Thermostat - max temperature

AMO

Hi there,


I have a friend that has bought a house and rented some of the rooms out to students. The house was old when she bought it and she upgraded the heating system to a combi-boiler. Now the one change she noticed was that rather than a timer-based system to heat the hot water tank, the water is on demand as is the heating.


The problem she has is that the thermostat is in the hallway but when she leaves the house, when the students feel cold they turn the thermostat up but then they forget about it and open windows etc.


Now aside from the manual process of trying to change the billing arrangement for the students to pay the bill rather than it being inclusive in the rent, my friend wants to look at different options.


The ones I can think of are:
a) Try to get the thermostat moved into the room my friend is so that it cannot be changed by the students.
b) Try to get some kind of lock mechanism put on it so that it cannot be changed.
c) Try to get a thermostat that will cut out at a certain temperature so that even if you put it on max for example it will only ever heat to 22 degrees.


What's the best way forwards?


Thanks.

retepetsir

I know that with the Honeywell wired and wireless programmable thermostats, using the installer mode, you can set a maximum and minimum threshold. I fitted one in our house and have it limited to 25C to stop the other half putting it all the way up to 30C (which only means the heating is constantly firing, it'll never get there)!

So I'd go with a programmable thermostat. We have the CM907.

The other option is something more upmarket which could be remote controlled by her.

I wouldn't go to the length of moving the thermostat but maybe its best to build this extra cost into the rent payment? It sounds like she might not be charging enough. I assume they have TRV's fitted on the radiators in their rooms so can turn the temp up locally?

lee111s

The easiest way is to have the conversation with the students.

Failing that, have the heating on a timer so that regardless of the thermostat being turned up, the heating is only able to be on for set times, regardless of what the thermostat is.

The best option imo is to get something like hive installed. That was she can control the temperature of the house wherever she is.

Xeorix

My suggestion would be to have a chat with the students.

Failing that, get something like a Nest and control it from anywhere. Theres lots of automation things you can do - I love mine.

I think you can lock the Nest to stop it being changed, I haven't tried it myself but i'm sure I saw an option somewhere

JethroUK

Pretty obvious they don't just turn it.up to then let.it out the.windows

Without asking them My guess is you prolly don't put.it.on early enough so it's too cold in the morning which causes.them.to turn it.up irrespective of thermostat settings and when it reaches temperature its too hot

Solution

Put it on earlier so it already.comfortable temperature when they get out if.bed

Xeorix

JethroUK wrote: »

Pretty obvious they don't just turn it.up to then let.it out the.windows

Without asking them My guess is you prolly don't put.it.on early enough so it's too cold in the morning which causes.them.to turn it.up irrespective of thermostat settings and when it reaches temperature its too hot

Solution

Put it on earlier so it already.comfortable temperature when they get out if.bed

Don't over-estimate students. When I was at Uni, we had the same problem because the people I was living with didn't understand how the heating worked.

They thought that cranking it up would heat the house to that temp and be done with it.

Also:

My guess is you prolly don't put.it.on early enough so it's too cold in the morning which causes.them.to turn it.up irrespective of thermostat settings and when it reaches temperature its too hot

Regardless of the time it goes on, its the last part that is the issue. Turning the thermostat up and then opening the windows. That's just plain stupid - it's like having aircon on in the car and having the windows open

getmore4less

Programable thermostat with landlord mode is likly to be a reasonable solution.

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=programmable+thermostat+for+landlords


If the current one is just a manual dial then the newer ones will have predictive heating and better hysterisis.

27col

Never underestimate the potential for people's stupidity.

Ruski

https://www.plumbnation.co.uk/site/honeywell-tamper-proof-room-thermostat-t6360b1069/

AMO

lee111s wrote: »

The easiest way is to have the conversation with the students.

Failing that, have the heating on a timer so that regardless of the thermostat being turned up, the heating is only able to be on for set times, regardless of what the thermostat is.

The best option imo is to get something like hive installed. That was she can control the temperature of the house wherever she is.

Thanks. Is that possible? I thought with a combi-boiler, it has to be on all the time as water heating is on demand. Can you control the central heating part of it with a timer?

jennifernil

Xeorix wrote: »

Don't over-estimate students. When I was at Uni, we had the same problem because the people I was living with didn't understand how the heating worked.

They thought that cranking it up would heat the house to that temp and be done with it.

Also:



Regardless of the time it goes on, its the last part that is the issue. Turning the thermostat up and then opening the windows. That's just plain stupid - it's like having aircon on in the car and having the windows open

Yep, we have the same problem in our Guide Hall!

Grown adults, too warm, open windows.

Why not turn off the heating??

Would they do this if THEY were paying??

No way!