Any suggestions to keep the house warm?

ukmaggie45

StanleyJ wrote: »

Yes the room stat is the one set at 30C. TRV's on all the radiators are set to 3.
As i mentioned, there is another setting on the combi boiler for the water and radiator heat levels....i hope that setting is correct

Our TRVs are pretty old now (so may not be comparable to newer ones), but so far as I can make out are still working OK. I tend to set them to 4 normally, then raise them to 5 if it's really chilly and I want to pump more heat into the room quickly. I tend to aim for about 72F (my room thermometers came from my parents' home, so are in Fahrenheit) for me to be comfortable... I'm fairly disabled, so tend to be pretty sedentary, I would think around 70F would be warm enough for most folks unless they like sitting around in t-shirts in the middle of winter.

I'm useless at stuff about central heating, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you don't need both TRVs and a room stat. You do need to have one radiator in the run that doesn't have a TRV though, usually it's in the bathroom (it's nice to have a cosy bathroom!).

Do you have solid floors or suspended wooden ones on the ground floor? If you have wooden floors rather than solid floors you may get draughts coming up between the floorboards. We currently live in an Edwardian end terrace, and when we first moved in the carpets used to billow in the wind from gaps in the floorboards! Didn't want to block up the airbricks, so put down hardboard under the carpets and it really improved the warmth of the house.

macman

Turn your TRV's up, 3 is far too low if the room stat is set to 30C!
Open them fully, try the room stat on something like 22C to start with. if you have a TRV in the same room/area as the room 'stat (which you shouldn't have), then open that fully.
Bleeding the rads takes 10 minutes in total, all you need is bleed valve key, about a pound at any DIY shop.
You still haven't told us what temp the system is actually achieving with the original settings? Turn the room 'stat back until it clicks-that is the current temp-what is it?
PS: whatever your problem is, it's nothing to do with nails-unless the nails are so long that they go through a cavity wall!

macman

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Our TRVs are pretty old now (so may not be comparable to newer ones), but so far as I can make out are still working OK. I tend to set them to 4 normally, then raise them to 5 if it's really chilly and I want to pump more heat into the room quickly. I tend to aim for about 72F (my room thermometers came from my parents' home, so are in Fahrenheit) for me to be comfortable... I'm fairly disabled, so tend to be pretty sedentary, I would think around 70F would be warm enough for most folks unless they like sitting around in t-shirts in the middle of winter.

I'm useless at stuff about central heating, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you don't need both TRVs and a room stat. You do need to have one radiator in the run that doesn't have a TRV though, usually it's in the bathroom (it's nice to have a cosy bathroom!).

Do you have solid floors or suspended wooden ones on the ground floor? If you have wooden floors rather than solid floors you may get draughts coming up between the floorboards. We currently live in an Edwardian end terrace, and when we first moved in the carpets used to billow in the wind from gaps in the floorboards! Didn't want to block up the airbricks, so put down hardboard under the carpets and it really improved the warmth of the house.

Yes you do-what you shouldn't have is a TRV in the same room/zone as the room 'stat.

puddy

what is a trv and what does it do and why shouldnt it be in the same room as the stat?

macman

puddy wrote: »

what is a trv and what does it do and why shouldnt it be in the same room as the stat?

Thermostatic Radiator Valve-it enables you to control the temp on each rad, and so in each room or zone individually.
A TRV is not normally fitted near to a room 'stat,as they both do the same thing and so could 'fight' each other if the settings are different.

Jolaaled

Hi Stanley.. a couple of thoughts:

Have you got nice thick curtains up at the windows (and any gaps are sealed)?

Is your home damp at all?? This can make a house feel much colder than the actual temperature on the thermostat, I've found.

Good luck!

StanleyJ

macman wrote: »

Turn your TRV's up, 3 is far too low if the room stat is set to 30C!
Open them fully, try the room stat on something like 22C to start with. if you have a TRV in the same room/area as the room 'stat (which you shouldn't have), then open that fully.
Bleeding the rads takes 10 minutes in total, all you need is bleed valve key, about a pound at any DIY shop.
You still haven't told us what temp the system is actually achieving with the original settings? Turn the room 'stat back until it clicks-that is the current temp-what is it?
PS: whatever your problem is, it's nothing to do with nails-unless the nails are so long that they go through a cavity wall!

Inspite of setting it to 30C,the actual temp shows only 17-19(thermometers in various rooms)...the combi boiler is ALPHA.....have done Bleeding on all of them.....

macman

Open your TRV's as already suggested and see what temp it can get to-no system is going to get your house up to 30C though!

partan

maybe possible that boiler is slightly undersized?
If i remember correctly, when we got our new heating installed, it was sized to heat one room minimum to 21degrees, and the rest to 18 minimum. (even at -1 degreess outside).
I think ours keeps the rooms around 17degrees which to be honest I find warm enough, but then I'm a scotsman

maninthestreet

So do the radiatoers atually feel hot to the touch? - they should be almost too hot to touch.