Hello,
I have "Center" manual TRVs on my rads.
Some of them seem to cut off the water supply to the respective rads before the room is anywhere near the set temperature. So if I have the TRV set to 3.5 (22C), the radiator has gone lukewarm whilst the room is only at 19.5C. If I turn the TRV to setting 4, I hear water flowing in and it gets hot again.
This proves that the TRVs are not very accurate and common sense explains why. The thermometer is right next to a hot pipe and radiator. Obviously a different position to in the middle of the room. They should really calibrate the TRVs to account for this, but I suppose that would involve guesswork because room sizes vary and objects in rooms like furniture will have an effect.
Anyway, to overcome this I have set the TRVs to more like 4 in the rooms where they were going off too soon and now those rooms heat up to 21C, with the TRV setting being 24C. Fine.
The problem I now have is that people keep saying that TRVs let the radiator heat up until the desired temperature is reached on the TRV, THEN restrict the water flow. This is obviously untrue because if I have the TRV set to 4 and it is hot whilst the room heats up, and immediately increase the TRV setting to 5, I hear a very clear change to the flow. In other words, like non-TRV dials, going from 4 to 5 changes the amount of water going into the radiator. It isn't the case that it is always on full flow until the set temperature is reached.
If this is correct then my question is: If I use my heating for three 2-hour sessions a day, where it doesn't reach the central thermostat temperature until the end of each cycle, isn't it best to have the TRVs on the highest setting at all times? This way, more hot water goes into the radiators and releases more heat into the rooms, return temperatures are reduced as a result, and the boiler operates more efficiently whilst also getting the rooms hotter more quickly? I have the flow temperature of the boiler at 55C.
Why burn gas and have these stupid TRVs restricting the amount of hot water in the rads?
Does having the radiator dial set to fully open mean more of the system's hot water in the radiators and therefore return temperature will be reduced?
I have "Center" manual TRVs on my rads.
Some of them seem to cut off the water supply to the respective rads before the room is anywhere near the set temperature. So if I have the TRV set to 3.5 (22C), the radiator has gone lukewarm whilst the room is only at 19.5C. If I turn the TRV to setting 4, I hear water flowing in and it gets hot again.
This proves that the TRVs are not very accurate and common sense explains why. The thermometer is right next to a hot pipe and radiator. Obviously a different position to in the middle of the room. They should really calibrate the TRVs to account for this, but I suppose that would involve guesswork because room sizes vary and objects in rooms like furniture will have an effect.
Anyway, to overcome this I have set the TRVs to more like 4 in the rooms where they were going off too soon and now those rooms heat up to 21C, with the TRV setting being 24C. Fine.
The problem I now have is that people keep saying that TRVs let the radiator heat up until the desired temperature is reached on the TRV, THEN restrict the water flow. This is obviously untrue because if I have the TRV set to 4 and it is hot whilst the room heats up, and immediately increase the TRV setting to 5, I hear a very clear change to the flow. In other words, like non-TRV dials, going from 4 to 5 changes the amount of water going into the radiator. It isn't the case that it is always on full flow until the set temperature is reached.
If this is correct then my question is: If I use my heating for three 2-hour sessions a day, where it doesn't reach the central thermostat temperature until the end of each cycle, isn't it best to have the TRVs on the highest setting at all times? This way, more hot water goes into the radiators and releases more heat into the rooms, return temperatures are reduced as a result, and the boiler operates more efficiently whilst also getting the rooms hotter more quickly? I have the flow temperature of the boiler at 55C.
Why burn gas and have these stupid TRVs restricting the amount of hot water in the rads?
Does having the radiator dial set to fully open mean more of the system's hot water in the radiators and therefore return temperature will be reduced?
Last edited: