Best way to deal with wrong radiator that was installed

DaftyDuck

Yes, easily. Look up balancing radiators.

Simply put, turn down the valves at the other end from the normal temperature adjusting knob. Choose those that you need to heat up least fast, turn them down in turn by about a fifth of a turn. But, first, turn that valve to fully open it on that sitting room rad. You may need a pair of pliers to turn it, as the white caps usually spin freely.

What you are doing is decreasing flow to those radiators that need it less, this increasing it to those that need it more.

moneyistooshorttomention

Alex1983 wrote: »

The temperature on the digital display of the boiler just shows how hot the boiler currently is, you set the temperature by turning the knob to the right, 1 is the hot water temperature and the other is the radiator temperature.

Just been out having another peer at boiler.

In the digital display I can see taps on the left and heating symbol on the right. So - that means I can tell left side is for hot water and right side for radiators.

Underneath the digital display are two sets of push buttons - one above the other and I'm guessing that means someone could push one of the two right-hand buttons and it might adjust up/down what the boiler is pushing out??

moneyistooshorttomention

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Yes, easily. Look up balancing radiators.

Simply put, turn down the valves at the other end from the normal temperature adjusting knob. Choose those that you need to heat up least fast, turn them down in turn by about a fifth of a turn. But, first, turn that valve to fully open it on that sitting room rad. You may need a pair of pliers to turn it, as the white caps usually spin freely.

What you are doing is decreasing flow to those radiators that need it less, this increasing it to those that need it more.

Ah - right. Think I see what you mean. Just gone and had a twiddle (or attempt to...:cool:) with those white caps. I don't recall any engineer ever going from radiator to radiator doing this since I bought the house (whether original firm, 2nd firm I tried, Guy No. 3 that I'm using now).

They are very stiff/I can't move them and I don't have much physical strength. I've "translated" that into "Ring Guy No. 3 and ask him to come round and balance radiators when he's passing and then pay him around £30 probably for doing so".

While he's on the subject - "get him to explain about the push buttons underneath that boiler and see how they work/maybe get him to adjust there too".

DaftyDuck

Seriously? Given the trouble you have with workmen, I'd have thought it worth mastering this simplest of tasks.. plus you can learn to adjust them how you want, not have them fixed how someone else thinks you want them.

Gently lift the plastic cap off. Use a spanner, a pair of pliers, pretty much anything, to gently turn the tap. Turn down the taps in rooms that get too hot too quickly, open taps that are in rooms that don't heat enough.

Given you had new radiators, I assume these are new connecting taps... or is that another can of worms?

It certainly needed doing if a new boiler, or radiator, was fitted. It really is one you need to do yourself, as you may want to alter it again in a few months.

moneyistooshorttomention

Been using that calculator Dafty provided and working things out for sitting room, study and bedroom.

This came out with sitting room needs 9,252 btu (2,711 watts).

Study needs 5,285 btu (1,548 watts)

Bedroom (as bedroom) needs 4,435 btu (1,299 watts). It would need 5,639 btu (1,652 watts) if used as a living room.

So - that has rather confirmed my feelings all round:
- Sitting room radiator is too small. The one I have should be either 600 by 1600 or, possibly, 600 by 1400. It is actually 600 by 1200. So I'm correct that it is wrong.

- The study radiator (put in by different person) is due to be 600 x600 or possibly 600 x 800. It is actually 600 x 1,000. So there is "spare capacity" in it, as I thought.

- The bedroom radiator (put in by first firm) is due to be 400 x 800 for instance and is actually 600 x 700 and is therefore adequate as a bedroom one, but would be too small as a living room one. So "spare capacity" whilst being used as a bedroom one.

That does rather seem to me that the answer is that the radiators aren't "balanced" properly then and some of that "spare capacity" could be re-routed so to say to the inadequate size sitting room one and I'm hoping that should mean it would "switch on more often" or something to make up for the fact that a radiator was chosen for that room that is too small.

I'm guessing that should "do the trick" and my worst case analysis would be swopping the sitting room radiator for the size they should have chosen in the first place (as I thought). But I'm hoping "balancing the radiators" will have the same effect. I'm guessing this "balancing" idea is precisely for if an inadequate radiator has been chosen in one room - but there is one that is bigger than required in another room.

Does that sound about right?

DaftyDuck

There's always some leeway in those calculations, and it does sound like the sitting room radiator is close to right size... close enough that changing it would possibly be an expensive mistake.

Go down the balancing route first, see how it goes. You can't really shove more heat out of a radiator than it is rated for, it doesn't work like that. So, no, you arent really understanding the principle right. But, you can make them work at maximum efficiency. Remember, those numbers you calculated are for an outside air temperature of minus 15 degrees C in moist cases. You'll rarely need those maxima.

moneyistooshorttomention

That had me doing a quick google about coldest temperature ever in Wales.

It came up with -10.7C in Brawdy, Pembrokeshire - which leaves where I am comfortably within the perimeter of not going down beneath minus 15C.

Ah so - a built-in element in their projections to allow for those of us living in Northern England or up in Scotland then I guess.....

So I guess not "shove more heat out" per a radiator - but maybe having that radiator get told by its thermostat to "Turn it on again a minute mate" sometimes when it might not do so otherwise.

Right - "balancing" it is then and see how I go with that....

EDIT; That Brawdy reading surprises me a bit - as I've just googled the same question for my home area - and got lower temperatures! That is a surprise because I've often noted it's usually 2-3C degrees warmer there than here and I've come back from a recent visit there where I was opening window/taking bedding off bed and promptly put my central heating and some extra clothing on here. Though it's true to say that, if ever I can afford to move back - I would now be adding a ceiling fan in every room of any house I bought...

DaftyDuck

. So I guess not "shove more heat out" per a radiator - but maybe having that radiator get told by its thermostat to "Turn it on again a minute mate" sometimes when it might not do so otherwise.

No. The thermostat will turn on and off just as before, as required. The water will be available to the radiator in greater quantity, so the total heat available to the room will increase. The radiator will therefore be able to pump more heat out, up to its design limit, but not more than that, as you suggested earlier.

If the rad has slower flow of water in, the heat carried by that water will be shed by the radiator, but it won't be working to capacity. You increase the flow of hot water in until the rad is unable to dump more to the room. At the moment, other rads may be getting more than their "fair share" of the hot water, depriving the sitting room rad.

Within certain margins, slowing flow to those other reads won't really drop those rooms' temperature... but they might be slightly slower to heat up in the mornings .... slow it further, and those rooms might also be too cvold.

A crude test is, how quickly do radiators heat up? You are in quite a small house, one floor, so there aren't very long pipe runs. If the study rad is hot in a flash, but the sitting room one is slow to heat, it's not getting as much flow as the former. Out of interest, is the sitting room farthest from the boiler?

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm not sure how the pipe run would go in this house.

Going round the house from boiler room in an anti-clockwise direction of rooms it would start at right-hand corner being the boiler room, go left to the kitchen and then further left to the bathroom, then "turn the corner" in that direction to the study, then through to bedroom, then (presumably) to the hallway one (which is just outside the bedroom door) and then through to the sitting room one.

If the pipework goes in the other direction (ie clockwise) then the sitting room radiator would be the first one it would come to.

My boiler room door is at the back edge of the house (ie furthest from front door) and to the right of my back door as I come out that way. The back wall of the boiler room backs onto one of the walls of my sitting room.

Without a diagram or photos - I think that's about the best way I can explain the layout.

EDIT; Thinks maybe I should try a word sorta "picture" of house layout....

If one walks around the house and starts by facing the front door and then turns right - front window of sitting room, then turn corner walking towards back garden and walks past other sitting room window on right side of house. Thence to back of house and walking past boiler room door, then back door, then kitchen window, then bathroom. Turn corner again and head back towards front door down the other side of the house and one passes study window (bedroom 2) and turns corner around to front of house and one walks past bedroom window and thence to front door again.

DaftyDuck

Well, next time the heating has been off for a while, set it to run, then run as round feeling pipes and radiators, and work it out. It's quite a useful and important thing to know. I'm surprised you don't know where the pipes are, actually.