House is freezing, no idea how to warm it up!

ElixiaDragmire

We have carpet but the floors are freezing, we've pulled it up to see and it's concrete with old underlay

ElixiaDragmire

I've been tempted to put the heating on all day but the gas bill is already twice it was at my old house and I don't want a hefty bill at the end of winter.

Gloomendoom

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

A 20 year old boiler is probably struggling. Ours was around 25 years old and the house was taking an age to warm up, eventually if failed and was replaced. I have a internal thermometer and can see how long the house took to warm up every morning, pre boiler change it was taking about 1 hour to heat up 1 degree C, now it is around 3 times faster. When the boiler was replaced, it was discovered that the old system was plumbed backwards.

If the old boiler was plumbed the wrong way round, its age probably had little to do with why it struggled to heat the house.

Hoploz

ElixiaDragmire wrote: »

I've been tempted to put the heating on all day but the gas bill is already twice it was at my old house and I don't want a hefty bill at the end of winter.

Do bear in mind that these are the worst months so yiur usagel is bound to be high - it'll even out the rest of the year. How you're being billed will make a difference - whether you're on an annually divided DD (based on a winter-bill high start?) or whether you're paying for what you actually use.

This year I've given up freezing to death so since new year when it's been cold I've tolerated it for a while but I've been putting the heating in at lunchtime rather than wait till 4.00 timer. I can tell you it has really made a difference to the house - as said above, I think the house maintains the heat better when it has had a decent warm-through rather than a couple of hours morning and evening. I don't care what the bill is, I spent last winter freezing the whole time but I just don't care this year! Sure we won't notice much difference as we are on a DD payment scheme so the increase in use won't need to be paid for immediately, they might just put up the monthly amount at the end of the year so it'll even out rather than suddenly getting a huge bill.

getmore4less

ElixiaDragmire wrote: »

Alrighty in details.

The house is 72 Square metres in total. All the radiators TRVs are on full blast, no cold spots. I bled them and opened the lock sheild values all the way. The one in the back room gets 'air' every few weeks and needs bleeding regularly.
The boilers is 20 years old, convential system, an ideal classic ff40. It's on a timer, 4:30pm to 10:00pm. It's wired so the hot water needs to be on when the central heating is on. If the hot water is off the central heating won't turn on. Now when the CH/HW is on, it's turn on for a few minutes and turn off periodically until 10:00pm. Now when it turns on is kinda misfires too, 2 to 7 clicks before it ignites! The thing that baffles me is, the boiler will turn off and on even though the house hasnt been brought up to temperature dictated by the house thermostat.

Now for draughts, we did at the front before we replaced it. Now it's the bay window that feels cold but no draught. The gas fire thou, that feels draughty. At best I've put a draught excluder up there when not in use but the vents are the top remain open.

The most cold is felt is at the floor. It's cold up to your knees mainly.

Also the thermal imaging idea would be grand! I'd have to find someone who does it the northwest

You need to understand why this is?

Is it a wiring control problem or a plumbing problem.

the hot water will always heat up to temp quicker than the house so you need to get the heating on by itself.

What configuration is the system?

two typical configs separate valves(S) or with a 3 way mid position(Y).

The actuators on 3 way can go wrong that is an easy check/fix.

probably not the best link but this has pics so you can try to work out what you have
http://www.home-heating-systems-and-solutions.com/central-heating-design.html

Bob_Dean

Are your radiators hot? If they are it may help to use a fan to move the air arround as I find that they are good at keeping somewhere warm but not very good at warming up a room.

Jackmydad

Sounds like pump, thermostat or possibly a blockage or faulty valve somewhere to me.
I'm not a heating engineer though.
Sounds like that's what you might need.
What temperature are the rads getting to?
A cheap infra red thermometer might be useful. Check the flow and return as well.
FWIW, the house where We lived 40 years ago, was one of those bay fronted 30s semis, devoid of almost any insulation. It had a reasonably modern CH system which used to keep the house really warm even in the coldest weather. The bills never seemed that horrific either. (although they probably were!)

getmore4less

My house is from that era.

If I let it get properly cold like no heating for a month down to 10c it takes a good 24hr to get it back up to just OK and another 24 before the heating backs off to maintain levels.

If you never get the fabric of the building up to temp you will be chasing your tail with only a few hours, 1 period a day.

The recent cold snap(outside zero ish) in the morning to get upto and maintain 19c for 3hr from 17.5c took around 2.0hr worth of heating being on, and then another 1.5hr in the late afternoon from 17.6c after we had been in/out during the day.
evening 6pm-12am 4x30min cycles to keep in the 19c range.

yesterday(Sunday) the sun was shining so we got solar gain total heating for the day around 3hr.


Those are demand times based on thermostat not actual cycles times of the boiler which probably has the temp set a bit low for the cold days.

ElixiaDragmire

hey!

just to answer a few questions. its a y plan. we DID have a problem with the three way value, father in law whacked it to unstick it when we had no hot water for a few days (long story, i'd called an emergency plumber round but he insisted he could fix it! he didnt want us throwing our money away)

as the CH/HT thing, i got a local plumber round and he told my husband that it was wired that way. apparently most the house he'd worked on the estate were like this. I can confirm that if i flick on the CH at the programmer and not the HT, the 3 way value WONT bunge or light up and nothing happens in the system, boiler doesnt even fire up! I CAN have the HT on solo thou.

as for bills, I'm used to £50 DD a month, so far this house is costing £75 DD a month. I know thats normal but I liked my lower bill XD.

Raditors are hot-ish, some feel a touch hotter than others. we have mini thermostat to test for cold spots but an infra red one sounds good!

I'll try thr 24hr option

SuzieSue

I have a small detached house which was also built in 1997. In the last few weeks the temperature has got down to around 12degrees C at night. The heating comes on at 6.30am and by 9am the house has reached 17 degrees.