Cold bathroom before new installation

[jamiegw]

We are having a new bathroom installed in our unoccupied house, and just finished demolishing the old bathroom. This includes removing the ceiling which exposed the roof. It's cold in the room now and I don't really want to leave the heating on in this room. There is a hot water boiler and the taps are still connected. The pipes are not drained and the boiler is still on. The radiator is set to the frost setting.

If there are some days and nights where the temperature drops to 0C, is the water in the pipes at risk of freezing? I don't really want to turn the water off at the stopcock and drain the entire water system because we are visiting regularly and doing work and having running water and heating is very useful.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

There's a few variables there.
Do you have tank(s) in the loft?
You say 'hot water boiler'- is that a cylinder or something else?
Having the radiator valve on a frost setting won't do anything unless your system programmer has a frost setting (so heating comes on if room temperatures drop below 6° or so. Where is the boiler- in a heated room or in a garage or outhouse or in the loft?
Be worth getting a tarpaulin from somewhere and taping it over the ex bathroom ceiling (have you dropped the joists as well?) and/or taping up the door otherwise it'll act like a chimney and vent all the heat into the roof.

 

[jamiegw]

The hot water boiler is actually in the bathroom. There is no hot water tank. We have 2 boilers. One for the radiators, and another for hot water. You can see the hot water boiler in the attached pic.

The heating boiler is from '96 and there is no program.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Ok. Weird but ok.
Is there a thermostat anywhere in the house for the radiators? If yes, set that to 10° and leave the boiler on (so if temp drops below 10 it'll fire up and warm the pipework and radiators).
I'd be tempted to turn the cold water stoptap off while you're not at the house- if a pipe does freeze up (low odds unless it gets really cold) you'll get a small puddle on the thaw rather than a disaster

 

[Bod ...]

The least I would do is turn off the incoming main when the house is empty.

 

[jamiegw]

Ok. Weird but ok.
Is there a thermostat anywhere in the house for the radiators? If yes, set that to 10° and leave the boiler on (so if temp drops below 10 it'll fire up and warm the pipework and radiators).
I'd be tempted to turn the cold water stoptap off while you're not at the house- if a pipe does freeze up (low odds unless it gets really cold) you'll get a small puddle on the thaw rather than a disaster

The least I would do is turn off the incoming main when the house is empty.

No the only thermostats are on the radiator valves.

Ok if I turn off the water at the stopcock, that shouldn't have any effect on the heating system because it is a closed system, right?

 

[Bod ...]

No the only thermostats are on the radiator valves.

Ok if I turn off the water at the stopcock, that shouldn't have any effect on the heating system because it is a closed system, right?

That's right. And if you sping a leak it will run out eventually

 

[oldbutnotdead]

No the only thermostats are on the radiator valves.

Ok if I turn off the water at the stopcock, that shouldn't have any effect on the heating system because it is a closed system, right?

Really? 1996 wasn't the stone ages- or has the previous owner taken the controller with them?
And yes, ch will run fine with cold supply off.

 

[Bod ...]

⁶

 

[jamiegw]

Really? 1996 wasn't the stone ages- or has the previous owner taken the controller with them?
And yes, ch will run fine with cold supply off.

I don't remember seeing a controller during the viewings. You set the radiator to 3 and the room should heat to 20C.