New Central Heating System Hot in Hall / Cold in Lounge

CMC85

We've recently had a new central heating system installed with a combi boiler and a wireless thermostat in the hall. All the radiators (except the one in the hall which is permanently on) have TRVs. The problem is the hall radiator is far too hot and it's not possible to turn it down manually. The radiator in the lounge seems to have a mind of its own, it comes on at first but then soon switches off when the room is still cold. It has now started to come on when the room is warm due to the gas fire being on.

In short, the hall rad is far too hot and the lounge rad is far too cold! Despite being a fairly large rad, we need to have the gas fire on in the lounge. Is it possible the TRV on the lounge rad is faulty (if so, is there anyway of testing it?) and also, is there anyway possible of turning down the hall rad. I understand that this rad has to be on all the time but it is ridiculously hot for such a small hall.

Greatly appreciate any advice

Ebe_Scrooge

You're right, it's standard - and correct - practice to have the rad where the thermostat is to not be fitted with a TRV.


I'd suspect the TRV in the lounge is faulty. It's not uncommon for them to stick. If you unscrew the head unit ( the bit that turns to adjust it ) you'll see a little pin on the top. Use a flat-bladed screwdriver or similar to press the pin down - it should go down freely, and spring back up when you release it. If it doesn't, there's your problem. A squirt of WD40 will usually cure this, but if not then a replacement is not expensive and is easy to fit.


Hope this helps.

CMC85

Many thanks for your help.


Is it possible to turn down the temperature of the hall rad that's always on as it is ridiculously hot for the size of the room and compared to the rest of the house. We don't use the front door so the hall temperature is always very high. It's no problem for it to be on all the time but ideally I'd like it to be on at about a fifth of the current temperature.


It sounds very likely that there is a fault with the lounge TRV. The system has only just been fitted in the last few days - the engineer said it could take a few days for the system to settle down but the lounge rad is stone cold 95% of the time so I'll ask the engineer to take a look at the TRV.


Many thanks again for your help

Ebe_Scrooge

The rad in the hall should be left alone ideally. You could turn down the lockshield valves, but this may upset the balance of the system.


If it's only recently been installed I'd definitely be getting the installer back to check it out. It could be that the system isn't balanced properly - this is something that's time consuming, though not difficult, to do. But the installer should have done this as part of the installation.

matelodave

If your thermostat is in the hall then perhaps you need to turn it down a bit so the rad in the hall can turn itself and and off - it sounds as though you've got it turned up too high and so the boiler just flogs on trying to heat the hall.

The lounge TRV will shut down the rad in the lounge if you turn the gas fire on. Check that the top the radiator does get hot as it might need bleeding after a few days. As said, check the TRV sensor head. Just taking it off should allow the rad to get fully up to temperature and it should stay hot all the time the boiler is running - look at the instructions sometimes you can adjust the head temperature with a screwdriver on the operating pin if it's shutting down too quickly.

IMO the hall isn't really the best place to put the main thermostat as it's subject to draughts when the front door is in use and frequently the radiator isn't big enough to heat the hall so the rad remains on all the time try desperately to to heat the hall when it just isn't big enough to do so.