Fitting radiator thermostats

deanos

Anyone give me some sort of price to have thermostats fitted to 10 radiators ?

deefadog

I did this last year!

Well the themostats are about £6 each (plumb center) (B&Q are doing a special deal at the moment, by 4 get one free i think - best check that)

Drain the system, and just swap the joint over with the thermostat! - 5 mins per radiator.

so all in all - £60 if you do it yourself, i would estamate a decent plumber would charge you £60 for doing it - so £120!

Hope that helps!

deanos

Im not sure how to drain the system is it easy ?

deefadog

The system is easy to drain, you should find a pipe with a piece coming off it on nthe lowest floor that you can attach a hose pipe too, let it drain for an hour or too, you'll still have some water left in the radiators, so put some towels down around the area, and fit the thermostat to the flow in end!

If your unsure, get some qoutes in becasue at this time of the year you don't want a leak and no heating, but it's a fairly simple job!

Al Mac - I am not an expert by no means, so not sure about the flow rates?? but individual thermostates allow you to control the heat in each room, so rooms that are not used much can be jsut on 1 and the main living areas to suite your needs!


Good luck.

deefadog

Aha, i see, yes that would work!

Good tip that

silvercar

you guys make it sound so simple.

Lived here for 3 months and had to have the system drained twice.

both times it was a nightmare refilling the system - airlocks in odd places etc.

deefadog

Your right air locks can be a pain, i guess if you get a pro in he/she can minimise the airlocks!

In our last Bungalow i had to bleed the air out once a month, the bleeder valve was in the corner of the attic - I don't miss doing that job

beanieandme

I have been getting quotes for £30 per trv. Probs £25 labour, ridiculous.

Claire_Jones_3

Just to let you know you can buy little covers for the pipes. What you do is put them over the pipes in the expansion tank usually in the loft (thats where ours is!) and then all you do it drain each radiator as you go. Therefore saving you having to drain the whole system and it takes so little time.

Good luck

BobProperty

deefadog wrote:

I did this last year!

Well the themostats are about £6 each (plumb center) (B&Q are doing a special deal at the moment, by 4 get one free i think - best check that)

Drain the system, and just swap the joint over with the thermostat! - 5 mins per radiator.

so all in all - £60 if you do it yourself, i would estamate a decent plumber would charge you £60 for doing it - so £120!

Hope that helps!

1. I don't know whether I'd want to fit Thermostatic valves that cost £6, either for myself or a customer.
2. £6 at Plumb Center ? What trade discount are you on? You can get them for about £6 from Screwfix, B&Q etc, but see 1.
3. Can you subcontract for me please if you can swap a rad valve for a thermostatic in 5 minutes? Ditto £60 for doing 10 of them, it isn't going to happen.
4. "Drain down the system" - not always the simplest of jobs, neither is re-filling afterwards. And if you can find a plumber to change a thermostatic for £6 I think the charge for draining down and re-filling might be a bit more!

robv_3

Its not just swapping the valves......

o- Its not uncommon to have to cut the tails and fit new ones due to the original valve compression nuts being to tight and deforming the pipe.
o- Refilling the system can be a pain and need filling from the bottom.
o- Inhibitor should be re-added to the system.
o- The central heating system will need to be rebalanced after the new valves are fitted.

Expect to pay at least a days wages plus 20quid a valve and another 50 quid for the inhibitor/gas/pipe/connectors etc.