thinking of fitting bigger rads in some rooms, and fitting TRVs, but
I wonder about the positioning of TRVs, way down there in the draught.

Are they made to take this into account?

I was thinking of mainly regulating my main room temperatures with TRV's,
but if they're always shivering, would this work?

mike

Funny you asking that, but I spoke to a plumber during last winter, and he
said it's better to install a second smaller rad' in a room, rather than
replacing small for large. His point was to put a second radiator in a
position in the room that is nearly opposite the existing one. This gives
the circulating air two heat cycles back into the centre of the room. So,
rather than just one rad' trying to heat all the room, the smaller radiator
acts as a sort of small booster, I suppose. The second radiator doesn't
have to be as large as the main one, in fact, he says half the size is
always about right, and it also doesn't need a thermostat valve because the
main rad' fitted with one will keep the temperature regulated anyway.

I don't know if this actually works in practice, but he's a great plumber
and has never had complaints from anyone, not that I know of anyway. His
systems last for years without major over-haul, and he's sought after by
many companies for sub-contract work and his problem fixing skills. So he
might have a good point in this technique of fitting a second smaller
radiator, rather than replacing.

On 8 Jun 2005 21:43:40 GMT, mike ring
wrote:

I was thinking of fitting bigger rads in some rooms, and fitting TRVs, but
I wonder about the positioning of TRVs, way down there in the draught.

Are they made to take this into account?

I've seen rad valves that have an extension sensor for mounting higher
up.

Geoff Lane

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 21:09:50 GMT, "BigWallop"
wrote:

All the rads, apart from one small one, have thermostats fitted.

Even on the highest setting (5) the rads do not appear to heat up much
even when it is quite nippy.

Wouldn't it be the valves themselves closing down a bit? The temperature in
the room might feel nippy to you, but the stat' might not think it is that
cold.

Perhaps nippy was a little vague, it was actually uncomfortably cold.
If the air temperature feels uncomfortable how are you supposed to
warm a room up.

These valves never close off completely when the settings are
selected, they just close down a bit to restrict the flow of hot water to
the rad. This is also borne by the fact that loosening the collar of the
stat' head opens the valve so the water flows un-restricted.

If I loosen the collar I assume I am losing the control over the
temperatute so defeats the object for fitting the TCVs in the first
place.

It might also be the stat on the boiler is set to low for heat you want at
the radiators.

I've tried various boiler settings as it is a new unit (getting used
to it) but I'm thinking that if opening the collar on the valves heats
the rads nicely then it is down to the valves shutting or restricting
the water flow.

I've tried swapping valves but no change is apparent; I might try a
better quality valve as I'm sure all the ones fitted are cheap
devices.

Geoff Lane

I was thinking of fitting bigger rads in some rooms, and fitting
TRVs, but I wonder about the positioning of TRVs, way down there in
the draught.

Are they made to take this into account?


mike

Funny you asking that, but I spoke to a plumber during last winter,
and he said it's better to install a second smaller rad' in a room,
rather than replacing small for large. His point was to put a second
radiator in a position in the room that is nearly opposite the
existing one. This gives the circulating air two heat cycles back
into the centre of the room. So, rather than just one rad' trying to
heat all the room, the smaller radiator acts as a sort of small
booster, I suppose. The second radiator doesn't have to be as large
as the main one, in fact, he says half the size is always about right,
and it also doesn't need a thermostat valve because the main rad'
fitted with one will keep the temperature regulated anyway.

It sounds very sensible (a lot more sensible on the face of it than floor
mounted TRVs - I see the OP says TCV's, I guess it's the same?), but the
pipework would be daunting for me; concrete floors, all top/down pipes, the
extra piping would have to be exposed etc.

So I'll pass on that, I'm not the plumber he is

mike