Radiator thermostats I have my reservations

givememoney

Our gas central heating system used to work via a thermostat on the wall i.e if the temperature dropped it kicked in. The radiators were installed at a size that befitted the area they had to heat. Worked a charm as far as I was concerned.

Some years back now, hubby decided to fit thermostatic valves on all the radiators. He thinks they are the `bees knees`, personally I think they are rubbish.

How can a thermostat sitting right next to the heat source work efficiently. Each time the raidator heats up the thermostat switches it off. If it get really cold I have to keep turning the thermostats right up to bring the heating back on.

What does everyone else say?

mattogier

Contrary to their name Radiators actually convect most of their heat into the room - and, as heat rises, warm the room air from the ceiling down.

If your TRV's are fitted near the floor, as is usual, then when the air reaches the right temp at floor level it will shut off the supply of hot water to the radiators.

If the house is not getting warm enough then there are several things that may be going wrong.

• TRV set too low.
• The lock shield valve at the other end of the rad is not set up correctly.
• The water temp in the system is not right / radiators are too small
• Old inefficient rads with too many layers of paint on
• Insufficient insulation
• TRVs clogged with dust etc
• system thermostat incorrectly located

Re the last item - you still need a thermostat somewhere in your house to turn the hot water on and off when temp is reached - if this stat is, say, too close to a radiator or in a small room with a large rad, then it will turn off the system too early. Also when the house is at the right temp the system will not turn off and, unless you have a modern boiler with a bypass, you end up pumping hot water round and round against loads of closed TRVs.

TRVs are good and do work unless you don't have them set up right and connected to a balanced correctly configured system.

IMHO anyway!

JohalaReewi

Radiator thermostats are a great idea. For spare rooms, you can turn down the heating so you don't waste money heating them up. Sure the thermostat is next to the heat source but, the thermostats just have a 1,2,3,4,5 number so you turn them up and down until you get to the required room temperature then leave them.

They are also great for upstairs rooms. Without the thermostats, the heat from downstairs goes upstairs as well as the upstairs radiators belting out the heat. Result? Downstairs warm, upstairs like the tropics. With thermostats, once the upstairs has warmed up, the radiators shut off. Saves lots of money

djohn2002uk

givememoney wrote: »

If it get really cold I have to keep turning the thermostats right up to bring the heating back on.

This is where your problem lies. If we assume that number 3 on the valve equates to 21C then that should be a comfortable heat for your lounge. You think the house is cold so you turn it up to 4, 5 or 6 then it gets too hot and you turn it down to 1 or 2 and the cycle goes on. Start with them at 3 and if it's not warm enough just turn them up to between 3 and 4 and try that untill you get it right then you shouldn't have to touch them anymore.
Then get your husband sit him down with a glass of wine and cook him a nice meal and appologise and tell him he was right all the time because I can assure you he was. A room stat is nowhere near as efficient at keeping a whole house comfortable as thermostatic rad valves. How can it be when, to use your analogy of the stat near the radiator, what about the room stat in your lounge or hallway controlling a radiator in the bedroom.

Edit to say:- I bet you used to turn the room stat up and down too even though you said it worked "like a charm".

givememoney

Oh well you've all shot me down in flames.

I'm really only going on the fact it seemed fine before but not now.

djohn2002uk

givememoney wrote: »

Oh well you've all shot me down in flames.

I'm really only going on the fact it seemed fine before but not now.

Didn't mean to "shoot you down in flames" but now you seem to accept the facts, there's just one thing left to do. (see my earlier post);)