New Green Homes Grant to give up to £5,000 in vouchers for insulation and double-glazing

A1ps

bobfredbob said:

@A1ps The 2003 radiators aren't that old, I know people with ones from probably 90s or earlier.  They can "sludge up" and become less warm, but since you have a new boiler they normally check the radiator water when they replace them.
I couldn't see the spec on the radiator you showed, but 2335BTU is apparently just under 700w, which sounds low to me for a bedroom.  The higher the BTU/wattage of the radiator, the more heat it can give even at lower boiler temperatures.  (Lower boiler temperatures save you a little bit of money compared to higher temperatures).

For radiators, get a plumber in before you buy.  You want a radiator roughly the same width since it will probably cost less than having to alter the pipes.  The extra fins/second panel basically makes it as if you had two radiators in the same space.

I'd definitely turn everything up maximum (thermostat, TRV, boiler) and see if the rooms can get hot at all.  If we put our thermostat on 30C, TRV on max and boiler on max then all the radiators are red hot.

I didn't realize you had UFH.  I've not seen UFH but from what I read a while ago when I was looking in to having it, you'd normally have two separate controls/thermostats, one for UFH and one for the radiators.  This is because UFH takes a long time to heat up a room compared to a radiator since it only allows cooler water to flow (so, it limits water to maybe 30C instead of 67C of radiator).  So, since you only have one thermostat, I'd probably expect the boiler to run a long time warming the living room, by which time the upstairs radiators should be red hot since they have water at a higher temperature.

Since your radiators are cool, I think there may be two explanations.  First is perhaps they are "Low Surface Temperature" radiators.  These are ones like you see in modern hospitals and for safety reasons they never get warm, but they usually don't look like "old" radiators (do a search to see what I mean).  The other is perhaps since your UFH requires cooler temperatures (you don't want to walk on 90C floorboards), then perhaps your whole house is being given cooler temperature water.  Normally there's a valve so only UFH gets 30C water, but perhaps it was plumbed in "wrong" and giving all your radiators cool water too.

Does your boiler tell you the actual temperature of water that's flowing and if the flame is on?   One of the pipes by the boiler (with the insulation) should be red hot after five minutes of the boiler being on in the morning.  We can hear when the flame is on, so if we are heating the house the flame is permanently on until it reaches nearer the temperature.

There are modern (expensive) thermostats/programmers that allow you to set the temperature per-room and each room can "call for heat" and turn on the boiler to heat it to its own schedule.  Best known is Honeywell EvoHome and that works with UFH.  But, best to narrow down the problem first since things can easily cost a fortune.

(Disclaimer: I'm just a person trying to give good advice, but get proper advice from someone who can see your house before you spend money!)

bobfredbob, once again, thank you so much for such a helpful reply.

I tested the rads today. Shockingly, they all come on heat up very well. Once I tested them, I turned up the boiler from 65 degrees to 80 degrees. I'll now wait until the cold sets in again to see how the 2 cold rooms heat up. I'm also going to call a plumber in ASAP to get the situation looked at. 

I've also turned off the radiator on the first floor hallway to see if that makes a difference. The rad is directly opposite the thermostat so my theory is that if this rad doesn't come on, the hallway won't get as hot and therefore this won't cause the stat to switch the rads off in the colder rooms before these rooms reach the desired temperature.

Regarding the UFH - I have a separate thermostat for that on the ground floor, which solely controls the UFH and nothing else. I have another thermostat on the first floor for the rads and the water. With hindsight, UFH heating for me was a bad move. Even more so because I got rid of all the rads on the ground floor! But that's a different story altogether. But please do PM me if you want more details about this.

My boiler does give me a indication as to the water flow temp. I also do get the flame icon. But normally the sound tells me when the boiler is on. 

A1ps

ToneP said:

A1ps said:

bobfredbob said:

If your rooms don't reach the temperature then perhaps your radiators are not adequately sized?  Or your boiler is turned down too low.

We replaced our radiators with ones from screwfix.  Search "type 22" on screwfix and there are ones with double panels and double fins that pump out a lot more heat.  Then search online for a "btu room calculator" and you pop in your room measurements and it tells you how much heat you need in BTUs or watts and you can compare that against the radiator specs.  For boiler, in winter, many people mistakenly leave it at a low "eco" setting all year round, but if your radiators are too small then you may need to turn it up higher or even max.  Your house should be able to get warm with that insulation you have.

We were pleased with the higher spec radiators: same size as the old one but a lot more heat.

(I'm assuming you've done the obvious things like bleed the radiators and have the radiator valves (TRVs) set correctly).

Hi Bob, thank you for such a helpful reply. 

I've got a five year old almost top-of-the-range Valiant boiler, so that definitely isn't the issue. I will definitely using your tips to see what I might need too.

The current scenario in my house is this: My room and my kids room have outward facing walls (there is no house directly next door). And it is these 2 rooms that have the issue of not heating up. And even weirder is this - when my room is at an OKish temperature (but still very cold) the kids room is absolutely freezing. But if their's is at an OKish temperature (but still freezing), then my room is freezing. Hope that makes sense! 

I had a plumber round a few months ago who was servicing the boiler and when he walked in to have a look at the issue his words were "b;**dy hell. You weren't exaggerating were you. Feels like no one lives in this room"! He checked the radiators and couldn't see any issue. Although he did say that maybe my room could do with a slightly bigger radiator. His thoughts were that it was to do with lack of insulation in the walls. 

Just a thought. I'm assuming that there is a proper flow at the correct temperature from the boiler and no air locks.

Do the two radiators have thermostatic valves fitted? I'm wondering whether the radiators have been incorrectly plumbed in together rather than independently, in effect as a single radiator split over two rooms and with two temperature controls. As one one warms up it will turn off at the set temperature and close both of them off until BOTH drop sufficiently cold to turn back on.

Hi ToneP, there definitely aren't any airlocks. I tested the boilers again and they are all heating up very well. I have though increased the flow temperature from 65 to 80 degrees. 

All the rads have TVR's fitted. I tested the rads and all rads in all the rooms do heat up at the same time. What I have done though is turn off the TVR on the hallway rad just in case this rad is causing the thermostat to reach the desired temperature before the bedrooms actually reach the desired temperature. I hope that makes sense??? 

AskAsk

anyone got loft insulation done under this scheme?  i was thinking of topping up my existing insulation of 100mm to 270mm, which is the current standard.  is it easy to claim?

Zanderman

AskAsk said:

anyone got loft insulation done under this scheme?  i was thinking of topping up my existing insulation of 100mm to 270mm, which is the current standard.  is it easy to claim?

The scheme's only been live a few days, so no-one will have successfully claimed anything yet.
And, if you read the thread, you'll soon see it's not easy to do anything! 
You have to get quotes from companies approved for the scheme - and there seem very few of those in most places and those that do exist rarely have enough capacity to quote for new work, let alone do any work.
And when you have the quotes you have to apply for a voucher - which seems also to be very slow so far.
And when you have the voucher you have to commission the work.- which I'd guess no one has done so far
And get the work done before the end of March otherwise the voucher is invalid.
Good luck!

jicms

jicms said:

• The article says you don't need someone to come and assess your home to apply but you have to get a quote?!! This doesn't make sense.
• The tradesmen listed when I put in my Kent postcode are all in North London.  I've also tried a Brighton postcode as a test and get the same fitters.  Is this an error or no tradesmen in the south of England?!
• Seems a nightmare as it's not possible to phone "Simply Energy Advice" (waited in queue for 30 mins with no positioning information).  
• I imagine it won't be possible to meet the deadlines.

I eventually got through on the phone.  The operative informed me that the companies can actually provide a quote from photos without visiting my property!  This sounds very odd unless they quote very high to cover themselves for any unforeseen problems.

2020Craig

I had an update email from the company who quoted me. They said “communication to installers about the scheme is still very poor” and that they haven’t been informed yet about all the guidelines and what work is permitted. For example how much of the total uninsulated area needs to be insulated in order to receive the vouchers.

ShermanPotter

So DLA (which is a non income dependant benefit - entitles you to the full £10k does it ?

I very much doubt it !

arty688

ShermanPotter said:

So DLA (which is a non income dependant benefit - entitles you to the full £10k does it ?

I very much doubt it ! 

The £10k is for low income and vulnerable so DLA could classed as vulnerable otherwise why would it be on the list of eligible criteria?

S

delmonta

nhussa22 said:

I applied for the voucher on Wednesday (the day the scheme opened) and have yet to hear back. Has anyone applied for the voucher? If so when? Have you heard back yet? Would be good to keep in touch here and see how everyone is getting on.

Yes same here, I applied at 7.30 am, must have been one of the first applications, got my reference number but no confirmation. Its frustrating, I hope the application actually went through

delmonta

empeters said:

nhussa22 said: 

imiy40 said:

nhussa22 said:

imiy40 said:

nhussa22 said:

I applied for the voucher on Wednesday (the day the scheme opened) and have yet to hear back. Has anyone applied for the voucher? If so when? Have you heard back yet? Would be good to keep in touch here and see how everyone is getting on.

Hi, Same here I applied as soon the offer went live, after submitting my application my Reference number was displayed on the screen but no confirmation email as yet.
Going by other messages on this forum we are not the only one`s not received the confirmation emails..

Ah, I did receive a confirmation email immediately after submitting it which shows the reference number and some other standard info.

Ok, very strange that some of us haven't received the confirmation email, should I`d be worried?

If I didn't receive an email, I probably would email them with the reference number and ask. It does appear that people are having issues emailing them though. I wonder who's the scheme administrator? It sounds like it's been outsourced to a 3rd party company.

I emailed them to confirm receipt of my application but they haven’t bothered to reply as yet. 

Yeah me too, but the email bounced twice and went the third time.