Room too cold

wheelies_3

I've been reading many of the forums on this site for over a year and found them very useful. Finally got round to registering on the site.

I hope someone can help me out here, we live in a detached house which is 8 years old, the south east facing dining room and bedroom above are always too cold even when the heating has been turned up. We have installed UPVC double glazing throughout the house and the roof is fully insulated. All the radiators have been bled. Confused as to why these two rooms are cold.

Thanks for reading.

Badger_Lady

Are your radiators strong enough for your rooms? When you buy a house (as I've just done), you assume that the central heating was set up with the correct BTU's... but most of mine are actually too small to get the rooms up to temperature.

There's a calculator for how much you need here:
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/templates/content_lookup.jsp?content=/bq_advice/planning_tools/btu_calculator.jsp

But it's slightly harder to figure out what you've already got! I checked mine by just looking up similar ones for sale and checking what BTU they advertised at...

teadrinker_3

You might consider cavity wall insulation. My electric company was doing a deal on cheap insulation. I can't just recall who I was with at the time though.

ormus

agreed. cavity wall insulation and perhaps install much bigger rads.
most CH installers dont size the rads correctly. they just use rule of thumb methods.
we have an extension large 3rd bedroom that has 3 outside walls and a flat roof! its always bloody cold esp as we rarely use it now.
it really needs another rad.

Canucklehead

ormus wrote: »

most CH installers dont size the rads correctly. they just use rule of thumb method

Should read 'incompetent CH installers/ one day/cheapest quote/ bodge jobbers'....My OH uses a software pack to calculate boiler and rad sizing as per Best Practice.

To the OP: undersized rads a possibility, filthy system, poor circulation, boiler stat too low, type of rads (are they single panel or double convectors?), radiator valves (do you have TRVs?)
You can use an online tool to calculate rad sizing http://www.radcalcs.com/ Your CORGI can investigate when your boiler has the annual service.

HTH

Canucklehead

Mutton_Geoff

Also worth making sure the radiators are properly balanced so that they are dissipating heat properly into the room. I did this on my system and it dramatically improved the performance of the heating as the two front rooms were always cold despite the heating being on for ages.

More info on balancing from this site : http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/plumbing/rad-balance.html

jay_cee_2

i have the same problem, the problem with my apartment is the insulation. i am seriously looking into buying a house now, so I can insulate it how i want and in my own way! Also, then I can have a log fire

cmrule

Is your loft space insulated??

Melissa177

My parents had this problem with their house - it sounds identical to yours (roof insulation, uPVC, detached property built in the 60s).

My mother obtained some sort of government grant/discount on cavity wall insulation, and it took about a day for a guy to come around and complete it. Cost 150 pounds. It made a noticeable difference!

wheelies_3

Thank you for your replies, it has given us some info to read up on plus the links.

The house has roof insulation (over 300mm).

We are sure the house was built with cavity wall insulation as it is 8 years old but will look into that. We didn't buy the house from new, lived here 6 years.

Have checked the single panel radiators and seem to be the right size for the rooms.

Boiler was being yearly serviced but the last service was 18 months ago as plumber has dropped off the face of the earth, plumbers are like gold dust round here. The problem hasn't just been since the boiler's service is overdue.

If we turn the boiler stat over 3 (goes up to 5) it cuts out, which means we have to switch it off at the wall and start again as the reset button doesn't do anything when this happens, is this normal? I suspect not. Need a decent plumber.

Will look into the balancing, having the system cleaned also circulation.
Thanks again for your help, much appreciated :T

raddy59

Boiler temperature too low?
Do you have draughts from the floorboards?
Also, try getting some dowling and stapling some silver foil to it and slipping it behind the rads. Cheap, easy and really makes a difference.