How to make one CH radiator come on and off at set times?
Ideally, I guess I'd like a TRV with a built-in timer - but I guess
that might be unlikely..

So what is the cheapest, simplest way to do it? It's for a bathroom
rad, which I only need on for a couple of hours in the morning.

Thank you

Frank

"Frank Watson" wrote in message
...
How to make one CH radiator come on and off at set times?
Ideally, I guess I'd like a TRV with a built-in timer - but I guess
that might be unlikely..

So what is the cheapest, simplest way to do it? It's for a bathroom
rad, which I only need on for a couple of hours in the morning.

Thank you

Frank

Hi Frank,

A motorised valve run from a separate timer switch would do the job. The
valve would be fitted to the pipe supplying that one rad' and be connected
to a nearby power supply. You'd only need to use the motor supply and leave
out the micro-switch connections.

"BigWallop" wrote in message
...

"Frank Watson" wrote in message
...
How to make one CH radiator come on and off at set times?
Ideally, I guess I'd like a TRV with a built-in timer - but I guess
that might be unlikely..

So what is the cheapest, simplest way to do it? It's for a bathroom
rad, which I only need on for a couple of hours in the morning.

Thank you

Frank

Hi Frank,

A motorised valve run from a separate timer switch would do the job. The
valve would be fitted to the pipe supplying that one rad' and be connected
to a nearby power supply. You'd only need to use the motor supply and
leave
out the micro-switch connections.

I can see how such an arrangement could turn the rad OFF when everything
else was working, but .... What about the boiler controls? And are you
expecting this one radiator to have its own individual circuit complete with
pump from the boiler? Doesn't sound very practical ...

"Mike Faithfull" wrote in message
...
"BigWallop" wrote in message
...

"Frank Watson" wrote in message
...
How to make one CH radiator come on and off at set times?
Ideally, I guess I'd like a TRV with a built-in timer - but I guess
that might be unlikely..

So what is the cheapest, simplest way to do it? It's for a bathroom
rad, which I only need on for a couple of hours in the morning.

Thank you

Frank

Hi Frank,

A motorised valve run from a separate timer switch would do the job.
The
valve would be fitted to the pipe supplying that one rad' and be
connected
to a nearby power supply. You'd only need to use the motor supply and
leave
out the micro-switch connections.

I can see how such an arrangement could turn the rad OFF when everything
else was working, but .... What about the boiler controls? And are you
expecting this one radiator to have its own individual circuit complete
with
pump from the boiler? Doesn't sound very practical ...



Then you've answered the original question perfectly. :-)

In message , Frank Watson
writes
How to make one CH radiator come on and off at set times?
Ideally, I guess I'd like a TRV with a built-in timer - but I guess
that might be unlikely..

So what is the cheapest, simplest way to do it? It's for a bathroom
rad, which I only need on for a couple of hours in the morning.

what's wrong with just turning said radiator on/off by hand when you
need it? or is your bathroom so large that it takes a long time to warm
up? - if so getting a wall-mounted electric fan heater would be simpler

the bathroom radiator is often used as a by-pass circuit ( I think
that's the right term but if not someone will correct me) for the boiler
- if it is on your system then AIUI you shouldn't set a valve to block
it off at all.

--
dave @ stejonda

"Frank Watson" wrote in message
...
How to make one CH radiator come on and off at set times?
Ideally, I guess I'd like a TRV with a built-in timer - but I guess
that might be unlikely..

So what is the cheapest, simplest way to do it? It's for a bathroom
rad, which I only need on for a couple of hours in the morning.

Thank you

Frank

To achieve this in a perfectly general way you would need to divide your
system into zones - with each zone being controlled by a motorised valve,
and with each valve being controlled by a programmable thermostat for the
zone. The *valve open* contacts from all zone valves would need to be
connected in parallel and would need to switch the boiler and pump on
whenever one or more zones required heat. Within this scheme, your bathroom
radiator would need to have a zone all to itself.

Alternatively, if you want to achieve something more specific, there may be
other solutions. For example, I like my bathroom and en-suite radiators to
get hot for a short period each day - even in the summer - to warm the
towels. I have arranged my system so that these two radiators can be made to
get hot whenever the hot water is being heated (but can revert to being
*normal* radiators in the winter). If this is what you want, come back and I
will make some suggestions about how to achieve it.

Roger

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 09:11:13 +0100, "Mike Faithfull"
wrote:

"BigWallop" wrote in message
...

"Frank Watson" wrote in message
...
How to make one CH radiator come on and off at set times?
Ideally, I guess I'd like a TRV with a built-in timer - but I guess
that might be unlikely..

So what is the cheapest, simplest way to do it? It's for a bathroom
rad, which I only need on for a couple of hours in the morning.

Thank you

Frank

Hi Frank,

A motorised valve run from a separate timer switch would do the job. The
valve would be fitted to the pipe supplying that one rad' and be connected
to a nearby power supply. You'd only need to use the motor supply and
leave
out the micro-switch connections.

I can see how such an arrangement could turn the rad OFF when everything
else was working,

Why not? You can turn a radiator off manually, so it must be equally
feasable to turn it off osing a motorised valve, no?

but .... What about the boiler controls? And are you
expecting this one radiator to have its own individual circuit complete with
pump from the boiler? Doesn't sound very practical ...

Why would a raditor need it's own individual cirquit before it can be
turned on and off?

Frank

In article ,
Frank Watson wrote:
On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 09:11:13 +0100, "Mike Faithfull"
wrote:

"BigWallop" wrote in message
...

"Frank Watson" wrote in message
...
How to make one CH radiator come on and off at set times?
Ideally, I guess I'd like a TRV with a built-in timer - but I guess
that might be unlikely..

So what is the cheapest, simplest way to do it? It's for a bathroom
rad, which I only need on for a couple of hours in the morning.

Thank you

Frank

Hi Frank,

A motorised valve run from a separate timer switch would do the job. The
valve would be fitted to the pipe supplying that one rad' and be connected
to a nearby power supply. You'd only need to use the motor supply and
leave
out the micro-switch connections.

I can see how such an arrangement could turn the rad OFF when everything
else was working,

Why not? You can turn a radiator off manually, so it must be equally
feasable to turn it off osing a motorised valve, no?

but .... What about the boiler controls? And are you
expecting this one radiator to have its own individual circuit complete with
pump from the boiler? Doesn't sound very practical ...

Why would a raditor need it's own individual cirquit before it can be
turned on and off?

Many bathroom towl/rads come with elcctric heaters (as well as being
centrally heated). Perhaps you could retro fit your rad with one of these
and have and have a timer included.
Neil

"Frank Watson" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 09:11:13 +0100, "Mike Faithfull"
wrote:

"BigWallop" wrote in message
...

"Frank Watson" wrote in message
...
How to make one CH radiator come on and off at set times?
Ideally, I guess I'd like a TRV with a built-in timer - but I guess
that might be unlikely..

So what is the cheapest, simplest way to do it? It's for a bathroom
rad, which I only need on for a couple of hours in the morning.

Thank you

Frank

Hi Frank,

A motorised valve run from a separate timer switch would do the job.
The
valve would be fitted to the pipe supplying that one rad' and be
connected
to a nearby power supply. You'd only need to use the motor supply and
leave
out the micro-switch connections.

I can see how such an arrangement could turn the rad OFF when everything
else was working,

Why not? You can turn a radiator off manually, so it must be equally
feasable to turn it off osing a motorised valve, no?

but .... What about the boiler controls? And are you
expecting this one radiator to have its own individual circuit complete
with
pump from the boiler? Doesn't sound very practical ...

Why would a raditor need it's own individual cirquit before it can be
turned on and off?

Frank

It all comes down to *exactly* what you want to achieve. In your original
post you said that you wanted to make one radiator come ON and OFF at set
times. This implied that there may be times when you want ONLY this radiator
on without any others being on. In such a case, you clearly need to make the
boiler and pump come on at the same time!

If what you *actually* want to do is just to turn this radiator OFF when all
the others are on, and NEVER to run it on its own, you can achieve this with
a motorised valve controlled by a timer.

However, before doing this, make sure that there are no circumstances where
this radiator is the only path between the boiler flow and return. Depending
on system design, you may need to install a separate by-pass circuit.

Roger

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 22:43:32 +0100, "Roger Mills"
wrote:

It all comes down to *exactly* what you want to achieve. In your original
post you said that you wanted to make one radiator come ON and OFF at set
times. This implied that there may be times when you want ONLY this radiator
on without any others being on.

No, I cannot envisage such a situation - except if all the TRVs in the
system had shut off their respective rads - which is possible, but
unlikely to be a problem since they are not likely to remain off for
long - unless the outside temperatuire had warmed up enough to prevent
the main thermostat from switching the boiler on.

However, before doing this, make sure that there are no circumstances where
this radiator is the only path between the boiler flow and return. Depending
on system design, you may need to install a separate by-pass circuit.

I installed the system myself, several years ago. It's a combi-boiler
system. AI am fairly sure there is no need to have any rad permanently
on, serving to keep the cirquit flowing in case all others are turned
off, since I seem to remember the boiler has its own built-in
pressure-operated by-pass, bypassing the whole rad cirquit in that
eventuality.

Thanks also to the other respondees.

Frank

On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 00:21:00 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote:

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 22:26:21 GMT, (Frank
Watson) wrote:



Ah, I understand what BigWallop was saying. My thinking is that if the
weather is cold enough to need the bathroom rad on, the main system
thermostat will already have the boiler pumping hot water to other
radiators in the cirquit.. Does that make sense?

Frank

That would be OK.

One other thing that you could do is to make sure that the bathroom
radiator is well oversized for the room and back it off with a
thermostat (i.e. use a thermostat/timer) or even a TRV on the
radiator.

This would help, but not guarantee that the bathroom gets a fair dose
of heat even if the rest of the house is warm. You could even cheat
a bit if needed and reduce the flow through the radiator where the
main room thermostat is. However you might then need to rebalance
the system.

Another aspect to this is the Wiring Regulations and electrical
accessories in bathrooms. There are restrictions of placement based
on distances from the bath and shower in bathrooms, although one
option might be to get an IP rated thermostat. I believe that there
is at least one room controller that can have a remote probe for
sensing the temperature, so you could have the main electrical piece
outside the room. There are also the wireless thermostat/timers
which have a battery in the control piece. That would be OK for a
bathroom (provided that the electronics don't mind the humidity), but
they are pushing up the cost.


Thanks for the input. Yes, the electrical accessories-in-bathrooms is
a problem, but even more of a problem is the added clutter. in what is
a small uncluttered bathroom. I was really hoping that someone
plumbing-supplies company might offer a TRV with a built-in
battery-operated timer; something that simply replaces a standard TRV.
What a nice, neat solution that would be!

Frank

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 14:14:22 +0100, "dave @ stejonda"
wrote:


what's wrong with just turning said radiator on/off by hand when you
need it? or is your bathroom so large that it takes a long time to warm
up? - if so getting a wall-mounted electric fan heater would be simpler

It's only a small bathroom - actually a shower-room. From experience,
I know that turning the rad on by hand when I enter the room to take a
shower, the room will not be comfortably warm by the time one has
finished one's shower. Fitting a larger-than-necessary radiator would
speed up the warming of the room. If all else fails, I might have to
resort to that idea. I'm not keen on the idea of an electric fan
heater ( I sense danger, breached safety regulations, and high running
cost) but thanks for the suggestion.

the bathroom radiator is often used as a by-pass circuit ( I think
that's the right term but if not someone will correct me) for the boiler
- if it is on your system then AIUI you shouldn't set a valve to block
it off at all.

Good comment - but my boiler does have a built-in pressure-operated
by-pass.

Frank

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 22:26:21 GMT, (Frank
Watson) wrote:


Ah, I understand what BigWallop was saying.

Sorry; in retrospect it was *Mike* who made the comments in question.

Frank

In article ,
(Frank Watson) writes:
On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 14:14:22 +0100, "dave @ stejonda"
wrote:


what's wrong with just turning said radiator on/off by hand when you
need it? or is your bathroom so large that it takes a long time to warm
up? - if so getting a wall-mounted electric fan heater would be simpler

It's only a small bathroom - actually a shower-room. From experience,
I know that turning the rad on by hand when I enter the room to take a
shower, the room will not be comfortably warm by the time one has
finished one's shower. Fitting a larger-than-necessary radiator would
speed up the warming of the room. If all else fails, I might have to
resort to that idea. I'm not keen on the idea of an electric fan
heater ( I sense danger, breached safety regulations, and high running
cost) but thanks for the suggestion.

I really like having a fan-heater in the bathroom, and several people
who have visited me have liked it so much they've gone home and fitted
their own too. A properly fitted bathroom fan heater is not going to
be dangerous, and you only need it on whilst you are in the room (and
possibly only once you come out of the shower), so running cost is
going to be tiny. Mine is high up on the wall above a mirror, so you
can stand under it, effectively using it as a hairdrier, and a whole
body drier too.

--
Andrew Gabriel

On 28 Aug 2003 08:00:05 GMT, (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
(Frank Watson) writes:
On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 14:14:22 +0100, "dave @ stejonda"
wrote:


what's wrong with just turning said radiator on/off by hand when you
need it? or is your bathroom so large that it takes a long time to warm
up? - if so getting a wall-mounted electric fan heater would be simpler

It's only a small bathroom - actually a shower-room. From experience,
I know that turning the rad on by hand when I enter the room to take a
shower, the room will not be comfortably warm by the time one has
finished one's shower. Fitting a larger-than-necessary radiator would
speed up the warming of the room. If all else fails, I might have to
resort to that idea. I'm not keen on the idea of an electric fan
heater ( I sense danger, breached safety regulations, and high running
cost) but thanks for the suggestion.

I really like having a fan-heater in the bathroom, and several people
who have visited me have liked it so much they've gone home and fitted
their own too. A properly fitted bathroom fan heater is not going to
be dangerous, and you only need it on whilst you are in the room (and
possibly only once you come out of the shower), so running cost is
going to be tiny. Mine is high up on the wall above a mirror, so you
can stand under it, effectively using it as a hairdrier, and a whole
body drier too.

I hear what you are saying, and thankx for the suggestion. However,
I'm keen to utilise the radiator as the heat source - not the least
because it is directly under the towel rail... (Nothing like a nice
hot, dry towel when you step out of the shower - one of life's special
pleasures, ranking in second place to the shower itself, and each,
better than sex IMO)

Frank