Question regarding Wireless heating thermostat

[FooManChu]

Hi

Background:

My elderly mother has a conventional CH system (2 feeder tanks) powered by a 15 year old Baxi Boston 50RS boiler. The system is over 15 years old and was originally powered by a Solid Fuel boiler. She has 90% of the house with radiators with no thermosatic valves fitted. The control for the CH pump is a standard clock type control which has two settings for on and off. (its old but the type of control is like the Danfoss Randall 102). She does not have any room stats at all. All radiators work perfectly with no bleeding necessary and most of the time the heating is on as is the case with most elderly people (like an oven when I visit)

Now with this system the gas consumption is high and I am after ways to reduce this down. BG visited today (badgered by mother until she gave in) and quoted for a new boiler (even though they are still quite willing to service it under contract and is in perfect working order) which included things like a wireless thermostat and gold plated radiator valves (the quote was sky high so I assumed they would be gold plated) plus they added things on which I don't think are necessary.

My thoughts are this:-

A wireless room stat would be useful as would possibly radiator stats. The boiler might not be the most efficient now but the savings quoted would only be £200 yearly and given the outlay of the new boiler it would take 15 years to get this back so I don't think a boiler change is required.

What are the experts thoughts on this please? What else could help here to "freshen up" this system?

Thanks

Anthony

 

[Youllneverguess]

What control set up does she have at the moment (zone valves).

is the hot water heated using gravity or is it fully pumped?

converting the system to an S-plan with a wireless programmable room stat might be worthwhile, but would your mum be able to operate it properly?

Perhaps a simple timer with a standard room stat would be better for her?

 

[Gas2Air]

Tell her to double up on a cardigan.

If BG were expensive, what's stopping you/her from getting another quote from a local?

Nothing you can do, old system, old boiler, gas is going up, what more do you want?

 

[ChrisOxford]

Why replace the boiler if it works so well?

TRVs on the radiators and a room stat would be well worthwhile. Although your mother likes the place hot, they would tame things a bit (and thus save money) on milder days. And the TRVs would let her have more variation around the house, e.g. stifling in the living room but merely very warm in the bedroom

But there's no such thing as a free lunch of course. If she insists on the whole house being as hot as it will get, then she'll set the stats to max and you'll be exactly where you are today!

C.

 

[ChrisOxford]

Perhaps a simple timer with a standard room stat would be better for her?

Yes, I'd go for a nice, simple rotary (wired) stat with a large, clear dial... preferably marked in Farenheit if you can still find one!

You can set sensible min/max limits to save her freezing/roasting if it gets twiddled accidentally.

 

[ChrisOxford]

Nothing you can do, old system, old boiler, gas is going up, what more do you want?

Presume she's got the maximum amount of loft insulation? Cheapest way of making a house warmer.

 

[FooManChu]

Thanks for the replies so far. lol @ gas2air as I appreciate my question might have sounded a little thick and the obvious whine about rising prices...not so.

She has good loft insulation and double glazing. The system is old agreed, but my thoughts were to look at some minor alterations which would upgade the system and save as much as possible. I've already switched her from standard tariffs which should save a fair bit (if you believe the estimates).

The reason for a wireless stat is because getting a wired version to the front room would be difficult and labour intensive for any CH engineer. I have a wireless stat and its been excellent. She would not need to be bothered about handling a new stat as I would set it for her.

I could indeed get a local CH engineer to quote but I still think the boiler is lower down the list than a wireless stat and TVR's.

Thanks for the advice. Appreciated

Anthony

 

[FooManChu]

oh, nearly forgot.

The system is gravity fed from what I understand. The existing CH timer has connections to the pump switch and a frost stat. I assume a wireless stat control box could be wired to this existing system?

I'm not clued up on an S plan system so I can't comment on this.

Thanks

Anthony

 

[flameport]

If the CH is pumped, then fitting a thermostat is a fairly simple and quick task, so that should certainly be fitted. No plumbing work involved.

Thermostatic radiator valves would also help. Obviously more work involved, but again, not a particularly difficult or time consuming task - a day should see them fitted to most of the radiators.

A new boiler will be a total waste of money - as you say, 15 years before any savings, and what new boiler fitted today would actually last for 15 years before major repairs or overhaul anyway?

BG will always want to fit a new boiler since they can make a shedload of profit on it, plus they can continue to charge monthly fees for their maintenance / home cover (which on a new boiler should be covered by the manufacturer anyway). They will probably declare the new boiler unrepairable in a few years time due to some spurious reason about parts being unavailable or too expensive, and so the cycle of expense continues.

 

[Youllneverguess]

If it I gravity hot water, then consider upgrading to a fully pumped s/y plan system otherwise you are only getting partial gains.