Help with heating a childs room

daveyjp

The room only needs to be kept at about 18 degrees C - a cheap electric heater with timer and thermostat will do the job.

I grew up using a corner bedroom with two external walls, north west facing and it was always cold even with heating on.

dgillespie

hi folks thanks for your help.
The people who were out to check the boiler and heating system are the qualified contractors who work for the company who built all the houses.
it is a brand new build which was constructed by KIER homes.
there is thermostat on the radiator in the kids bedroom but not on the 2 in the living room which is a right pain.
so no matter whats done the living room is crazy hot.
I am still going to look for a small electric heater with timer/thermostat i just didnt want one that made the electricity go through the roof.
ive checked all the likely places but most seem to have either or...not with both thermostat and timer which would be perfect.

thanks

iamcornholio

It's very common for the main system thermosat to be in the living room, and it shuts the heating off when this room is hot - but the rest of the house remains cold

If so move it. And fit thermostatic valves to the radiators in the living room

An oil filed thermostat controlled heater will do the the kids room

But, it will be more cost effective to use gas to heat other parts of the house more (by moving the main thermostat) and controlling individual rooms with thermostatic valves, than to use an electric heater in the bedroom

Also, are you sure that the contractor has actually balanced the system as opposed to just 'checking' it?

gas4you

I would get them to check the size of the bedroom radiator is correct. I assume that this radiator is getting as hot as all the others?

Try turning off one of the lounge radiators for now and setting the room stat on 22c

latecomer

If the radiators are sized correctly and its been balanced properly then the issue shouldn't exist. If the radiators are turned up and they are not heating up then the system isn't balanced and they need to come back and do it properly.

Do the radiator in the your sons bedroom actually get hot?

27col

So you have decided to ignore the advice to get the heating working properly and spend the money getting extra portable heating installed. I sometimes wonder why we bother.

AGBAGB

Here's the solution that will work assuming, if like you say, the rad in the bedroom gets hot but the living room is too hot.

Like others have mentioned the system need balancing. Here's how to do it -

Turn the valve on the living room radiator off then open it up a turn or two.
If other rooms get over hot turn them down as well.
Doing this will cause more of the hot water to flow to the bedroom.

Does the bed room get warm now? without the front room over heating?

If it's now flipped the other way, open up the front room rad untill you get the right balance.

Note: Always make sure some of the rads are fully on.

Try this before before going down the expensive elecy option

PS. I'm sure you know, but for other who might read this, a cold room for a child is "better" than an over hot room for sleeping in.

lovethymini

We live in an uninsulated detached house and our toddler's room is always cold - the house is terrible at retaining heat and when the weather's cold outside, the house is freezing an hour after the heating's gone off.

I've put a small oil-filled radiator with a thermostat in the nursery, and I have a room thermometer in there too, so on a very cold night we don't need to worry about it getting to cold in there. It's now between 15-18 degrees which is just right for sleeping. I don't need a timer but if I did I'd just use one of those plug in ones.

BTW - the house has a BN boiler and TRV everywhere, and all the rads work fine. The nursery rad is adequate for the room, there's just no insulation and the room is north facing.

I agree with the other posters about fixing the problem with the house but in the short term you need to make sure the little one doesn't get cold.

hth

brig001

If these are new houses, there shouldn't be a cold room anywhere. I suspect a building fault somewhere. In ours, we had loft insulation that didn't go to the corners and holes in the wall under the floor which were letting cold air underneath the floor. Could also be a fault behind plasterboard or badly installed plasterboard. These can all be fixed. Get on to the builder and talk to the neighbours to see if they have the same problem. I you have, all go together and complain. If still no joy, talk to your local council, they may be able to help too.

27col

I have to ask lovethymini. Why do you live in an uninsulated house in this day and age?