Turned rads off but still hot???

Emuchops

I have a newish(4 years old) oil fired central heating system-no central thermostat but each rad has its own dial 0*-5.
Ive just turned it on for the first time this season, and turned off the rads in rooms we dont use(ever mindful of fuel costs).
Ive just checked them and they are all warm to hot-even when the dial is at 0. I do not think this has happened in previous years-house nice and warm but worried about costs. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this may be??
ANY help very much appreciated (ps last serviced 2 yrs ago and Ive tried turning down the boiler control)

Errata

Are the pins in the TVR's stuck in the open position ? Might be worth checking them if they've been on the open position since you last used the central heating several months ago.

economiser

I agree with Errata, check this first. Also some valves have a soft stop for a frost protection position. Mine will keep a room at about 8C in this position but it is possible to turn the valve down further. I did have some valves some years ago where this was not possible and had to pack out the valve to get it to turn off. I did this by removing the valve head and putting a penny between the pin and the thermostatic actuator.

Emuchops

thanks Both-being a bit thick here but how do I check if the pins in the TVRs are still open?
thanks

adaze

Try unscrewing the TRV (which is the bit you turn from 0-5) you should see a small pin, that might need to pushed or pulled, you can try tapping gently with a hammer to release it. Once released you radiator should "switch off" when the room is at the temperature you set (0-5)

latecomer

Take the plastic top off and there will be a pin underneath. Push this to see if it moves. If you can push it all the way down then the valve should be off and no hot water getting into the radiator.

Errata

Don't forget to give it a good squirt of WD40 once its freed.

abbaeyes

Hello
I will start by apologizing if i am sending a message to the wrong part of the site, this is my first time on here and i am hoping someone can help me.

My mother had some TRV fitted to the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and two spare bedroom radiators.
The TRV's have the following settings: frost, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, but no 0

In the past she switched the radiators on in the rooms she needed, mainly the living room, and the bathroom now and again, and all radiators everywhere else in the house were off.

The plumber advised her that fitting TRV's would be more cost efficient.

She is now in a situation that the TRV in the living room is on at setting 3, and the other TRV's in the house are set at frost, as she doesn't want them on, but they get red hot just like the radiator in the living room.

I can't explain the distress this is causing her (and me) as she keeps quoting age concern's advise to just warm the one room your in to save on energy costs.
She now believes that having the heating on in the living room via the radiators will be costing her a lot of extra money as the other radiators in the house come on too, even though they are set at frost.
I hope someone can help me, are the TRV's/radiators suppose to get hot like that even at a frost setting, then cool down?
could someone put it in layman terms so I am able to explian it to her and she is able to understand the concept behind these TRV's and how they are cost efficient and how they work?

bockster

i suspect one of two things;-

1 see advice above about the 'pins' being stuck on the trv,s.

2 the frost setting will be looking to acheive a given temperature eg 8deg as said above, could it be possible that the rooms are still not acheiving this temp due to poor insulation.

a drastic measure would be to turn the rads off on the locksheilds, but these should be set and left to balance the system. if you adjust these i highly recommend you count the turns on each one and make a note of them.


hope this helps.

abbaeyes

thank you so much for that, i will give it a go tonight