Heating Controls

Leom_2

Hi. Our house never seems warm enough and before the winter bites I thought I'd look into whether our boiler controls are set correctly.
We have a Baxi Combi 105 HE and a room thermostat on the landing. The radiator temperature control on the boiler is set at about halfway (there are no numbers on it). The room thermostat is set at 26 degrees but I don't think the rooms ever get to that temperature - we always need jumpers on!
We have trvs on all the radiators.


Should the boiler control be set a bit higher? Obviously, I worry about the gas bill but I wonder if the current setting on the boiler is the most energy efficient.


Thank you for any advice!

alderpoint

Turn the room thermostat down until you hear a quiet click - that will tell you want temp the rooms currently get to. Unless you are sick or geriatric, then you want a room temperature around 20-22C. If your current boiler setting can't get you to that, then turn it up.

You might also want to check how much loft insulation you have: if it's much less than a foot, chuck some more in.

lstar337

Yeah, it's nice and simple Leom. If your rooms are not getting up to temp then you need to increase the radiator temperature at the boiler.

Once this is done you should set all your TRV's for a nice comfortable room temperature. TRV's shouldn't need to change when they are set.

Make sure the radiator in the room with the thermostat is set to max, then work all your other TRV's off of that.

Once your system is balanced you should find your heating is working much better.

Leom_2

Thank you for the replies. I'll try increasing the boiler control and hope the gas bill doesn't go up too much!
The room thermostat is on a landing and nowhere near a radiator (nearest is in the downstairs hall) so I don't know what to do about that.

Rubidium

Leom wrote: »

Should the boiler control be set a bit higher? Obviously, I worry about the gas bill but I wonder if the current setting on the boiler is the most energy efficient.

Thank you for any advice!

Leom wrote: »

Thank you for the replies. I'll try increasing the boiler control and hope the gas bill doesn't go up too much!

You seem to think that having the boiler on a low setting will save you energy, in fact the boiler could be on continuously, trying to achieve the temp set on the thermostat.

Turn the boiler control up to max and if your rooms do not quickly get warm, you have a problem. Your rad's should be hot to touch, not just warm if you want the rooms to heat up.

Air in rads?

Sludge in rads?

Stuck TRV's?

Ineffective pump?

It should be quite easy to determine what the problem is. If the hall rad is not getting hot enough then the thermostat on the landing will never be satisfied.

Leom_2

Okay, thank you - I'll turn it up and see what happens!

firefox1956

Leom wrote: »

Okay, thank you - I'll turn it up and see what happens!

One thing is sure to happen.......your gas bill will go up !!!
:p
Take a meter reading now & another one in a week or maybe two.
Then work out what you gas bill will be for that period.
That way you will have no nasty surprises.
HTH

macman

26C is incredibly high, the typical required lounge and living area temp is between 19C and 21C for most people. Most CH systems would be struggling to heat the house to 26C in cold weather.
And get the 'stat moved, as a landing is a mad place for it to be, as you'd never want a landing as warm as a living area.
Set the boiler CH control to about two thirds.

reeac

The landing isn't the ideal place for the thermostat but you should be able to compensate for that by changing the setting. First, though, you need to increase the boiler temp. setting in order to get enough heat into the downstairs rooms e.g. around 21C for most people. Then turn down the TRVs upstairs to achieve desired bedroom temperatures bearing in mind that the downstairs heat will tend to rise. Then see what thermostat setting gives you the desired temperatures all around.

Rubidium

OP was given good advice five years ago when she asked the very same question.

She ignored the advice then and will likely do the same again as she knows best.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2853824

Time waster!

slenderkitten

Hi

i have a back boiler and my one thermostat is on 15 degrees. The radiator settings are on 2 or 3 in the lounge. and about 2 in the bedroom, i'm trying not to spend a fortune onmy heating.

would turning the thermostat up and all the radiator settings to level 1 make any difference.

I dont know the right way to set the thermostat and the individual radiator settings i live in two bed flat but do not heat the other bedroom.

Any ideas on this?