advice on new build property

slacky1230

hey guys

i moved into a new build property in november but having quite a few problems. The main problem is the heating its costing more than expected being a new build with the level of insulation etc. I believe the radiators are undersized but the builders wont send me a copy of the heating plan the site forman says its been warrenty checked etc and its upto spec. Can they refuse to send it or do i have a right to see it if i ask to?

ive also upgraded 4 radiators in cold spots around the house. Have i voided the plumbing warrenty by doing this?

naf123

How big is the new build and how many radiators and how much is your gas bill? What makes you think you are overpaying for the heating ?

neilmcl

Maybe you should get a heating engineer in to properly assess whether your CH system is up to scratch. What temp do you set your thermostat to and does it struggle to reach this?

troffasky

What output are your radiators and what size rooms are they in? There's no magic here, there's a relationship between room size, construction materials and recommended radiator power.

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

https://www.directheatingsupplies.co.uk/news/btu-calculator-how-to-work-out-what-radiator-you-need/

https://www.diy.com/help-advice/btu-radiator-calculator/Dev_npcart_100006.art

A defensively written warranty would deny all responsibility for anything at all if you even look at your heating system funny. On the other hand, it might not be. Who knows?

Increasing the output of your radiators isn't going to lower your fuel bills, by the way.

slacky1230

ive already done a room calculation for each room with 3 different calculators and all give very different results. its a 3 storey 4 bedroom house with 2 stats, one on the ground floor controlling the gound floor rads and one on the third floor controlling the 1st and 2nd floor rads. the stats set to 22 degrees at night the heatings on for an hour or so it reaches 21-21.5 then the stats turn off i presume expecting it to keep rising past the 22 mark but it doesnt so within 5-10 minutes it kicks the boiler back in. This happens on both stats. 

neilmcl

If you're house is reaching 22C in an hour in the evening at current temperatures then I'd say it's working quite well. Maybe the reason your fuel bills are quite high is because you have the thermostats set too high. I know some people feel the cold more than others but you can't have it set at 22C and expect cheap fuel bills, turn it down a couple of degrees at least.

comeandgo

Goodness, 22 is rather high, and if the temperature in the house has dropped to 17 or so then your heating has a lot to do to get it back up.  

naf123

4 bedroom 3 floor house is huge. Combined gas and electric bill will probably be no less than 2k a year. At 22 degrees probably more than 2k a year

Raggie

naf123 said:

4 bedroom 3 floor house is huge. Combined gas and electric bill will probably be no less than 2k a year. At 22 degrees probably more than 2k a year

We have same size (4 bed three floors town house) and pay £88 per month gas and elec (Avro Energy). 

Our heating is three zones,  temperate is set as top floor 14 deg, middle 16 deg and ground 19 deg.

Heating is timed 30 mins in morning, evening ground 90mins for when we get in, and middile/top for 120 mins.

All TRV are set in each room.

We did find when we moved in (new build) we had to balance radiators to improve heating, and noted an undersized radiator in the kitchen/diner. A couple of calculations and a letter to the builder and they agreed and upgraded it to double panel.

Under sizing caused by generic design for house type but their room was north facing and do windows on south elevation.

That said we do wear a lot of layers..lol 

slacky1230

If I’m honest in a new build property I wasn’t expecting to have to have the heating on for 2-3 hours to get the temperature up 3-4 degreees. Although the stats are set at 22 the house doesn’t really feel hot. Just because it’s a biggish house I’m not sure why every one presumes the heatings going to cost a lot. New builds should have plenty of insulation etc to be able to keep the heat in. I decided to purchase a thermal imaging camera to see if there’s any Heatloss but my experience with thermal imaging is next to nothing. Can any one shed any light on these images ?

theonlywayisup

Have a read here http://cambridgecarbonfootprint.org/interpreting-ti/

Seems you have some draughty windows/door.  I can't quite make out the bottom pic but it doesn't look thermally efficient.