Room temperatures

Cardew

Andy_WSM wrote: »

The wireless stat will control the temperature at which the boiler turns on & off to keep your front room at a comfortable level. The TRVs will control the temperature at which the individual radiators turn off when the rooms have reached their desired temps. There shouldn't be one on the living room radiator if that's where the thermostat is - or if there is it should be set to max. The others in the house call all be adjusted down to whatever you feel is a comfortable temperature for that room - i..e number 3 for bedroom, lower for a spare, unused room.

That of course illustrates the compromise we all have to deal with when we have a room stat and TRVs.

What is not apparent from the quote above(although obviously Andy understands it) is that when your front room is at a comfortable level, and the wireless stat switches off the boiler(the pump), the TRVs in the rest of the house have no effect whatsoever - your heating is off!!

So take the situation where you have had the heating on in your living room during the day and the bedroom radiators off(which many of us do).

If you want to put the bedroom radiators on for an hour or so before you go to bed, nothing will happen if your living room is up to temperature. The only solution is to turn up the heating in the living room(which you don't need) to get the bedroom radiators to work.

I would add that although the latest regulations for new installations say that you don't have a TRV on one radiator in the living room(if that is where the room stat is) it isn't the case in all houses. I have TRVs on all radiators and a bypass valve fitted.

Indeed many houses don't have a room thermostat fitted at all - they rely on TRVs.

Whilst I have a room stat fitted, it is in a large hall with a staircase leading off. I simply turn the stat to maximum(so the pump is always running when the CH is switched on) and control the temperature in rooms with TRVs. That is my compromise!!

Fire_Fox

I may be one of the people Cardew is referring to: I can confirm that I use a very expensive chef-grade probe to measure the temperature in my flat! :eek: For the last few days I have measured between 12C and 14C depending on what level my electric heaters are set at.

TBH 12C is pretty unpleasant unless I am sat up in bed with the electric blanket on and laptop out. 14C is fine - I wear a sensible amount of clothing (no hats/ scarves/ gloves indoors) and use a blanket on my legs when sat on the sofa.

I had a mild cold back in October, my first respiratory infection for four or five years despite not bothering to heat the flat for two winters. I am a fitness instructor, healthy diet, don't smoke, not asthmatic - I am therefore not concerned about the health risks.

Mercenary

What confuses me about this is that days in our British Summers are often much colder than 20C and we certainly don't put the heating on then :. So what's the big deal about 20C being the optimum temp in Winter?

Our old Honeywell thermostat is situated in our living room (builder choice :rolleyes:) and set at an average setting of 18C, but it has to be turned up and down depending on what's going on in the room and with how many people and what equipment giving off heat. If it's turned up to 20C or higher with nobody in the living room then the house feels like a sauna.

Andy_WSM

Mercenary wrote: »

What confuses me about this is that days in our British Summers are often much colder than 20C and we certainly don't put the heating on then :. So what's the big deal about 20C being the optimum temp in Winter?

Our old Honeywell thermostat is situated in our living room (builder choice :rolleyes:) and set at an average setting of 18C, but it has to be turned up and down depending on what's going on in the room and with how many people and what equipment giving off heat. If it's turned up to 20C or higher with nobody in the living room then the house feels like a sauna.

I've been known to have the heating on in the Summer. Why wouldn't you if it's cold? I don't get the whole "can't put the heating on until the end of October" mentality. If it's cold, it's cold. The weather doesn't study a calendar!

Cardew

Mercenary wrote: »

What confuses me about this is that days in our British Summers are often much colder than 20C and we certainly don't put the heating on then :. So what's the big deal about 20C being the optimum temp in Winter?

Our old Honeywell thermostat is situated in our living room (builder choice :rolleyes:) and set at an average setting of 18C, but it has to be turned up and down depending on what's going on in the room and with how many people and what equipment giving off heat. If it's turned up to 20C or higher with nobody in the living room then the house feels like a sauna.

In summer - even the British summer - you do of course get a big thermal effect in the house from the sun during the day, and the house loses that heat slowly at night because it is not cold outside.

A more graphic example is that the automatic Airconditioning in a car will often cut in during Spring when the outside temperature might be <15C.

The siting of a wall thermostat is always going to be a compromise - warm living room or cold hall - neither is ideal. You can overcome this to a certain extent by using TRVs.

Many older systems simply did not have a wall thermostat but relied on TRVs.

My wall thermostat is in a large hall with a staircase. I don't normally heat this hall, so I turn the thermostat up to max and control heat in all rooms with TRVs

kazd

We have a hall thermostat, its normally set to about 20 deg but in the evenings it can be set between 22 and 24 and then we also have a fire in the living room. I guess I just feel the cold. The radiators are all set to max and a couple of them cannot be turned off, something to do with the pumped system. Heating goes off about 10.30pm and comes on about 6am. I always turn the heating down to about 20 at night otherwise it is too hot in the mornings.

Dreamnine

'Death Risk begins'

Utter BS. Does this mean that even in the summer I should heat my living room so that it gets above 18?

Hot-water-bottle and blankets. No debt to utility companies.

Cardew

Dreamnine wrote: »

'Death Risk begins'

Utter BS. Does this mean that even in the summer I should heat my living room so that it gets above 18?

Could it be that you personally are not in the risk category?

Have you read post #10?

Dreamnine

I'll take my chances. I've been in a neighbour's house recently which was like a furnace - so hot that they were wearing t-shirts and their cat appeared to be in a permanent coma.

Andy_WSM

Dreamnine wrote: »

I'll take my chances. I've been in a neighbour's house recently which was like a furnace - so hot that they were wearing t-shirts and their cat appeared to be in a permanent coma.

Hmm, are you my neighbour? :think:

If I am wearing anything more than a thin shirt or a t-shirt I am uncomfortable, so you could well be talking about me. :rotfl: