Radiator questions (merged threads)

surfergirl_3

Sorry for lack of info, i am in Lancashire

Cheers

Surfergirl

bestyman

Hi,
TRVs are about a tenner each . Then you are looking at say 20- 30 mins to actually change each valve.

The system needs draining down and filling up ( takes about an hour ) regardless of if there is one valve to change or 7 , so makes sense to have them all done at once ( usually one rad is left without TRV but depends if bypass is fitted but lets keep it simple)

So assuming 7 to change thats £100 in bits including corrorsion proofer, and 3 to 4 hours labour .

1 to change is £30 in bits and 1-2 hours labour.

Above assuming no other problems and a normal sized house. You can pay a bit more or a bit less for the TRVs but avoid the cheap ones as they can stick.Honeywell are a good make.

Labour costs can be from £30-£80 an hour .

Bottom line is £250-£300 for 7 sounds fair to me.(Leeds)

Lemoncurd

A related question - does anyone know if its possible to fit thermostatic valves on microbore radiators?

moneysavingplumber

Lemoncurd wrote:

A related question - does anyone know if its possible to fit thermostatic valves on microbore radiators?

Yes it is, although many plumbers shy away as it can be awkward due to the softness of the copper and the likelyhood that the olives on the existing valves have been overtightened previously, making it difficult to make the new joint for the TRV. Myson, Danfoss, Honeywell and Siemens TRVs are all available in 8mm and 10mm versions.

On an open vented system it is possible (and often preferable in my opinion) to change a TRV without draining the whole system down by using a bung kit in the header tank, but if doing all of them (except the one where the room stat is situated if applicable) then it is a drain-down job for sure.

calleyw

Well the man has been and gone. And it was a balance thing. The moment he went to the first radiator up stairs he took the end with a blanking end on it off and twiddled and it came on nice and hot.

It is rarely used room but at least it works. He spent about an hour here fiddling to get a balance right as he said the reason being the radiators down stairs don't seem to get so hot is because they are smaller pipes as it was old pipework.

But his fiddling seems to have made the livingroom a lot warmer. And he said if we turn the ones upstairs down a bit then it might help a little bit.

I do prefer it on the cooler side rather than the heat blasting out and shorts and t-shirt type temps.

The other thing he did say was to have a bigger pump. But at least the livingroom now feels warmer which it did not even with the heating on for hours over the weekend.

Many thanks everyone.

Yours

Calley