House not warming up!

quaium

We've moved in to a new house about 6 weeks ago now and we're having issues trying to warm up the house! It's a standard mid-terraced 3 bed room property with double glazing throughout and decent sized radiators in all the main rooms and one in the downstairs hallway. We have a year old Vaillant boiler which is controlled by an electronic programmable thermostat (Honeywell CM907).

The radiators in all the rooms get very warm, so warm in fact that it’s sometimes difficult to put your hands on them for too long. However, the rooms still feel cold even after having the radiators on for about 4 hours or more. I'm not sure if it's just us and we can't take the cold, if it is a problem with the way we're using the thermostat or if it's the house not being insulated properly.

Talking about the thermostat, we're not programming it or anything, just setting the room temp to about 22 degrees and then switching it on and off when we need it. Another thing is that although we've set the desired temperature on the thermostat it never actually manages to reach that temperate (the display shows temperatures around 14-18 degrees at best).

Is there something wrong with the thermostat? Is it the house? The boiler? Are we using the thermostat in the wrong way and should really have it on constantly on a program instead of turning it on and off? Any advice would be great, I hate sitting in the cold!

macman

Bit pointless having a really good programmer like the CM907 and not using it's capabilities, but I digress.
Combi or conventional boiler? What CH temp have you set on the boiler?
If the rads are getting hot but the house is not warming up, then it indicates that either the rads are undersized or that your insulation is inadequate (how much loft insulation do you have?).
Have you bled the rads-are there cold spots at the top?
If the system won't get the temp above 14C , even if freezing conditions, then something is badly wrong.
If you leave the heating on permanently, your bills will soar, so set the programmer up as intended to suit your lifestyle.

dogshome

Hi quaium - From your post I gather that this house is not 'New', but just new to you - (1 Year old boiler ? )

A terraced house with only 2 outside walls should be relatively easy to heat, and with the boiler managing to heat the Radiators to a point where they are uncomfortable to touch, your problem would seem to be with the levels of Insulation.
CHECK THE LOFT - It should have an appx. 15" depth of closely fitted insulation material all over it
Topping up Loft Insulation is a simple DIY job or cheap to have done
CHECK FOR DRAFTS - Beg or Borrow a cigarette and with all the internal doors open, hold it close to the floor to see which way the smoke moves, and also move it slowly around all outside doors and the windows All this is best done when there is a strong wind blowing onto the Back/Front of the house
There are plenty of inexpensive sealing tape products for doors in the DIY stores

This then leaves two things that are more expensive to fix.
DOUBLE GLAZING has been around for quite a few years now, and whilst the early versions were better than single glazed windows, the latest types run rings around them for heat efficiency
CAVITY WALL INSULATION This will not be possible if your house has solid brick walls, but if they are 'Cavity' it's well worth while getting done and there may be a contribution available from your
Gas/Elec supplier

quaium

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll try and answer some of your questions.

We have a combi boiler which is set to about 75 degrees (I think - the knob is about three quarters turned)

No cold spots on the radiators.

To be honest we haven't even ventured up to the loft yet but I do remember the previous owners telling us that it was insulated (but will check this weekend).

The house is not 'New', just new to us.

I have noticed that when I put my hands close to our front door (which is UPVC) I can feel a draft coming through some parts (is this normal as I can't see a door being so tight nothing gets in?). But the strange thing is, that part of the hallway is probably the warmest! I will try the smoke test this weekend too so thanks for that.

I was of the thinking that the house was cold because I wasn't regulating the temperature of the house by programming the thermostat. For example, say the house is 10 degrees during the day when we are at work and then we come in from work and put the heating on. It'll be some time before the temperature rises to say 20 degrees to get the house warm enough. However, if I have the thermostat programmed then it will try and keep the house at a constant 18 degrees and not have much to do when I come in from work. Am I right in saying this or would be energy bills go through the roof having the heating on all the time?

macman

Then I suggest you start by looking into the loft immediately, it may have minimal insulation-you need 150mm these days. Is the CH install relatively new though?
You seem to be missing the whole point of a programmer. You don't turn the heating on when you come in, not should you leave it on all day (with the latter your bills will rocket). You program the timer so that it switches on the CH some time in advance, in order to warm the house up for when you get home). This period can only be established by trial and error, but in these weather conditions it will obviously be longer than usual.
Howver in your case, the CM907 has an 'optimisation' feature that can be enabled in the installer menu: what you do is specify a time by which you want the house to be at the programmed temp, it then 'learns' the required start time to achieve this temp from previous data. So for example, if you specify 6pm temp, it might start the CH up at 4.45pm.

quaium

...but isn't programming the thermostat actually leaving the heating on? For example, if I program the thermostat I have to set a temperature for the period between 8am to 5pm when I am at work. If I set that temperature at say, 14 degrees, the central heating would be on continously as I'm sure the house falls below 14 degrees?

Also would the lack of loft insulation really make the house that much colder?

TwittersPVFC

As heat goes up, having the loft insulation I think traps the heat below it and prevents it rising and being lost through the roof, bouncing it back down. I think that's correct isn't it?

As for Cavity Wall Insulation, I've got a 2 bed mid-terrace and refuse to get that, simply because I've heard too many stories of damp problems. Every builder I've spoken to has said don't get it as the damp problems far outweigh the savings from heat.

I've got a similar problem in our house, so we've rang EDF to get a quote for Loft Insulation. Just waiting on them ring me back (been 2 days so far). Also going to get a new front door as the current one isn't air right and lets tons of cold in.

anotherbaldrick

quaium wrote: »

Also would the lack of loft insulation really make the house that much colder?

Too right it would, even if the roof is insulated if the insulation is only 100mm depth, increasing it to 250mm would make a noticable difference and with fuel costs going through the stratosphere payback the cost in no time.

notbritishgas

quaium wrote: »

...but isn't programming the thermostat actually leaving the heating on? For example, if I program the thermostat I have to set a temperature for the period between 8am to 5pm when I am at work. If I set that temperature at say, 14 degrees, the central heating would be on continously as I'm sure the house falls below 14 degrees?

Also would the lack of loft insulation really make the house that much colder?

In that case set the temperature much lower, eg 7 degrees, then it will not come on whilst you are at work, increasing it to say 18 or 19 just before you come home.
Also overnight needs to be set at this lower setting so it does not come on, once again increasing it at a time just before you get up.

macman

quaium wrote: »

...but isn't programming the thermostat actually leaving the heating on? For example, if I program the thermostat I have to set a temperature for the period between 8am to 5pm when I am at work. If I set that temperature at say, 14 degrees, the central heating would be on continously as I'm sure the house falls below 14 degrees?


Also would the lack of loft insulation really make the house that much colder?

No, because you can program it to be off during that period if you wish-or any temp you like. The default is for the frost stat to kick in at
5C anyway.

Yes! About a third of the heat loss in your home is through the roof without adequate insulation.

quaium

So I guess I'll have to check the loft and try out a thermostat program to see if things improve.

One final (so he says) question... when the radiators are warm and the house isn't warming up what is the problem more likely to be, the loft insulation or ineffective use of the thermostat?