TRV appears to be faulty. Is my CH set right?

bflare

Just moved into a property & I am trying to make sure the energy is been used efficiently as possible. It has a Baxi Solo 18H Flue Condensing boiler fitted. There are 7 radiators all with TRV fitted. There is a hot water cylinder in the cupboard with a thermostat fitted set at 140. The main thermostat is in the hall way & the programable box is in the bedroom. I have turned the radiators off in the rooms that do not need heating & the others to number 2 setting on the TRV. The HW & CH is set to continuous & the main thermostat to 18°C which I turn completely down to 0° on a night.

Have I got everything set about right to be efficient as possible?
Should the HW be set to heat up at a certain time or is it ok o be set to continuous?


Also, the radiator in the bedroom doesn’t appear to get cooler when I turn the TRV down. I have taken the head off & the pin moves freely up & down. Any suggestions?

keith969

Why not set the CH on a timer to go off automatically at night, rather than turning the thermostat down every night?

I set mine to go off at 8pm (house retains enough heat until bedtime) and come on at 5am (as usually up by 6)

My HW comes on for a couple of hours in the morning and an hour early evening, which is plenty for me.

As for the TRV, try swapping the head with another - just unscrew the knurled nut immediately below the head. If the problem is the head, they are cheap to replace.

bflare

keith969 wrote: »

Why not set the CH on a timer to go off automatically at night, rather than turning the thermostat down every night?

I set mine to go off at 8pm (house retains enough heat until bedtime) and come on at 5am (as usually up by 6)

My HW comes on for a couple of hours in the morning and an hour early evening, which is plenty for me.

As for the TRV, try swapping the head with another - just unscrew the knurled nut immediately below the head. If the problem is the head, they are cheap to replace.

Great advice thanks!

How will I know when my HW comes on?

jennifernil

It should be controlled by the timer too, most have the ability to set different times for the HW and the CH

Personally, I would turn the thermostat up quite high and control the temperature in each room using the TRVs only.

Otherwise, if the hall warms up to what you have set the thermostat to, then the boiler will be turned off and the sitting room, for example, will not get any more heat until the hall cools down.

You will need to find what setting on each you need. We use 3-4 in the lounge, 2-3 in the hall, 2 in the kitchen, 4 in the bathroom and 0 in the bedrooms usually. All doors to unused rooms are left open so there is some air and heat circulation everywhere.

Norman_Castle

the radiator in the bedroom doesn’t appear to get cooler when I turn the TRV down.

The TRV is an on/off switch. Once the room is up to temperature that radiator will switch off then when the room cools the radiator will switch on again. They don't make radiators cooler, they adjust when the radiator is on.

https://www.energuide.be/en/questions-answers/to-which-temperature-do-the-digits-or-scales-on-a-thermostatic-radiator-valve-correspond/1524/

coffeehound

bflare wrote: »

The main thermostat is in the hall way & the programable box is in the bedroom. I have turned the radiators off in the rooms that do not need heating & the others to number 2 setting on the TRV. The HW & CH is set to continuous & the main thermostat to 18°C ...

The TRV on the radiator in the hall should be turned up to maximum so that the wall thermostat is in control of the system.

140 degrees F is 60 degrees C which is optimal for the hot water tank. If you find you need more hot water then you could turn it up a little more.

bflare

coffeehound wrote: »

The TRV on the radiator in the hall should be turned up to maximum so that the wall thermostat is in control of the system.

140 degrees F is 60 degrees C which is optimal for the hot water tank. If you find you need more hot water then you could turn it up a little more.

Gotcha ok thanks.

One thing I'm concerned about is that the programmer will not allow the CH and HW to be set independently. So because my dad is at home all day I have set the heating to come on at 6:50am and go off at 9pm and the thermostat at 18 degrees. Will this mean the boiler will come on throughout the day to hear the water up in the tank for the HW or will it just come on to heat the HW when the water in the tank drops below a certain temperature? I don't really want the boiler kicking in multiple times per day to heat the HW when it won't be used much or does that water feed the CH too?

EssexExile

bflare wrote: »

Gotcha ok thanks.

One thing I'm concerned about is that the programmer will not allow the CH and HW to be set independently. So because my dad is at home all day I have set the heating to come on at 6:50am and go off at 9pm and the thermostat at 18 degrees. Will this mean the boiler will come on throughout the day to hear the water up in the tank for the HW or will it just come on to heat the HW when the water in the tank drops below a certain temperature? I don't really want the boiler kicking in multiple times per day to heat the HW when it won't be used much or does that water feed the CH too?

Assuming the tank is well insulated the boiler will only come on if some hot water is drawn off, otherwise it will stay warm for hours.

bflare

EssexExile wrote: »

Assuming the tank is well insulated the boiler will only come on if some hot water is drawn off, otherwise it will stay warm for hours.

It looks a decent tank http://imgur.com/a/jLl2tpM

jennifernil

coffeehound wrote: »

The TRV on the radiator in the hall should be turned up to maximum so that the wall thermostat is in control of the system.

140 degrees F is 60 degrees C which is optimal for the hot water tank. If you find you need more hot water then you could turn it up a little more.

If you do things this way, you may well need to set the thermostat higher than 18 to have Dad comfortable. The setting will be a case of trial and error.

General advice is to have the thermostat in the room you use most and not have a TRV on that rad, or turn TRV fully up.

Thermostat and TRV will be fighting each other otherwise.

Unusual on a modern system to have only one setting on the timer for both heating and water, it may be possible to upgrade it. Do you know more about how your system is designed.......is there a motorised valve .....how many positions does it have......is there only one pump?

jennifernil

https://www.mrcentralheating.co.uk/blog/central-heating-systems-explained?gclid=Cj0KCQiA3IPgBRCAARIsABb-iGJmyfZ__JtdrxUaJb6CiRvjb2PZEMU6caodLkSd-dvvmLFZaSZxoOkaAo40EALw_wcB

some helpful stuff here

https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/boilers.htm