Radiator Thermostats
Discussion
we have just had a couple of new radiators installed and they have a different type of thermostat on them.
Our existing radiators have a thermostat which you can turn fully on - i.e. it just heats rather than trying to stick to a set temperature.
The new ones do not have this - is this a change of some regulations or just a cheap thermostat?
Our existing radiators have a thermostat which you can turn fully on - i.e. it just heats rather than trying to stick to a set temperature.
The new ones do not have this - is this a change of some regulations or just a cheap thermostat?
With any heating system you always have to have one radiator with no controls on.
I think its classed as an 'open end' or something like that and they tend to have them mainly in bathrooms as the heat generated by the steam etc doesnt effect the controls. The other reason is incase you have all the heating controls turned off and the pump working.
The Two valves in the picture; one is a normal Thermostatic Radiator Valve (TRV) and the other a Lockshield and you only really use this to isolate the heating supply when taking the rad off. The white cap is just for looks and to prevent injury in the event of kids coming into contact.
Your heating engineer should have left a grey/white decorators cap with you, this is designed to be used when/if you take the rad off for decorating and you screw onto the valve body inplace of the TRV head. If you dont and it gets cold the TRV will open and you will flood you room with nice brown water !!!
I think its classed as an 'open end' or something like that and they tend to have them mainly in bathrooms as the heat generated by the steam etc doesnt effect the controls. The other reason is incase you have all the heating controls turned off and the pump working.
The Two valves in the picture; one is a normal Thermostatic Radiator Valve (TRV) and the other a Lockshield and you only really use this to isolate the heating supply when taking the rad off. The white cap is just for looks and to prevent injury in the event of kids coming into contact.
Your heating engineer should have left a grey/white decorators cap with you, this is designed to be used when/if you take the rad off for decorating and you screw onto the valve body inplace of the TRV head. If you dont and it gets cold the TRV will open and you will flood you room with nice brown water !!!
lewes said:
With any heating system you always have to have one radiator with no controls on.
I think its classed as an 'open end' or something like that and they tend to have them mainly in bathrooms as the heat generated by the steam etc doesnt effect the controls. The other reason is incase you have all the heating controls turned off and the pump working.
The Two valves in the picture; one is a normal Thermostatic Radiator Valve (TRV) and the other a Lockshield and you only really use this to isolate the heating supply when taking the rad off. The white cap is just for looks and to prevent injury in the event of kids coming into contact.
Your heating engineer should have left a grey/white decorators cap with you, this is designed to be used when/if you take the rad off for decorating and you screw onto the valve body inplace of the TRV head. If you dont and it gets cold the TRV will open and you will flood you room with nice brown water !!!
Ideally you will have one without a thermostat if it's near to the main thermostat, otherwise they will interfere with each other..I think its classed as an 'open end' or something like that and they tend to have them mainly in bathrooms as the heat generated by the steam etc doesnt effect the controls. The other reason is incase you have all the heating controls turned off and the pump working.
The Two valves in the picture; one is a normal Thermostatic Radiator Valve (TRV) and the other a Lockshield and you only really use this to isolate the heating supply when taking the rad off. The white cap is just for looks and to prevent injury in the event of kids coming into contact.
Your heating engineer should have left a grey/white decorators cap with you, this is designed to be used when/if you take the rad off for decorating and you screw onto the valve body inplace of the TRV head. If you dont and it gets cold the TRV will open and you will flood you room with nice brown water !!!
thanks for all the replies folks, I think there must be a problem with them or the plumbing.
The button seems like a classic case of over-engineering, the ones we have had for 10 years work fine, what is the point of it? What is wrong with just twisting to change the temperature?
It does not matter whether you press in the button or not before turning, the radiator still does not get hotter.
I even put the house thermostat up to 30 last night to try to tempt it to work!
The button seems like a classic case of over-engineering, the ones we have had for 10 years work fine, what is the point of it? What is wrong with just twisting to change the temperature?
It does not matter whether you press in the button or not before turning, the radiator still does not get hotter.
I even put the house thermostat up to 30 last night to try to tempt it to work!
TRVs do not control the temperature of the radiator, they simply shut the valve when the air temperature rises to the set level, putting them on 5 will not make them hotter.
Same as a room stat, its just a heat sensitive switch that turns off the heating when the room temperature you set on the stat has been reached.
If the rads arn't getting hot, check the lockshield valve is fully open and also check the boiler thermostat hasn't been turned down.
Same as a room stat, its just a heat sensitive switch that turns off the heating when the room temperature you set on the stat has been reached.
If the rads arn't getting hot, check the lockshield valve is fully open and also check the boiler thermostat hasn't been turned down.
x5x3 said:
yes, that is what the installers said it could be - but can anyone answer my question why I cannot just have a radiator on?
Are you saying that you can turn the tops, and have to depress the button to allow you to access the higher heat setting, but that the radiators still don't get hot? Or that they won't turn at all?The other end needs to be open as well of course... I guess you haven't got inline isolators in place? or if you have are they open?
It sounds like either a blockage of some sort, possibly an air block or something physical - in which case you need to flush the system or one or more of the valves "somewhere" in the system, upstream is closed and so hot water isn't getting there.. You need to check all of them.. Both ends need to be open and then any inline valves also need to be open. (apols if this is stating the obvious, but this is what sounds like the problem is).
As has been said all the thermostat does is allow you to balance the system. i.e. if all are set to max. then the radiators closest to the boiler will get more of the heat.. Then you need to balance it by turning those nearest down, to send more hot water to the further away ones and or setting some to minimal for rooms you don't use that often..
eps said:
x5x3 said:
yes, that is what the installers said it could be - but can anyone answer my question why I cannot just have a radiator on?
Are you saying that you can turn the tops, and have to depress the button to allow you to access the higher heat setting, but that the radiators still don't get hot? Or that they won't turn at all?The other end needs to be open as well of course... I guess you haven't got inline isolators in place? or if you have are they open?
It sounds like either a blockage of some sort, possibly an air block or something physical - in which case you need to flush the system or one or more of the valves "somewhere" in the system, upstream is closed and so hot water isn't getting there.. You need to check all of them.. Both ends need to be open and then any inline valves also need to be open. (apols if this is stating the obvious, but this is what sounds like the problem is).
As has been said all the thermostat does is allow you to balance the system. i.e. if all are set to max. then the radiators closest to the boiler will get more of the heat.. Then you need to balance it by turning those nearest down, to send more hot water to the further away ones and or setting some to minimal for rooms you don't use that often..
No-one has yet answered why I need to have this over-complex new value when the old ones seem far better - they have a series of settings to heat the radiator to a pre-defined temp, plus a setting for "I am cold now and I want heat now" - plus they do not have the over-engneered press in the button to turn?
The button is to make you "think" I'm setting it to a higher temp setting.. Quite a few products have them on the market now, such as showers and so on.. It should also prevent a child from simply setting it to a temp. that is too hot as well..
Is the other end open? Otherwise the water won't flow through the radiator..
Is the other end open? Otherwise the water won't flow through the radiator..
eps said:
The button is to make you "think" I'm setting it to a higher temp setting.. Quite a few products have them on the market now, such as showers and so on.. It should also prevent a child from simply setting it to a temp. that is too hot as well..
Is the other end open? Otherwise the water won't flow through the radiator..
thanks - that made me laugh!Is the other end open? Otherwise the water won't flow through the radiator..
so the product designers think a big green button is going to prevent a kid from turning a radiator up?
The other end is warm also - I guess that means it is open.
Can I ask the fitters to put an old style thermo on - or would they then be breaking some law and be sent straight to jail?
The button is so that you can easily set it to what is normally room temperature. If you need to turn it more than that there's something amiss somewhere.
It sounds like the water isn't flowing through the radiator. This is almost certainly due to an air lock in the system and I would suggest turning off ALL the other radiators and setting the programmer to 'Central Heating' without 'Hot Water'.
This should push the air out of where it is stuck and into the radiator.
Other posibilities are a LOT of sludge, or a badly designed system with pipework that's too small.
It sounds like the water isn't flowing through the radiator. This is almost certainly due to an air lock in the system and I would suggest turning off ALL the other radiators and setting the programmer to 'Central Heating' without 'Hot Water'.
This should push the air out of where it is stuck and into the radiator.
Other posibilities are a LOT of sludge, or a badly designed system with pipework that's too small.
UPDATE - we had to get our normal plumber out as the pump had gone and he discovered the problem with the new radiators - they had been plumbed into the hot water and not the central heating?
Now to me (and him) this seems to be a pretty basic error to make - what do others think?
I am pressing the loft company for some compensation over this but to be honest I am starting to wonder if they have made other mistakes now?
Now to me (and him) this seems to be a pretty basic error to make - what do others think?
I am pressing the loft company for some compensation over this but to be honest I am starting to wonder if they have made other mistakes now?
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