Boiler Low & Rads High

Banana1983782

Hi
Is it better to have the boiler set high and the radiators (via TRV) set to low or the opposite (boiler low/TRV high)?

I generally have my boiler set to 55-60 and the radiators on 5, which keeps the rooms warm but does mean the boiler is running longer while the rooms slowly come up to heat.

Would it be better to have the boiler higher (say 75-80) and have the radiators on low?

The only problem I’ve had previously is that others in the house will often turn radiators up to 5 (expecting instant heat…) and leave them, which means it gets too hot.

What do others do?

Mstty

That will stop those pesky level 5 gremlins lol

Carrot007

Mstty said:

That will stop those pesky level 5 gremlins lol

Maybe with an actual padlock and not something that just requires 5 mins to try the combinations. Also would not fit over mine so will be very specific to the TRV.

k_man

Banana1983782 said:

Hi
Is it better to have the boiler set high and the radiators (via TRV) set to low or the opposite (boiler low/TRV high)?

I generally have my boiler set to 55-60 and the radiators on 5, which keeps the rooms warm but does mean the boiler is running longer while the rooms slowly come up to heat.

Would it be better to have the boiler higher (say 75-80) and have the radiators on low?

The only problem I’ve had previously is that others in the house will often turn radiators up to 5 (expecting instant heat…) and leave them, which means it gets too hot.

What do others do?

The TRVs set the 'off' temp for the radiator, not speed of heating.
So determine how warm the room will get.

Boiler temp impacts how quick it will reach that temperature.

So do different things.

In your example:

Would it be better to have the boiler higher (say 75-80) and have the radiators on low?

The rooms would not get as warm, but would get there quicker!

Generally the lower the boiler temperature the more efficient, but needs to be on longer.

lohr500

Assuming you have a condensing boiler, then my understanding is that the temperature of the returning water to the boiler needs to be below 54 Deg C for the boiler to run in condensing mode which improves efficiency.  If the boiler is set at 75 to 80 then the return will probably end up above 54 C so the boiler won't condense. 

Reed_Richards

But if you set the boiler temperature too low the output from the radiators will become too small to keep some (/all) rooms warm enough.  The heat output from a radiator increases according to the difference between the average radiator temperature and the room temperature.  The heat output is not quite proportional to this temperature difference but it's not far off.

Banana1983782

Thank you, seems like I’ve got it correct for both efficiency and comfort. 

markin

Use timers to set it to come on 30min earlier than needed, morning before work and after work.