Heat the baby's room when the thermostat is in the kitchen

mdfinch2002

Hello there, 

we have moved into a brand new - and very well insulated, energy efficient house. 

1. We don't need to heat the house most of the time - with the exception of the baby's room at night. So in the evening, I turn alll the radiators off apart the one in her room.

2. Trouble is, the thermostat that controls when the boiler fires is down in the kitchen, in the warmest part of the house. So during the night, the baby's room gets quite cold before the boiler fires.

And when it does fire, the thermostat switches before the radiator in the baby's room (two floors above) has heated up at all. 

3. The only solution I can think of is to set the thermostat in the kitchen to quite high - 21C or so -  while keeping the radiators in the kitchen quite low. This means that when the temperature does drop in the kitchen and the thermostat turns on the boiler, the radiators take a wee while to warm up the kitchen to 21 C, which gives the baby's room a bit of heat (18C) before the boiler switches off. 

4. However, I'm still needlessly keeping my kitchen at 21C all night! Can anyone think of an alternative?

Reed_Richards

Some form of secondary heating like an electric radiator in the baby's room?  Electric heaters are expensive to run but only heating the one room might be cheaper than other options. 

400ixl

What type of radiator valves have you got? Are they thermostatic ones? If so you could look at smart TRV's to control each room individually.

cannugec5

My first thought was move the cot into the kitchen! 

But in reality and ongoing I would suggest the thermostat needs relocating. 

Certainly in my own house the kitchen is frequently hotter than I’d like. I’d hate that to mean the rest of the house gets cold. I have a door between my kitchen and the thermostat so the heat has to move right round the house before it affects the central heating. 

But an oil filled radiator with its own thermostat would seem like a good short term solution. 

QrizB

mdfinch2002 said:

4. However, I'm still needlessly keeping my kitchen at 21C all night! Can anyone think of an alternative?

How cold does your baby's room get overnight?

The Lullaby Trust recommend 16-20C for a baby's bedroom. Does it drop below 16C?

If not, maybe leave things as they are?

MikeJXE

How about a smart thermostat ?

I just acquired the Hive mini £109. Perfect for me, the thermostat can be wherever you need it to be, put it in the nursery and control the rest of the home with thermostatic valves 

I control mine through Alexa, so simple 

eddddy

A wireless thermostat which you can put in any room you choose would be a good solution.

Just to double check - if it's a brand new house... it's unusual to have a fixed wired thermostat in the kitchen.

Are you sure that it's not a wireless thermostat that's clipped into a wall mount? And you can unclip it from the wall mount and put it in another room?


But if you really do have a wired thermostat, it's usually relatively simple to swap in a wireless receiver and wireless thermostat.

You can also get wireless thermostats that connect to the internet - so you can control the heating from your phone, check the room temp from your phone, and get alerts if the room temp is too high or too low.

Scot_39

Doesn't the kitchen radaitor have it's own TRV control valve.

If set that to say around 3 - shouldn't knock the boiler off at all.

But manually switching other rooms twice daily a bit of a fath.

If happy with tech - have you though about smart radiator control valves - that can be used to automatically turn every room TRV up / down as required on a timed schedule - so each room or zone - becomes it's own programmable time controlled area.

And set them all as needed - the kitchen etc to run below thermostat every night - leaving childs room at desired temp.

Be more expensive - but could lead to savings elsewhere - like other unused sapces during the day - to help offset costs.

ecraig

How big is the property you have moved into?
Did you get a snagging company in to assess the build quality and to determine if it complies with all building regs and NHBC requirements?

if your new build is more than 150m2 they should be dividing your heating system into at least 2 zones, each controlled with its own thermostat.

Your windows should also have appropriate ventilation grills. Not a great deal happens when you have curtains shut, but do make sure you are ventilating the rooms property as, secondarily, your new build needs to dry out properly. It might also help keep little ones room a little cooler.

I second the other comments about a portable thermostat, but maybe this is a good time to make friends with new neighbours and find out what controls they have. Maybe look at the show home and see how they’ve done it.

If you bought the property, consider a snagger if you haven’t already. If it’s shared ownership or through a housing association, reach out to them perhaps. 

You should have a consistent heat in your home - anything but will suggest an imbalance of radiators or insulation.

You are allowed to be picky with a brand new build. Use your warranty to its fullest.

poppellerant

Why not just put an oil-filled radiator in the bedroom? Surely that would be cheaper than heating the entire house?

matelodave

we used one of these to take the chill off the room when the baby was little although I wouldn't use them when the baby is mobile unless you fitted a guard. https://www.screwfix.com/p/dimplex-ecot2ft-wall-mounted-tubular-heater-80w-713mm-x-81mm/1796f We actually found a 120watt one.

They wont heat the room, but just keep the chill off.

The alternative is a small oil filled radiator or even an electric towel rail but again, only with a fire guard if the little'un is mobile.