Optimum Heating Setup

Rossco83 · 14 November 2017 at 5:35PM

Evening,

Just trying to make sure I’m getting the best I can out of my heating setup.

I currently have a Worcester Greenstar 24i Condensing Boiler along with a Warmflow In Direct cylinder.

My heating max temperature which is the maximum flow temp is set to 65c, thermostat is set to 20 degrees and the DHW is set to 50c. The TRVs are set between 2-4 depending on the room area.

Is this properly setup or is the above horribly wrong? 3Bedroom detached house, triple glazing and newly built in 2016!

Thanks,
Ross

Raxiel · 14 November 2017 at 6:10PM

If the hot water is standing in a cylinder before being used then 50°C might not be hot enough to sterilise the water, so you may want to consider turning that up to 65°C, I'm not sure if the advice for vented systems also applies to unvented.

If the kitchen tap is direct from the boiler, and it's just bathroom/shower running from the tank, it probably doesn't matter either way, unless you have someone very young or old in the house.

Heating settings don't seem unreasonable. Main thing is to have the flow temperature as low as possible (specifically the return temp for the purposes of condensing the flue gasses) without compromising the systems effectiveness at heating the house. I'm sure the Greenstar i boilers have load compensation built in, but I don't know how much it does without a Wave thermostat.

Cardew · 14 November 2017 at 6:20PM

Welcome to the forum.

Is your thermostat wireless or fixed? If the latter where is it situated?

When you say 'maximum' flow temperature is set to 65C' that seems to indicate you have something like 'weather compensation' to alter the temperature of the water. Is that so?

The correct set up is what works for you. Your insulation in a new build will(should!) be excellent and the size of the radiators will enable adequate temperatures to be reached in all the rooms.

Personally I wouldn't get hung up about setting a 20C temperature. Some people like it warmer - particularly older people.

Rossco83 · 14 November 2017 at 8:41PM

Cardew,

It’s fixed and located in the hall, next to the Kitchen door.

There is indeed an outside temp compensator.

Just trying to keep my bill down over winter and the house builder installed it but failed to actually configure it!

Thanks,

matelodave · 14 November 2017 at 11:00PM

The "optimum" setting is the one that works best for you and can usuually take a while to get right. The settings for this time of year may not be appropriate for say January when there's a foot of snow outside, nor in the summer so might need a tweak up or down if you are too hot or too cold.

As said the ideal boiler temperature is lowest you can get away with comensurate with heating the place in a reasonable time and maintaining comfort.

I like programmable stats which allow you to have different temperature settings for different times of the day and on different days of the week. So you can have the temperature a bit lower when you are active during the day and up a bit in the mornings and evenings when you are getting up or sitting down watching the telly. A lot of people, especially if they are out during the week, have different times/temps at weekends than they do during the week.

I only heat my hot water tank to 45 degrees but the heating unit automatically winds it up to 60 for a while once a week to sterilise the tank. I'm not convinced that a non-vented system which is only filled with mains water needs it but there you go.

Cardew · 15 November 2017 at 12:19AM

Rossco83 wrote: »

Cardew,

It’s fixed and located in the hall, next to the Kitchen door.

There is indeed an outside temp compensator.

Just trying to keep my bill down over winter and the house builder installed it but failed to actually configure it!

Thanks,

With an weather compensating system why restrict the water temperature to below 65C. There will be the odd occasion when it is really cold outside, and you want to warm your house quickly, that it might need a higher temperature.

The weather compensating system will keep the water temperature at the optimum for efficiency.

Like matelodave above I prefer a programmable(and portable) thermostat which gives maximum flexibility - instead of the temperature in the hall governing heating. I only walk through my hall and don't care how cool it gets.

The above are just observations, and again, as said above, it is a question of trial and error to get a system set up to suit your requirements.

Optimum Heating Setup

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