Central heating back on, is this an early start to winter?

[ericmark]

Not too cold yet, but heating on again, so I wonder what faults this year, specially since the guy who normally services it never turned up this year.

Last year has a stuck micro switch in the motorised valve, got new switch, but never got around to changing it. A few taps of the valve head on the cupboard floor freed it off, and not problems for the rest of the winter.

I expect I will need a load of AA batteries, for the TRV heads, the eQ-3 easy to change, but others need a screwdriver. So how important is the service? He will normally do all his clients in the same area in the same week, and even if not in on the day, get an invoice through the letter box. There is a sticker on the oil boiler with name of installer, but seeing what it was like when I moved in, don't really want to use them.

 

[Murdochcat]

No heating on until October

 

[JayN]

I switch CH on when the condensation in the windows cause the first black mold spots in a certain ceiling corner.

 

[Mister Banks]

Our heating has never been off. The house is set for 20c in the morning and 21c in the evening with a setback of 18c, last week the boiler fired for heating in the evening but only for very short periods. I think last week was the first time the heating has come on since last March.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Our heating has never been off.

Likewise, apart from when we are away, then I put it in holiday mode, just to avoid it heating the cylinder of water. It's set for 18C from 10am, to 10pm, then set back to 14C for the night. I nudged it up to 21C yesterday, for a few minutes, just to test it responded - it did, then in walked Av., noticed the kitchen radiator was warm only at the top, and suggested it needed bleeding.

It took a while, to explain it to her
Then we put the under-blanket back on the bed, plugged into an Alexa controlled plug. It's just starting to get a bit chilly, getting into a cold bed, but still has the lightweight, summer quilt on it.
I'll do a more thorough check of the heating system, once we need the heating, but for now, we've only felt the need to light the living room gas fire, one evening so far.

 

[ericmark]

This is the season when we get all the central heating questions. I also don't actually turn the heating off, but it is set too low really, don't want it firing up on what promises to be a warm day. I can't stop it heating DHW, (C Plan) but I don't set it to heat DHW in summer, the solar does that.

But last week it has fired up a few times.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

This is the season when we get all the central heating questions.

When they all turn their heating systems on, because they need it, and suddenly find 'it don't work'. It only takes a few minutes, just to test it out, in the weeks before, and ensure it is working, before the need for heat becomes urgent.

 

[aveatry]

When they all turn their heating systems on, because they need it, and suddenly find 'it don't work'. It only takes a few minutes, just to test it out, in the weeks before, and ensure it is working, before the need for heat becomes urgent.

Yep I normally pop it on for an hour mid summer - when we have a crap cold wet day but this year we didn’t have one for me to use as a test day.
The problem is you put it on at the same time as everyone else and find there is a problem and its a nightmare trying to get it fixed. Like finding fence panels after a storm.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yep I normally pop it on for an hour mid summer - when we have a crap cold wet day but this year we didn’t have one for me to use as a test day.

My boiler is in daily use, heating the HW cylinder, so the only thing in doubt, is the 3-port switching the CH. A five-minute demand for CH, is all that is needed, to confirm the CH should work when it is needed.

 

[aveatry]

My boiler is in daily use, heating the HW cylinder, so the only thing in doubt, is the 3-port switching the CH. A five-minute demand for CH, is all that is needed, to confirm the CH should work when it is needed.

Yes same here. But I like to get the rads up to temp and cool down to check for leaks.

 

[ChrisJP]

noticed the kitchen radiator was warm only at the top, and suggested it needed bleeding.

Comment removed as I'd misunderstood the posting about radiator needing bleeding!

 

[ChrisJP]

No heating on until October

My CH has a setpoint of 20C for mornings and evenings, with a setback to 16C during the day. It's actually fired up for a bit in the mornings and evenings this week. I have my heating on when I need it to keep the house warm, rather than leaving it off to an arbitary date.
That said, we do seem to have had an early start to winter this last week.
Still it might stop the hysterics about us all frying to death because of global warming!!

 

[Mottie]

Yes same here. But I like to get the rads up to temp and cool down to check for leaks.

Same here. Ours heats the stored hot water all year round and I have it on a low manual setting in summer with all TRV's set at maximum to prevent them sticking closed. I put the system in boost mode for 30 minutes once a month on average just to make sure everything is tickety boo.