Heating issue in empty house

Albermarle

Skint_yet_Again said:

I have turned the heating up from 15 to 20 and all radiators have got evenly hot. Must be something to do with having it set at 15’ 
I think the boiler has a pre-heat function for hot water (Worcester green star 4000) and wonder if it’s this, but can’t find any instructions in the installation and maintenance instructions how to turn it off. Think I need eco mode. 

It is a bit strange, but at least it proves you do not have a blockage.

diveunderthebonnet

Can you not turn it down to say 17 degrees and see if that works ,will fulfil the insurance companies wishes and cost you less than running at 20 degrees.

WIAWSNB

Could we have a pic of the room stat, please? 
Meanwhile, turn the TRVs on the hot rads (but not the hallway stat) down to '2'. That'll 'force' the boiler to back down a bit.

Bigphil1474

If you turn all the radiators down to 2 except the one near the thermostat, the heating should be on less overall. When we had an empty property insured, we just had the heating on at the anti freeze level. Insurers didn't insist on anything more. This was only a couple of years ago.

Eldi_Dos

@Skint-yet-Again.
           I thought the standard minium temperature for insurance companies and land lords was 12 deg.

Once you get heating sorted to your liking come back on or start a new thread about how to winterise a empty property, you are bound to get some good tips. Some learned the hard way.

Skint_yet_Again

Thank you all. The insurers insist on 15 degrees & that is what the thermostat is set at and that is what the thermostat says the temperature was when I visited yesterday. The heating engineer checked & confirmed.(edit to add when he came last week to service the boiler). I only turned it up to 20’ for a short time yesterday to see if all radiators got hot all over and they did. 

WIAWSNB

Could it be that the house is at ~15oC, and the hallway rads are just the slowest to respond?

What type of 'stat? Does it 'click'? 

Skint_yet_Again

The empty house has always been a “warm” house and it feels warm when I go in. It just seems strange that the upstairs rads are hot but not downstairs when stat is set at 15’. I will go up later today and see what it’s like now I’ve turned the upstairs rads down to 2. 

I’ve got a couple of room thermometers which I will take up to check 

edit - yes it’s digital but it does click

Eldi_Dos

@Skint_yet_Again

Sorry to labour the point but the cost between heating at 12 deg and 15 deg may be quite considerable over a hard winter.
Might be worthwhile checking out other insurers.

Skint_yet_Again

Insurance had to be sorted very quickly at a very traumatic time as normal policy was coming to an end, so we are stuck with it for now. Many didn’t cover things like escape of water or subsidence but the heating could be set at 12’. 🤷‍♀️  We just went with the overall policy we were happy with for the price.