Plumber explains what radiator numbers really mean and why you should 'leave it' at 3

[ericmark]

You keep implying that you have solved the secrets of central heating, but you really haven't. The vast majority of people have much simpler systems and they work perfectly well.

Oh no, improved maybe, solved no.

OK maybe a bee in my bonnet, I was told by so many, so many times, you don't fit a TRV to a radiator in an area with a wall thermostat, I believed it. Then I fitted a TRV in my mother's hall, with the wall thermostat, and it cured most of the problems.

So statements like.

TRV's should not be fitted to all radiators, the room where the stat is located, should not be with a TRV, or the heating may not switch off when unnecessary.

Really winds me up. As I now know it is wrong, even with mechanical TRV heads and a non-programmable wall thermostat.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Basically TRV heads with *123456 have no place in a modern heating system, they are a left over from a bygone age like the motorised valve, which is not required when using electronic heads on the TRVs. But there are still some people living in the past, and we have to say with mechanical or with electronic to cover both old and new.

Sorry Eric, but you do write some total nonsense. No system can ever be perfect, because there are too many unpredictable variations, besides which, there has to be some cost/benefit involved.

I find it offensive, where you suggest I live in the past - I have a modern, up-to-date boiler, controlled by a very modern, optimised control system. I don't have the TRV T's, not because I cannot afford them, but rather that I do not want that extra cost and complexity in my life, for no extra benefit. My system, as is, does all that I want from a heating system - it keeps my home at a reasonably stable, and comfortable temperature, which all I would expect from any heating system.

You have an obsession with solar panels [1], I made a decision long ago that they had no value for me - the sums just do not add up, the cost of panels, the cost of batteries, the costs of replacement, and they have zero comfort benefit, though might appeal to the gadget freak.

[1] If you doubt you have an obsession with solar, power consumption, and heating system, just look at how frequently you post on these very subjects, and the lengths of those posts.

 

[ericmark]

I have said again and again, every home is different, what works with one home may not work with another.

As to solar panels, I have been saying how I don't like the idea of balcony solar, not supporting it.

As to plumbing, yes I found again, all I had been told about cost to heat DHW with gas or oil compared with electric was not as cut and dried as people make out. I am not saying they are wrong, I am sure there are cases where gas is cheaper, what I am saying, not as cut and dried as has been made out.

 

[denso13]

I was told by so many, so many times, you don't fit a TRV to a radiator in an area with a wall thermostat, I believed it.

That's exactly what Approved Document L says. Again, you have found a quirk that seems to work for you, but it is very much the exception.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

OK maybe a bee in my bonnet, I was told by so many, so many times, you don't fit a TRV to a radiator in an area with a wall thermostat, I believed it. Then I fitted a TRV in my mother's hall, with the wall thermostat, and it cured most of the problems.

Which completely defies logic - why/how could it possibly?

The normal TRV, is there to limit temperature, the room thermostat is there to switch off the boiler, when heat from it is no longer required. How can the stat work effectively, when the TRV is already limiting the temperature rise?

In early /late summer, the boiler will continue to run, unnecessarily, rather than switching off as it should.

 

[Mister Banks]

Oh no, improved maybe, solved no.

OK maybe a bee in my bonnet, I was told by so many, so many times, you don't fit a TRV to a radiator in an area with a wall thermostat, I believed it. Then I fitted a TRV in my mother's hall, with the wall thermostat, and it cured most of the problems.

So statements like.

Really winds me up. As I now know it is wrong, even with mechanical TRV heads and a non-programmable wall thermostat.

You’re the only person that thinks it’s wrong though.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

You’re the only person that thinks it’s wrong though.

And unable to explain why it's wrong!