Advice on a digital room thermostat

lovemilk

I have a digital room thermostat - Siemans RDH10. I put ti in my bedroom but when I go to bed, although it is set at eighteen the room temperature is 16.5 and the heating is not on upstairs. I don't understand.

I live alone. When would you put the heating on? When I come in from work / being out? Or keep the heating on all the time and let it fire up when the room drops below temperatiure?

I have dials on the radiators what number would you set them at and do you put radiators on in rooms you don't use, like the spare room / kitchen?

I want to economise but also be warm.

Thank-you

Pink.

Hi lovemilk,

As this isn't really an Old Style query I've moved your thread over to the Electricity board to see if you can get more replies.

Pink

jalexa

lovemilk wrote: »

I have a digital room thermostat - Siemans RDH10. I put ti in my bedroom but when I go to bed, although it is set at eighteen the room temperature is 16.5 and the heating is not on upstairs. I don't understand.

When "the heating is not on upstairs", though the stat is calling for heat, is the heating on downstairs?

Is there a timeclock anywhere (near or on the boiler?)?


Will update this later with advice on programmable stats.

chris1973

I have a digital room thermostat - Siemans RDH10. I put ti in my bedroom but when I go to bed, although it is set at eighteen the room temperature is 16.5 and the heating is not on upstairs. I don't understand.

Is your heating actually switched on overnight?, the thermostat wont do anything if the actual heating system is turned off.

I live alone. When would you put the heating on? When I come in from work / being out? Or keep the heating on all the time and let it fire up when the room drops below temperatiure?

When I was in a GCH property, I had programmable thermostats which allowed me to program different temperatures for different times of the day. I left the GCH on all of the time, and had the heating running at 20c during the times I was at home ( Taking effect 90 mins before I got in from work at night and up in the morning), 16c overnight and then 10c during the day - just to protect against frost and keep the house aired.

I found that this kept the bills reasonable, certainly more reasonable than the 1 bedroom E7 heated property i'm renting now!. It was also comfortably warm during the times I needed it the most.

I have dials on the radiators what number would you set them at and do you put radiators on in rooms you don't use, like the spare room / kitchen?

Actively adjust them to whatever keeps the room comfortable. Obviously lots of factors apply here, depending on the output of the radiator, the number of radiators in the room, the insulation of the property, your own personal comfort level and the temperature outside. Suffice to say you'll need to adjust this setting to a higher value during a time when the outside temperature is -10 compared to when the outside temperature is +6, so there rarely is a 'one size fits all solution'.

Personally i'd be inclined to keep all rooms at a low background temperature, as damp is an enemy, ruins wallcoverings and costs money in the long run to put right. I know people who try and save money by leaving certain rooms completely unheated for long periods and end up with black mould all over their walls, and probably end up with more inconvenience and expense than paying a little bit more a month in order to prevent it. If you have thermostatic valves fitted in these rooms, it should be relatively easy and inexpensive to keep them warm enough to keep damp at bay, without costing the earth.

lovemilk

jalexa wrote: »

When "the heating is not on upstairs", though the stat is calling for heat, is the heating on downstairs?

Is there a timeclock anywhere (near or on the boiler?)?


Will update this later with advice on programmable stats.

Last two nights I've tried to get the heating up to 18 upstairs. It has been coming on upstairs but only hits about 16 max after being on all night. It ends up boiling downstairs, do I turn off radiators downstairs although one has no control on it.

lovemilk

chris1973 wrote: »

Is your heating actually switched on overnight?, the thermostat wont do anything if the actual heating system is turned off.



When I was in a GCH property, I had programmable thermostats which allowed me to program different temperatures for different times of the day. I left the GCH on all of the time, and had the heating running at 20c during the times I was at home ( Taking effect 90 mins before I got in from work at night and up in the morning), 16c overnight and then 10c during the day - just to protect against frost and keep the house aired.

I found that this kept the bills reasonable, certainly more reasonable than the 1 bedroom E7 heated property i'm renting now!. It was also comfortably warm during the times I needed it the most.



Actively adjust them to whatever keeps the room comfortable. Obviously lots of factors apply here, depending on the output of the radiator, the number of radiators in the room, the insulation of the property, your own personal comfort level and the temperature outside. Suffice to say you'll need to adjust this setting to a higher value during a time when the outside temperature is -10 compared to when the outside temperature is +6, so there rarely is a 'one size fits all solution'.

Personally i'd be inclined to keep all rooms at a low background temperature, as damp is an enemy, ruins wallcoverings and costs money in the long run to put right. I know people who try and save money by leaving certain rooms completely unheated for long periods and end up with black mould all over their walls, and probably end up with more inconvenience and expense than paying a little bit more a month in order to prevent it. If you have thermostatic valves fitted in these rooms, it should be relatively easy and inexpensive to keep them warm enough to keep damp at bay, without costing the earth.

Thank-you that's been a real help about the spare rooms. I can't programme set temperatures at set times (that would be great). I can only set one temperature on the room thermostat and then just select on the boiler when it comes on and goes off.

jalexa

lovemilk wrote: »

Last two nights I've tried to get the heating up to 18 upstairs. It has been coming on upstairs but only hits about 16 max after being on all night. It ends up boiling downstairs, do I turn off radiators downstairs although one has no control on it.

*Probably* your system needs "balancing". Take care if this is too technical (google for guidance) but to "balance" the system the lockshield valve of the hottest radiators need to be closed slightly and the lockshield valve of the coolest radiators need to be opened slightly.

Maybe you need to get a heating engineer in. Should be one hour max.

jalexa

lovemilk wrote: »

I can't programme set temperatures at set times (that would be great)

What you need is a programmable stat. This is a good one but there are cheaper available with fewer settings.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/honeywell-cm901-room-thermostat/39124

Both 24hr and 7 day versions are available.

lovemilk

I'm thinking that my radiator in the bedroom isn't big enough and thats why it's not getting warm in there

jalexa

lovemilk wrote: »

I'm thinking that my radiator in the bedroom isn't big enough and thats why it's not getting warm in there

Maybe, but before that can be answered is the bedroom radiator less hot to the touch than the hottest downstairs radiator?

slipthru

lovemilk wrote: »

I'm thinking that my radiator in the bedroom isn't big enough and thats why it's not getting warm in there

What number is the dial set to on your bedroom radiator? if it is below three it will be turning the radiator of before the room gets the temp that you have set the stat to, which will be why it is very hot downstairs as the heating will have been running all night.