I don't have a thermostat

Cardew

macman wrote: »

Thermostatic Radiator Valve.
Yes, of course turning off un-needed rads helps! The less heat that you lose from the CH circuit, the less gas is burned to reheat the cooler water from the return. If you had electric heating, would you leave it on it unused rooms?
It's quite simple, you need a decent programmer and you need TRV's. A 6 year old install should have had these from scratch, so I'm wondering who installed your boiler?
Cardew, while I take your point that proper controls do not automatically lead to savings, the odds are that by being able to precisely control timing and temp, the OP will enjoy a much more effective CH system that should be less wasteful-if properly set up.

The OP has said 6 year it was a new boiler 6 years ago, not a new CH system. So whilst it would be a good idea to fit a thermostat at that time, it is not mandatory.

I agree with you that 'in the real world' proper controls will lead to savings. I wanted to put over to the OP that fitting a thermostat won't dramatically reduce bills unless other steps are taken - like turn off radiators in unused rooms!

The OP's last posts are indicative of a widespread misunderstanding, apparent on MSE, that when the boiler is firing it costs the same regardless of how many radiators the boiler is supplying.

quidsy

There is only one sure fire way of keeping heating costs down & that is to turn the heating off

We have ours on timer, 1.5hr in the morning so that we can get showers & wake up without feezing our bits off & 3.5 hrs in the evenings until just after we all go to bed. The rest of the time we layer up & use blankets to watch TV. The only exception to this is when it is REALLY cold, blizzard like & snowing outside.

My son does have a plug in radiator that we use during the night on a low heat to take the chill out but me & hubby just go to bed in sexy winter wear.

We have double lined curtains & door draft excluders & the raisiators for the unused rooms are turned off, this includes the kitchen & hallway as well as no one uses either space for enough time to warrant them being on & when you cook it heats up anyway.

My gas bill is no more than 150 a quater for gas central heating, boiler & gas hob.

macman

Cardew wrote: »

The OP has said 6 year it was a new boiler 6 years ago, not a new CH system. So whilst it would be a good idea to fit a thermostat at that time, it is not mandatory.

I agree with you that 'in the real world' proper controls will lead to savings. I wanted to put over to the OP that fitting a thermostat won't dramatically reduce bills unless other steps are taken - like turn off radiators in unused rooms!

The OP's last posts are indicative of a widespread misunderstanding, apparent on MSE, that when the boiler is firing it costs the same regardless of how many radiators the boiler is supplying.

Thanks, I missed that. But would not a reputable RGI look over the system when quoting for the install and commissioning the boiler, and point out the complete absence of any proper controls? At the very least, it's more potential business for them.

iammumtoone

I have extremely old radiators I am not even sure if they have a workable on/off value. My boiler is a bit more than 6 years but when it was fitted there was no mention of installing valves or thermostat anywhere. To be fair at that time I think the only thermostat option would have been a wired one (I didn't know wireless were available until I found out via MSE ) However you could definitely get TRVs at the time and they weren't mentioned

What would be the best option if you could only have one, a thermostat or TRVs? And does anyone know what would be the cheapest option?

iammumtoone

quidsy wrote: »

We have ours on timer, 1.5hr in the morning so that we can get showers & wake up without feezing our bits off & 3.5 hrs in the evenings until just after we all go to bed. The rest of the time we layer up & use blankets to watch TV. The only exception to this is when it is REALLY cold, blizzard like & snowing outside.

Do you have a thermostat or values that are set when the heating comes on? I work my heating something like that as it is the only option I have but I understand it is not very efficient as you are heating each time from cold (therefore using more energy). I thought the best way if possible was for heating to be kept on most of the time using a thermostat set at a low temperature. I may be completely wrong in this but that is what I have been lead to believe.

quidsy

I have a combi boiler which produces hot water at all times but it has an inbuilt timer that basically switches the raidiators on & off at the designated times. I do have a thermostat to control how hot it goes but it doesn't have the option to stay on & just kick in when the temp reaches a certain coldness. TBH I don't think I would like that, I hate to have heating on at night whilst we sleep & prefer it to be cold, no matter how cold.

NowRetired

I hate to have heating on at night

So did I but when you get to my age and get up a couple of times to go to the toilet you start to leave it on 24 hrs a day.


However I turn the thermostat down to 16 deg when I go to bed and turn it up again in the morning when I get up.


Since I started doing this I have not noticed any significant increase in my gas usage.


Possibly because the temperature does not drop below 16 deg most nights due to my 300 mm plus loft insulation.

StuC75

A new thermostat will certainly improve matters - ensure that it has multiple settings...

I say this because my boiler had a basic wireless controller fitted that was crap - it only had hourly On \ OFF segments - with one temperature that it went to - and would generally need to be 1degree colder to come on and one degree hotter than before it went off - and only displayed full degrees.. If you tried to override it that would apply permanently (rather than just the next cycle).. This was ineffective and costly...

As it was wireless I replaced it myself (since only had to switch off the electric and swap the transmitter over) easily done as the wiring was in place - no changing to the boiler..

The affect was dramatic - new one had multiple daytime settings to different temperature - rather than straight on\off.. I have it set cooler over night, pick up a bit for morning out to work, then cools during working week, then picks up early evening, before back to cooler for the night.. It has 5/2 day setting to can set different segments for the weekend too.. The sensor is also tolerant withing half degree so is responsive to it getting warmer \ colder.. Any temporary boost only applies until the next timed segment..

The reason why most controllers are put in hallways is that those areas will not have a TRV on the radiator - in essence the Thermostat becomes the controller of that area plus it ensure a return to the boiler (if all others were turned off / not running)..

Otherwise if you had the Thermostat in the room, but the radiator TRV was set to 1/2 then it would cause it not to get warm enough so would keep working.. so if you want the thermostat to be in a room then make sure the TRV is set to max so that it doesnt compromise the rest of the setup - then its just a case of tweaking each room to be where it needs to be..

quidsy

NowRetired wrote: »

So did I but when you get to my age and get up a couple of times to go to the toilet you start to leave it on 24 hrs a day.

I hope by the time I need to get up a few times a night I will be living in warmer climes but if not I will certainly have a similar system for heating

macman

iammumtoone wrote: »

I have extremely old radiators I am not even sure if they have a workable on/off value. My boiler is a bit more than 6 years but when it was fitted there was no mention of installing valves or thermostat anywhere. To be fair at that time I think the only thermostat option would have been a wired one (I didn't know wireless were available until I found out via MSE ) However you could definitely get TRVs at the time and they weren't mentioned

What would be the best option if you could only have one, a thermostat or TRVs? And does anyone know what would be the cheapest option?

Then get the existing valves freed off or changed for TRV's. A TRV costs about a tenner. The investment will be far cheaper than the energy you are curently wasting year on year. How do you regulate the heat output at present-open the window?
You should have both, but if you have only one, fit a programmer (not just a room stat).