New boiler & TRV's flat is colder than before

GoneWithTheWindFabulous

Hello

Need some advice please

Had a Vokera boiler not the best but warmed up flat very well, where I would be too hot and need to turn boiler off.

I have recently replaced with Worcester Bosch (powerflush, filter and all done) - Condensing boiler 28i, and have TRV's in 2 bedrooms and living room

I also have a battery thermostat

Now since I have had installed which coincided with weather getting colder the flat is not as hot as before. It is barely warm and I am concerned as its only October. Where I would be very hot before (I like heat) I am barely warm - Its taken about 3 hours.

Living room radiator is hot at top but cooler at bottom - TRV on 5
Hall - No TRV radiator hot but then gets cooler
Bedroom 1 - Radiator Medium temp, has a TRV
Bathroom - Radiator Hot - No TRV
Bedroom 2 - Radiator medium has a TRV, but never heated well before.

Currently boiler is on setting 5 out of 6
Thermostat is in hall and set on 30 degrees, but only makes it to 22 degrees.

I spoke to gas fitter who installed before re radiator - he said they were not balanced, he did something which made living room very warm, but then turned the left valve back down

I have contacted him again to ask for advice, but would like opinions, as he advised I set my room thermostat to 21 degrees, and boiler to setting 3-4 for me that is too cold - I tried it for a few days, not sure I will be listened too.

I have read up on balancing radiators and have tried, it works for a while but then seems to revert back

Just concerned spending all the £ and place is colder than before.. and its only October

Thanks in advance

sk240

To balance the radiators you need to:-
Open all TRV's and lockshield valves (the valve the other side of the radiator) fully.
Start at the furthest radiator from the boiler, slowly turn down the lockshield valve until it is slightly colder at the bottom than the top (takes a while to settle out, don't rush it)
Move to the next closest and repeat until all of them have been done.
One radiator (would suggest either hall or bathroom) should be opened further, and if TRV fitted set on max so that it can flow unrestricted.
The boiler setting should then be set at the lowest setting that keeps the place warm, that is the most efficient to run the system.

matelodave

Do a Google search on "balancing radiators" and there are loads of articles and videos which show you how to do it.


I'd guess that if the old boiler worked ok then there's no reason why the new one shouldn't work just as well if not better.

Pincher

For every radiator:

Water IN end: TRV valve.
Water OUT end: Lockshield valve.

The lockshield valve has a plastic cap on, because they don't want people fiddling with it once set. This is the the one you adjust for balancing purposes. You can play with the TRV end all you want, and it will not affect the balancing.

If they were meticulous, the power flush should have been done one radiator at a time. BOTH valves should be FULLY OPEN on the radiator being flushed. All the other radiators should be shut off.
This means at the end of the flushing process, ALL the lockshield valves would be fully open, so the hot water will seek the quickest path to go back to boiler. Therefore the engineer HAS to rebalance the system: not doing so is just negligence, and he should be reported. and struck off.

If he was so lazy as to not open the lockshield valves fully, and worse, just run the flush through all the radiators as is, the flush is just for show, with little real benefit.

This raises the doubt as to whether he saved £10 by not putting in any Inhibitor, which will leave you with more problems in the future.

lstar337

Surely whoever replaced the boiler should have balanced the radiators, and should come back and do it now since they clearly haven't.

Don't see why the OP should have to deal with it.