Adding 2 radiators to 30 year old Y plan

[CBX]

Hi folks

I live in a 4 bed detacted by myself and it's too expensive to heat the whole house (I don't even have hot water on) especially as I'm not on benefits but have a very low income. I have a 28 year old system which is open vented Y plan.

Only the large front rad and the adjoining kitchen/dining rooms rads are on with the doors shut as that's the area of the house I some most of my waking time in.

I appreciate that's not ideal from a boiler efficiency point of view to only be using 2 for all heat output, and I am considering adding 2 radiators - 1 in each of these rooms so each room would have 2 each.

Plumbing wise each of the current 4 downstairs rads drops down from the floor above and backup again. I've located a good place to put the extra rads so that I only need to tee off once from the feed and back to the return as the rads would be on the same wall (albeit opposite sides).

I assume I'll need some kind of bypass though as obviously if one rad is off/TRV restricted I don't want to impact the other one. I'm not sure how to do this - do I just connect the 2nd new rads feed to just before the 1st rads feed and the return to just after the return of the other one?

Also, do I need any special values from the F and R pipes above or can I just tee off without anything clever? The F and R are 15mm. There is 22mm right next to them, but I'm pretty sure the are only 5m run of pipe from the boiler and I'm not sure of the impact of messing with that.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Armo74]

Why do you want two rads in each room?
Are the current rads undersized?
Are the rooms not warm enough?
If so what size rads are they and what type?
Could you not just change existing ones for larger ones?
Having the rads turned off in other rooms could create issues with damp.

 

[CBX]

The idea is that if 2 rads on (out of 9) is inefficient because it's hard for the central heating circuit to transfer heat to the air, that 4 rads would be better.

Have been meeting the heating needs with only 2 rads for several winters now with no damp issues.

Can't replace the existing ones - they are as big as they can sensibly be for the walls they are mounted on.

If people who know what they are talking about tell me I'm an idiot that's fine - I'd rather know before I shell out for 2 additional rads

 

[D_Hailsham]

Can't replace the existing ones - they are as big as they can sensibly be for the walls they are mounted on.

Are they single rads?
Do they have fins on the back?

If so, why not change them to doubles of the same size?

 

[CBX]

Already doubles.

 

[CBX]

So given that I already have 2 doubles is the idea of adding 2 extra rads worth it?

I'm only considering because all the other rads in the house are turned off to save money.

 

[dal5band]

Adding more radiators will make no difference to the efficiency of the boiler - think of it as carrying heat from the boiler into the room, no matter how you do it. So if the current radiator is heating the room enough then you don't want any more heat into the room.

There's other things like insulation, thermostat etc. that can improve your efficiency i.e. reduce cost.

You could put thermostatic valves in the other rooms so you can heat them at a low setting but this would cost a bit more to run.

 

[Agile]

I dont really understand why you think that adding rads will provide any benefit at all apart from spending money you say is in short supply.

If the room is warm enough now then you don't need to do anything.

But if you want to spend money then use it for insulation and draught proofing to reduce your energy consumption.

Don't forget woolly jumpers can save a lot of heating costs!

Tony

 

[D_Hailsham]

You could put thermostatic valves in the other rooms so you can heat them at a low setting but this would cost a bit more to run.

It might not cost any more as heat is already passing through the walls and doors, even if they are closed, and warming the rooms up slightly. Turning the other rads on and setting the TRVs to a low setting may have a beneficial effect.

You seem to think that the boiler will be less efficient if it has only two rads working. I'm not sure where you get that idea from. The output of the boiler (I assume it is 28 years old like the rest of the system) will be too big for just two rads, but that only means it will heat the water up faster and turn off more often. It may be possible to reduce the boiler output (know as range-rating). Tell us exactly which boiler you have and someone will tell you if this is possible.

How do you heat the water?

 

[CBX]

Thanks for all the replies - that's really helpful.

I have a Potterton Flamingo 50s which is indeed around 28 years old.

I have TRVs on the rads, but found that I do infact use more Gas when they are used - even on frost detection setting if it's a bit chilly. So I don't have them on the rads unless we're into below 0 exterior temps.

Of course I'm aware heat leaks into the rest of the house but consider that OK as of course *some* heating is needed during the winter otherwise damp problems etc.

I'm more than happy to be wrong about extra rads being helpful - much less work involved if they aren't any use

 

[Agile]

You are wrong but I still don't understand how you can imagine that adding rads could do anything useful.

I am currently replacing a Flamingo!

Tony

 

[D_Hailsham]

I have a Potterton Flamingo 50s which is indeed around 28 years old.

Your boiler can be range rated. It is probably set to the 14.7kW maximum output. It can be reduced to 11.7kW.

This must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer.