Closing radiators. Should I just leave them?

[Pete48]

Hi. Moved into a new place (new to us) in May of this year. The conservatory has 2 radiators, neither of which have trv’s, the living room has 2 rads both with trv’s as do both bedrooms. Bathroom and hallway (which has main thermostat) have rads with no trv’s. Thinking of saving energy/cash over the winter by turning off both conservatory radiators, but would it be worth it? If it is, how exactly do I do this? Would I also have to count number of turns to turn off so that I can open them by same amount if needed.
Any advice, greatly appreciated.

 

[jj4091]

Would be a bit weather dependant and if there is a chance of pipes or radiators freezing and bursting especially when you have no TRVs.
Personally I just leave everything wide open, put the thermostat in the coldest room and let it control the temp. in the whole house. I doubt if there is much difference in running costs for either method.

 

[Mottie]

We used to have the thermostat in our hallway when we first moved here and I could never see the point in that - everytime the front door was opened in winter, the heating would come on and we would roast in the lounge so I moved the thermostat into the lounge where we were most of the time. In the OP's situation, that’s what I would do but you can’t have TRV's in the same room as the 'stat so he will need to put the TRV's onto the conservatory rads and leave them on the low (frost) setting. That’s what I’d do anyway.

 

[denso13]

Hi. Moved into a new place (new to us) in May of this year. The conservatory has 2 radiators, neither of which have trv’s, the living room has 2 rads both with trv’s as do both bedrooms. Bathroom and hallway (which has main thermostat) have rads with no trv’s. Thinking of saving energy/cash over the winter by turning off both conservatory radiators, but would it be worth it? If it is, how exactly do I do this? Would I also have to count number of turns to turn off so that I can open them by same amount if needed.
Any advice, greatly appreciated.

There should be one side with a wheelhead valve which should turn easily, the other should be a lockshield which should need a tool to turn it.

Just turn off the wheelhead completely to shut off, then fully open to turn it back on.

Turn them off if you wish.

 

[endecotp]

The conservatory has 2 radiators

It probably shouldn’t, according to building regs, unless it is well insulated.

Thinking of saving energy/cash over the winter by turning off both conservatory radiators

Yes, do that.

(How will you actually use the conservatory over the winter? I.e. is it another living room?)

but would it be worth it?

Yes.

If it is, how exactly do I do this? Would I also have to count number of turns to turn off so that I can open them by same amount if needed.

See denso’s post above.

Any advice, greatly appreciated.

Do worry about the risk of freezing, if the conservatory is uninsulated. Maybe there is antifreeze in the system? How cold will it get where you are?

 

[Pete48]

Thanks for your ideas! I can’t move the thermostat as it’s wired in (it’s an old system), so I think my best solution is to have trv’s fitted to the conservatory rads and leave them on low.
Thanks again!

 

[Madrab]

have trv’s fitted to the conservatory rads and leave them on low.

Most TRV's have a frost setting so will open when the temps reaches 5-7deg, get the TRV's fitted and set them to that.