Changing the always on radiator?

sevenhills

I wouldn't opt for central heating, but that is what my house has. My dominant radiator(the one that is always on) is at the bottom of the stairs, between the kitchen and room.
Can I change that, so my living room radiator is always on?
As I type this, I don't have any heating on, but my preference would be to heat my living room first. I don't really spend much time in the kitchen because I don't do much cooking. My dog would prefer a colder room, I only use the 1 hour boost, I don't have it set to say on for hours on end.

Ruski

Turn the hallway one off, fully open the living room one, don;t see what the issue is?
I doubt it will get to temperature with a one hour boost, and if it does just take the trv off! (or if it doesn;t have one leave the valve open)

HTH

Russ

peachyprice

Why do you have to have one always on?

sevenhills

peachyprice wrote: »

Why do you have to have one always on?

I thought that was how they worked.
The one at the bottom of the stairs does not have a switch/valve to turn it off/on. Can I just buy one and put it on?

chappers

sevenhills wrote: »

. Can I just buy one and put it on?

Probably not in the way you think, it involves draining down the system and swapping it, unless you are saying it doesn't have a valve at all. Which is most unlikely.

sevenhills

chappers wrote: »

Probably not in the way you think, it involves draining down the system and swapping it, unless you are saying it doesn't have a valve at all. Which is most unlikely.

It does not have a valve. I believe this is so that the system can never be closed, although I am not sure.
Perhaps I could have the room radiator as the 'always on' and put a valve on on the rad at the bottom of the stairs.

peachyprice

Are you sure it isn't just missing it's plastic knob? Or do you mean it's the only one without a TVR valve?

bris

He means it's the one used as the bypass. These don't have TRV's and are used to dump heat, they are pretty important but you can also install a bypass valve between the flow and return if you want all the radiators on TRV's.


I don't see the point in removing it and if you want the living room one to stay on then as already suggested just take the TRV off, it's simple to do and will stay on once removed.


If you want the hall one off just remove the plastic caps on the valves and screw them shut.

FreeBear

There is often one radiator in a pumped system that isn't fitted with a TRV, normally the radiator in the same 'room' as the thermostat. This allows the water to continuously circulate around the system when the pump is running. If all the radiators were fitted with TRVs, when they all close, the pump would soon get knackered unless there is a bypass valve.

The other reason for not having a TRV on the rad in the same room as the thermostat - If the TRV operated at a lower temperature than the thermostat, the system would be constantly on and waste energy.

That said, if you have a ultra-modern system with zoned heating and smart controls, much of the above wouldn't apply.

Ruski

We have no idea of the age of the system, so it could be an 'ancient' one-pipe system, indeed with no valves at all.

Pictures please, then we can stop the speculation and actually give you an answer!

System type? Boiler brand and model etc...

Russ

sevenhills

FreeBear wrote: »

There is often one radiator in a pumped system that isn't fitted with a TRV, normally the radiator in the same 'room' as the thermostat.
That said, if you have a ultra-modern system with zoned heating and smart controls, much of the above wouldn't apply.