Advice...house still cold after new c/h

mattogier

1 - check what temp the boiler is set at (the boiler NOT the thermostat) - if the size of the rad output is too small and the water temp in the system is too low then the amount of heat put into the house will never get the temp up to 25 deg (phew!!)

2 - Have the rads been balanced? - if not you will get one or two rooms taking ALL the hot water until their TRV's (Thermostatic Rad Valves) turn the relevant rad off and then the next in line will heat up.

3 - TRV's are usually set up to a standard, 4 is 24 deg and 5 is 29 deg so you need your TRV's to be set to just above 4 for 25 deg.

If you are using your old original rads then they are probably not very efficient - and may be too small. Condensing boilers are more efficient the cooler they run so you need bigger / more efficient rads to put out the same amount of energy into the house - if the energy output from the system is less than the energy loss from your house you will never get it "warm". Consider getting double finned rads as big as you can. My heating system runs at 55 deg and gets our 7 bed "self build" house nice and warm but I have large rads and great insulation (just added another 100mm today to the loft) .

Think about it as a temp gradient between desired inside temp and the external temp...

15 deg outside to 20 deg inside is a fairly easy to climb slope of 5 deg

-5 deg outside to 25 deg inside is a steep 30 deg slope - very difficult to climb.


Cheers

Matt

kippers

Thanks all for your replies. No the radiators don't need bleeding and the thermostatic values are all turned up to maximum. We have solid walls which is why we can't have cavity wall insulation. Also we only had double glazing fitted two-three years ago, however we didn't have the front door done as we need to save for that.

We have been trying to find an answer all afternoon and we have quite a few draughts when we pulled some carpets back. There are some holes in the floor boards where the old radiator pipes went. What can we do about these? Me and my husband are not good at DIY.

Thanks again for all your replies.

mattogier

kippers wrote: »

however we didn't have the front door done as we need to save for that.

If you turn the temp down to 18 deg and put another jumper on you'll save enough on heating bills for a great door this winter!

As Lord "effing" Fulford says "When it get's cold at night we just throw another dog on the bed"!!

EliteHeat

kippers wrote: »

We have been trying to find an answer all afternoon and we have quite a few draughts when we pulled some carpets back. There are some holes in the floor boards where the old radiator pipes went. What can we do about these? Me and my husband are not good at DIY.

Papier mache would be fine but personally I woulnd't bother - assuming that your loft is insulated correctly (see previous post), then the majority of your heat loss will probably be through your walls.

If you want to provide some details I can give you a whole-of-house heat loss, but before that what boiler (make and model) have you got installed?

DUKE

Have you tried the radiator reflectors?

DUKE

Oh I've just had an idea - your thermostat isn't in the hall by any chance is it?

You could try thermal curtains.

Bogof_Babe

I was just going to suggest hanging a curtain on the inside of the front door. It makes a surprising difference, as it traps the cold air and prevents it getting into the body of the house.

Don't leave it drawn across if one of you is still out when you go to bed though!

Also, if your house curtains are long enough, tuck them behind the rads. Doesn't look great but it really keeps the heat from escaping.

kippers

Hi, thanks for your replies. Our new boiler is a Worcester Bosch. We also had a curtain across the hall door last year (yes the thermostat is in the hall too ). We took the curtain down as we were getting black mould behind it and we ended up having an explosion of pscocids (little mites that love damp over all our walls, coats etc in the hall) so we took the curtain down and brought a de-humidifier to rectify the problem (it was very upsetting).

Does anyone else live in a 1930's semi? Do you find it cold and how do you deal with it?

moob_2

Kippers - have you checked your walls for damp at all?

Bit concerned after you mentioned the mould growth etc...

I'd definately side with others who suggest you look into whether or not your radiators are under-specced for your room size. If that's the case, your rooms will never reach an acceptable temp.

My CH was installed 3 years ago, and the 'engineer' under-specced the radiators for most the rooms. I've since replaced them with double convector radiators and they have made a significant difference.

gerryonihub

Kippers, there been loads of really useful advice on here - but if you have followed the advice and checked your boiler thermostat settings and TRV's and draughting advice - then you need to check out solid wall insulation. Your home falls into what is termed - hard to treat - but there are many things that can be still done to get your warmth factor optimised.

I am a member on a energy assessor site and we have a section on solid wall insulation - and have access to energy experts that you can ask.

The direct page is:

http://www.cntv.co.uk/Upload/forumdisplay.php?fid=24

if you dont want to follow, then a direct link to a super guide on insulation (includes solid wall) can be found here.

http://www.sei.ie/uploadedfiles/InfoCentre/Insulatingyourhome.pdf

Hope it helps at least getting you to understand that walls can count up to 35% of all heat loss - so its worth sorting out if you want to get your heating bills down.