House taking 6 hours to heat up 4 degrees?

edited 16 December 2022 at 11:50AM in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving
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beckstar1975beckstar1975 Forumite
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I am prefacing this by saying we are very lucky as we fixed our energy before the crisis

I think something is amiss with our heating - it's been on continually since 4am when it was 15.8 degrees and now it's only 18.2 degrees. Does this mean our rad temp is too low on the boiler? Or perhaps rads full of sludge? The boiler is 16 years old but is a Vaillant Ecotec in a 3 bed terraced 2 storey house.

Many thanks for any light shed!
:eek::eek::eek: LBM 11/05/2010 - WE DID IT - DMP of £62000 paid off in 7 years:jDFD April2017
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  • RobM99RobM99 Forumite
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    What's the thermostat set to?
    Now a gainfully employed bassist.
  • housebuyer143housebuyer143 Forumite
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    I am prefacing this by saying we are very lucky as we fixed our energy before the crisis

    I think something is amiss with our heating - it's been on continually since 4am when it was 15.8 degrees and now it's only 18.2 degrees. Does this mean our rad temp is too low on the boiler? Or perhaps rads full of sludge? The boiler is 16 years old but is a Vaillant Ecotec in a 3 bed terraced 2 storey house.

    Many thanks for any light shed!
    It's very very cold outside. My house is normally a nice temp after 3 hours in the morning but the moment it goes off my hands are frozen. Having to keep it in much longer just to take the chill off. 
    Its -4 outside. It's going to be hard to heat the house at the moment.
  • beckstar1975beckstar1975 Forumite
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    RobM99 said: What's the thermostat set to?
    19.5 whilst we're home but it never gets there (perhaps in the evening when we're all at home and the oven is on
    :eek::eek::eek: LBM 11/05/2010 - WE DID IT - DMP of £62000 paid off in 7 years:jDFD April2017
  • ThisIsWeirdThisIsWeird Forumite
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    I am prefacing this by saying we are very lucky as we fixed our energy before the crisis

    I think something is amiss with our heating - it's been on continually since 4am when it was 15.8 degrees and now it's only 18.2 degrees. Does this mean our rad temp is too low on the boiler? Or perhaps rads full of sludge? The boiler is 16 years old but is a Vaillant Ecotec in a 3 bed terraced 2 storey house.

    Many thanks for any light shed!

    A lot more information required, Beckstar.
    1) Do all the radiators feel 'hot'? Can you keep your hands on them, or is it too 'ouch'?
    2) Are they hot all over? Or are they much cooler near their bottoms?
    3) Do they have TRVs fitted, and what are these set to?
    4) How many radiators do you have calling for heat at the same time? Do you adjust them to actual need - ie turn off the bedrooms when they are not required (usually only needed for a one-hour blast before bed, and the same again before getting up, and 'off' (ie '1' or '2' at all other times). Any unused bedrooms which shouldn't have the heating coming on at all (apart from at 'frost')?
    5) Where is the room thermostat fitted? I presume this is the area that doesn't reach much more than 18oC? But what about the 'living' area - does that get warmer?
    6) What is the CH output set to on your boiler?
  • EssexExileEssexExile Forumite
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    Ours is the same at the moment. The heating comes on at 6:30, by 9:00 it's about 16°, it got to18° about noon. It'll be fine next week!
    Tall, dark & handsome. Well two out of three ain't bad.
  • greensaladgreensalad Forumite
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    Ours is the same at the moment. House is normally about 14c when it comes on at 3pm. It doesn't reach our desired 18c by 11pm, only managed to get to about 16c! 
  • JGB1955JGB1955 Forumite
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    Our boiler is struggling to maintain 19c today - it's not normally a problem but it was particularly cold last night here.
    #2 Saving for Christmas 2023 - £1 a day challenge £740/£1460
  • edited 16 December 2022 at 3:40PM
    Mutton_GeoffMutton_Geoff Forumite
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    edited 16 December 2022 at 3:40PM
    It's been a lot colder than the design standard (BS EN 12831-1:2017) allows for. Not surprised people are complaining about their houses being cold. It's been sub zero for much of the country for most of the time since the evening of 7th Dec so that's 2.5% of the hours in a year already in this event alone.


    Still puzzled after 17 years on MSE why people sign up and post to find solutions to problems they could have easily avoided by searching the forums in the first place.WD40 is not a panacea or lubricant. Stop spraying it everywhere!
  • ComicGeekComicGeek Forumite
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    It's been a lot colder than the design standard (BS EN 12831-1:2017) allows for. Not surprised people are complaining about their houses being cold. It's been sub zero for much of the country for most of the time since the evening of 7th Dec so that's 2.5% of the hours in a year already in this event alone.


    I was talking to a local ASHP company last week who admitted that they don't allow any heat up margin on their design calcs, and make the assumption that the heating is operating 100% of the time at the design temperature to keep the system as small as possible. I wouldn't want to be living in one of those houses at the moment, when we've been having -5/-6 degrees during the day this week - not only will the house not be able to get to temperature, even running it 24/7 will result in a gradual drop in temp.
  • Mutton_GeoffMutton_Geoff Forumite
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    ComicGeek said:

    I was talking to a local ASHP company last week who admitted that they don't allow any heat up margin on their design calcs, and make the assumption that the heating is operating 100% of the time at the design temperature to keep the system as small as possible. I wouldn't want to be living in one of those houses at the moment, when we've been having -5/-6 degrees during the day this week - not only will the house not be able to get to temperature, even running it 24/7 will result in a gradual drop in temp.
    I do live in one. Been using 75-90 kw/hr per day over the last week and as with ASHP and UFH, leave it on all the time. Fortunately only paying 18p a unit (£15 a day). Four bed 2600 sq ft, feeling nice and toasty.
    Still puzzled after 17 years on MSE why people sign up and post to find solutions to problems they could have easily avoided by searching the forums in the first place.WD40 is not a panacea or lubricant. Stop spraying it everywhere!
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