Our radiators in some rooms do not keep the rooms warm. We have been told that they do not meet building regs. The NHBC say that as we didn't notify the builders within 2 years they are not covered. Some other people also have the same problem. Can anyone help?
radiator sizes
- Thread starter Sumack
- Start date
A sticky one. There are obviously radiators and therefore you can't
say they were badly installed or not working.
Sadly I would say that if they don't heat the rooms sufficiently for your liking
then the only option is to pay a plumber to increase the size of the radiators.
There is the option that you leave the heating on for longer at a lower settings if the house is adequately insulated it should get to whatever temperature you like. If it is a modern house it should be very well insulated.
Increasing say the downstairs hall and upstairs landing radiators will make a big difference to the whole house heat.
If you have the thermostatic valves of the radiators opened fully are the the radiators staying hot all the time. This would be a clear indication they are undersized. If not there are problems elsewhere on the system that could be simply the radiator system needs balancing properly.
Also increasing the boiler temperature for the central heating from say 70 to 80 degrees will increase the amount of heat the radiators give out.
say they were badly installed or not working.
Sadly I would say that if they don't heat the rooms sufficiently for your liking
then the only option is to pay a plumber to increase the size of the radiators.
There is the option that you leave the heating on for longer at a lower settings if the house is adequately insulated it should get to whatever temperature you like. If it is a modern house it should be very well insulated.
Increasing say the downstairs hall and upstairs landing radiators will make a big difference to the whole house heat.
If you have the thermostatic valves of the radiators opened fully are the the radiators staying hot all the time. This would be a clear indication they are undersized. If not there are problems elsewhere on the system that could be simply the radiator system needs balancing properly.
Also increasing the boiler temperature for the central heating from say 70 to 80 degrees will increase the amount of heat the radiators give out.
I don't think I explained properly. The house is 5 years old - we know the radiators are too small for the rooms in some rooms and fine in others! We have been told they do not comply with building regs. but not sure about that one. Two rooms of the same size - one has one large double and 1 medium double. The other room has one medium single radiator. The problem is we had 2 mild winters when we first moved in and the last 2 have been horrendous but too late to go back to the builders. I guess I just need advice on if it is correct they do not comply to building regs. and if we can do anything about it before paying someone to change the 2 main rooms that have problems.
As far as I know there are no building regulations specifying minimum sizing
of radiators for rooms.
of radiators for rooms.
If the therms are fully open I'd expect all the rads to be hot all the time whether or not they were undersized.
Why would an undersized rad not be fully hot in this case?
MW
Badly balanced system or blockage leaving certain radiators only warm.
Air in the radiator. Anything is possible as the poster hasn't specified any specific problems other than saying the radiators aren't big enough.
Is the problem that all of the radiators in the house heat up fully but are not able to keep some of the rooms warm enough?
Or is it that some of the radiators themselves do not heat up fully?
Or is it that some of the radiators themselves do not heat up fully?
As previous answers have suggested, lots of systems are not set up right. If the radiator return pipe doesn't heat up within 15 minutes then you might be able to balance the system.
http://www.diydata.com/projects/centralheating/balancing/radiator_balancing.php
If the radiator pipes (flow and return) and are both quite hot, then you are stuck with upgrading them. Depending on the type of existing radiators, you might be able to upgrade them with similar size ones with more panels and/or fins.
In cold weather you could turn the boiler up.
Do you have TRVs?
http://www.diydata.com/projects/centralheating/balancing/radiator_balancing.php
If the radiator pipes (flow and return) and are both quite hot, then you are stuck with upgrading them. Depending on the type of existing radiators, you might be able to upgrade them with similar size ones with more panels and/or fins.
In cold weather you could turn the boiler up.
Do you have TRVs?
Does sound like a big difference in capacity between similar rooms, even allowing for certain sizing variables.
May be cheaper to just add an extra rad or two, than going down the legal route with builders/NHBC if they're not playing ball.
whitespirit66 Thank you for your reply - decided this morning to do this as fed up trying to fight with the builders.
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