Imbalance of heating upstairs and downstairs

pennypot1

Apologies in advance if this is a silly question to ask but Google has genuinely not given me anything 🙈

So we’ve recently had our downstairs opened up and renovated to one large reception area (victorian 2 reception rooms knocked through and open to hallway/stairs) and in the process we’ve installed some very efficient new radiators. 

The thermostat is in this main area, which also opens up to our stairs. We’ve found though that whenever we set the thermostat to a temperature (eg. 18.5 degrees c) the new radiators kick out a great deal of heat and get the immediate area to temperature quite quickly, which then means the central heating goes off. 

This in turn has made our upstairs slightly chilly, especially our back bedroom which is currently our babie’s room. We thought one way round this is to dial down the downstairs radiators to 2, which has made getting the thermostat to temperature a slower process, meaning the radiators upstairs are warming up for a while longer. BUT is this actually using more energy for having to stay on for longer? 

We’re slowly working on the house so upgrading the radiators upstairs eventually over time but for now, which is more energy efficient? Having the heating low and slow or high and fast? Or no difference at all? 🧐 

pennypot1

Ps. I forgot to mention the thermostat is attached to the wall and not a remote one. A friend suggested the best place to have it is in the coldest part of the house 🙃 which it used to be in the downstairs hallway before we knocked through. 

Reed_Richards

Keeping part of your house too cold uses less energy than having it all as warm as you want it to be.  But that's not satisfactory.  

If you have radiator thermostats (and mention of dialling down to 2 implies that you do) and also a room thermostat then they are going to fight each other.  I have radiator thermostats on all my radiators but the ones in the room with the room thermostat I always set to Max so the room thermostat wins.  But that does not work for you because the rest of your house remains too cold.  The "2" setting on your radiator thermostats corresponds to some particular temperature.  It won't make those radiators heat up any less quickly; they'll just stop heating when the get to temperature "2".  Since the room thermostat now never reaches temperature that gives the rest of your house a chance to warm up.

I think a possible solution may be to set some of your downstairs radiators to "2" and some to Max.  That way they will warm the area up quickly to temperature "2", the ones set at "2" will then cut out leaving only the ones set at "Max" to continue heating that area.  With fewer operational radiators it will take longer to fully heat the downstairs, leaving your upstairs time to reach temperature.     

Meatballs

You use the lockshield valves the opposite side of the TRV to balance the radiators, they are a basically a small valve opening which you partially close to make sure the radiator doesn't take too much flow.

Plenty of guides online about balancing radiators or get plumber in to take a look (should have been done when rads installed - or at least mentioned).

Basically want a 12 degree drop from the water coming in the to the water going out, and water going out below 50 degrees if you want condensing boiler to be efficient.

If all your lockshields and rads are balanced then everything should heat up more evenly.

Place the thermostat somewhere colder like hallway, or at least away from direct heat source or get smart TRVs/wireless thermostats that can call for heat independently to the back room.


You could drop the TRVs to a low value but that will stop the downstairs getting to the temperature you want?

Also check the radiator in the back room is warming up evenly - could be blocked or sludge?

2nd_time_buyer

I think people tend to like the baby's room to be pretty warm at any time during the day when they are having a nap. Whereas the demand for most bedrooms (and the rest of the house) is a lot lower and mainly in the morning and evening. This could mean that you are running the heating for the whole house, all day long, just to heat one room for the times your baby is sleeping - unless you go round turning radiators on and off. My inclination would be to heat the baby's room as per normal then use an oil-filled radiator to provide supplementary heating when the baby is having a nap to bring it up the required temperature.

thevilla

I have no experience of this but I believe you could look at the Tadoo smart thermostat with smart rad stats.  From what I understand, each rad stat can demand heat while the others are off (hot enough).  Looks quite pricey though.

QrizB

2nd_time_buyer said:

I think people tend to like the baby's room to be pretty warm at any time during the day when they are having a nap.

My two are teens now but IIRC babies are pretty mellow even in unheated rooms, provided you wrap them up properly.

Petriix

Actually, what you've done is a reasonable solution. I'd suggest turning those radiators down at the times you want to heat the rest of the house more, and up when you're mostly hanging out in that area.

The most energy efficient thing would be to install smart TRVs throughout the house, but that's an expensive way to save money. Next best thing is to run around turning radiators on and off.

Reed_Richards

thevilla said:

I have no experience of this but I believe you could look at the Tadoo smart thermostat with smart rad stats.  From what I understand, each rad stat can demand heat while the others are off (hot enough).  Looks quite pricey though.

I thought I could do this but it turned out on my "smart" system ("Drayton Wiser") a smart radiator thermostat takes precedence over a room thermostat.  So on my system I can only use smart radiator thermostats in rooms that heat up faster than my living room where the room thermostat is located.  Otherwise my living room overheats.

thevilla

Reed_Richards said:

thevilla said:

I have no experience of this but I believe you could look at the Tadoo smart thermostat with smart rad stats.  From what I understand, each rad stat can demand heat while the others are off (hot enough).  Looks quite pricey though.

I thought I could do this but it turned out on my "smart" system ("Drayton Wiser") a smart radiator thermostat takes precedence over a room thermostat.  So on my system I can only use smart radiator thermostats in rooms that heat up faster than my living room where the room thermostat is located.  Otherwise my living room overheats.

Experience trumps sales blurb 🙂

Verdigris

thevilla said:

Reed_Richards said:

thevilla said:

I have no experience of this but I believe you could look at the Tadoo smart thermostat with smart rad stats.  From what I understand, each rad stat can demand heat while the others are off (hot enough).  Looks quite pricey though.

I thought I could do this but it turned out on my "smart" system ("Drayton Wiser") a smart radiator thermostat takes precedence over a room thermostat.  So on my system I can only use smart radiator thermostats in rooms that heat up faster than my living room where the room thermostat is located.  Otherwise my living room overheats.

Experience trumps sales blurb 🙂

Don't you normally have the main thermostat in a "neutral" space, like a hallway, for that reason?