Have you put your heating on yet?

[geeks]

Hoofy said:

Mr-B said:

Hoofy said:

It was a good idea. I've found my office rad is completely cold. Have tried balancing and bleeding (get black water, no air). Not sure what to do now. :/

If you have a thermostatic radiator valve it's probably stuck/broken, might need replacing.

Yeah, has numbers on it. Is it possible to fix it without taking anything apart?

Rotate it on and off a few times (0-10 or whatever) and then leave it wide open to see if that frees it up/resolves the issue, if not you are probably going to need a new one, its not a massive job to do.. in theory!

[Allanv]

Ours is always set to 21 and I did notice it coming on during the day today so the temp is dropping, I leave it on and set and let the weather do the rest.

[rossub]

SlimJim16v said:

talkssense said:

Don’t you people have thermostats?

I don’t think the heating has ever been turned off since I moved in in 2001!

This really pisses me off. Why don’t you people realise that there are millions of heating systems out there without thermostats? I’ve never lived somewhere with a heating system that goes on and off depending on the actual room temperature.

[Condi]

geeks said:

Rotate it on and off a few times (0-10 or whatever) and then leave it wide open to see if that frees it up/resolves the issue, if not you are probably going to need a new one, its not a massive job to do.. in theory!

Depends which bit is stuck.

Unscrew the top bit and see if the plunger moves up and down. If not then you can wait a bit and see if the hot/cold cycle frees it over a week or so, or try tapping it lightly on top and the side with a hammer. If still nothing then you need a new TRV. It can be a DIY job for someone with the time to drain the system down, or freeze the pipe.

If the plunger moves up and down freely then the top dial is broken and you can simply replace it by screwing a new top section on.

[Hoofy]

Condi said:

geeks said:

Rotate it on and off a few times (0-10 or whatever) and then leave it wide open to see if that frees it up/resolves the issue, if not you are probably going to need a new one, its not a massive job to do.. in theory!

Depends which bit is stuck.

Unscrew the top bit and see if the plunger moves up and down. If not then you can wait a bit and see if the hot/cold cycle frees it over a week or so, or try tapping it lightly on top and the side with a hammer. If still nothing then you need a new TRV. It can be a DIY job for someone with the time to drain the system down, or freeze the pipe.

If the plunger moves up and down freely then the top dial is broken and you can simply replace it by screwing a new top section on.

Thanks, both. How do you unscrew it? Just keep twisting past the resistance point?

[Condi]

Hoofy said:

Condi said:

geeks said:

Rotate it on and off a few times (0-10 or whatever) and then leave it wide open to see if that frees it up/resolves the issue, if not you are probably going to need a new one, its not a massive job to do.. in theory!

Depends which bit is stuck.

Unscrew the top bit and see if the plunger moves up and down. If not then you can wait a bit and see if the hot/cold cycle frees it over a week or so, or try tapping it lightly on top and the side with a hammer. If still nothing then you need a new TRV. It can be a DIY job for someone with the time to drain the system down, or freeze the pipe.

If the plunger moves up and down freely then the top dial is broken and you can simply replace it by screwing a new top section on.

Thanks, both. How do you unscrew it? Just keep twisting past the resistance point?

They can be slightly different, but if you look underneath the TRV dial there might be a separate collar you can unscrew.

See on here where it says 'Securing Ring'

https://www.jagahomeheating.co.uk/Assets/User/1193...

[Hoofy]

Condi said:

Hoofy said:

Condi said:

geeks said:

Rotate it on and off a few times (0-10 or whatever) and then leave it wide open to see if that frees it up/resolves the issue, if not you are probably going to need a new one, its not a massive job to do.. in theory!

Depends which bit is stuck.

Unscrew the top bit and see if the plunger moves up and down. If not then you can wait a bit and see if the hot/cold cycle frees it over a week or so, or try tapping it lightly on top and the side with a hammer. If still nothing then you need a new TRV. It can be a DIY job for someone with the time to drain the system down, or freeze the pipe.

If the plunger moves up and down freely then the top dial is broken and you can simply replace it by screwing a new top section on.

Thanks, both. How do you unscrew it? Just keep twisting past the resistance point?

They can be slightly different, but if you look underneath the TRV dial there might be a separate collar you can unscrew.

See on here where it says 'Securing Ring'

https://www.jagahomeheating.co.uk/Assets/User/1193...

Ah, thanks, so loosen that and it should come away without emptying the rad all over the floor?

[mcg_]

ours has been on a bit recently

really must insulate the loft this year, and stop the draft coming under the front door.

[poing]

Nearly put the fire on today but not quite, tomorrow might push me over the edge.

[toastybase]

I haven’t it the heat on, just keep the hobs on to save on the bills and take the chill off

[768]

I just open PH and let it's javascript infinite loops go to work.

[glenrobbo]

No.

But she has.

[Blue Oval84]

Fire is burning away merrily now. Heating isn't really needed, in fact if I'm honest neither is the fire, but I quite like it

[Benni]

Condi said:

Depends which bit is stuck.

Unscrew the top bit and see if the plunger moves up and down. If not then you can wait a bit and see if the hot/cold cycle frees it over a week or so, or try tapping it lightly on top and the side with a hammer. If still nothing then you need a new TRV. It can be a DIY job for someone with the time to drain the system down, or freeze the pipe.

If the plunger moves up and down freely then the top dial is broken and you can simply replace it by screwing a new top section on.

If the little plunger pin moves inward against spring pressure, press it in ( with side of screwdriver blade )

and let it snap outward a few times, I have seen them stuck in the "closed" position quite often,

maybe the rubber gasket inside clings to the metal body of the thermostat after months of closure.

[hyphen]

toastybase said:

I haven’t it the heat on, just keep the hobs on to save on the bills and take the chill off

My OH used to burn money that way, now we have an induction hob

Pulled the other halves of the all season duvets out of the loft as putting on heat at night is pointless (imo) unless below zero, have a single oil radiator keeping littlest warm at night.

[simoid]

I was feeling quite smug as the house seemed toasty enough. Occasional indoor hoody required etc. Thermostat still set at 15 for the summer. Or so I thought.

Mrs S has had it set at 19 for a week! had been switching it on during the day and forgot to click it back down.

[RicksAlfas]

rossub said:

This really pisses me off. Why don’t you people realise that there are millions of heating systems out there without thermostats? I’ve never lived somewhere with a heating system that goes on and off depending on the actual room temperature.

Whilst not being quite so cross about it, I agree.
I've never used a "house thermostat" like most people on here seem to have. I've only ever known a TRV on each radiator and a timer clock. The only thermostat has been for frost.

With a central thermostat do people still use TRVs?

[talkssense]

rossub said:

This really pisses me off. Why don’t you people realise that there are millions of heating systems out there without thermostats? I’ve never lived somewhere with a heating system that goes on and off depending on the actual room temperature.

Really? Are you in the UK? I don’t think I have ever seen a house that doesn’t either have a single thermostat in a hallway or somewhere or a number of thermostats for different zones in the home.

Surely you could add a wireless thermostat fairly cheaply and make the system much more efficient?

[Spragnut]

We have programmable thermostats in 2 locations, central-ish downstairs main living area, and up stairs central to all rooms, each one a separate "zone". Both are programmed and we never touch them, pretty sure it's set to a target of around 19° downstairs and 17° upstairs (a lot of the heat from downstairs ends up upstairs, naturally, so it balances out). Timed to come on in the morning before we wake, and again before we arrive home after work. Think it's been on twice, for an hour or so each time, this past week just taking the chill off. The living room is a constant 19°C pretty much all the time.

All the rads and towel rails have TRV's so they take care of each room temp, bathroom towel rails are on hot water circuit, with a separate programmer, so they both come on twice a day, each one also has a TRV, takes the chill of the bathrooms in the morning and evening.

Weekends I think are programmed the same, albeit it's on an hour longer in the morning, but it has an override mode which we mainly use during the day if it's cold. Target temp can be changed on the fly but it always reverts back when it gets to the next step in the program.

I let my plumber father in law have free reign to do what he wanted with regards to plumbing, he installed a complete new system including system boiler/hot water cylinder/pipes/rads/cold water tank etc. got to say it works really well and gas usage goes from <£15 a month during the summer up to around £50-£60 a month with the weather at it's coldest, with a fairly linear increase. And I'm one for preferring to have a t shirt on and the heating flat out!

House was built 1905, no cavity insulation, upstairs is insulated on internal walls then boarded/plastered. Downstairs is on the list of things to do!

I find it's really nice when you leave work and it's colder than expected, you get all toasty in the car on the way home, thermostat has taken care of house and it's nice and warm when you arrive. Makes me appreciate the effort the FIL put in installing it all.

Before that the house had one bi-metallic strip style thermostat in the lounge, a basic controller, no insulation, a 50+ year old boiler and 3 rads (we have 9 or 10 now) gas bill would be £150-£200 a month at it's worst and not particularly linear, the hot water alone was pretty inefficient.

[rossub]

talkssense said:

rossub said:

This really pisses me off. Why don’t you people realise that there are millions of heating systems out there without thermostats? I’ve never lived somewhere with a heating system that goes on and off depending on the actual room temperature.

Really? Are you in the UK? I don’t think I have ever seen a house that doesn’t either have a single thermostat in a hallway or somewhere or a number of thermostats for different zones in the home.

Surely you could add a wireless thermostat fairly cheaply and make the system much more efficient?

Yes I’m in the UK. Each of the radiators has a thermostat and obviously the heating can also be set on the timer. If it feels cold, it gets put on and if it feels hot it gets put off again. The human body is fairly efficient at noticing these things