Towel radiator heating up when hot water is on??

[Dirk]

Hi, I've just moved into my new house and have noticed that when the boiler is set to be heating up the water in the cylinder, my towel radiator in the bathroom gets hot at the same time and the hot water coming out of the tap isn't as hot as I think it should be??
It only seems to be the towel radiator that heats up and it is a conventional boiler with a cylinder in the airing cupboard.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kevplumb]

could be piped that way

if its been an old solid fuel system at one time

 

[bengasman]

It was common to pipe the bathroom rad parallel to the cylinder 50 years ago.

 

[Ookysoft]

My house was only build about 20 years a go - the rad's in the 2 bathrooms are both plumbed in via a T-off between the boiler and circulation pump.

On my list of things to do is to pop a valve on at that point with a timer operated from the bathrooms so you can have the towels warming while in the shower and no need to heat them 24/7. They kinda stay warm by convection from the residual heat in the boiler, until the water or central heating call - then they get hot.

Might also be used as a pressure relief circuit to protect the circulating pump - I'll have to build in a valve for that too I guess..........

*please confirm this seems plausible, someone!*

 

[bengasman]

Do the bathroom rads get hot when ch is on and dhw off?

 

[Onetap]

Hi, I've just moved into my new house and have noticed that when the boiler is set to be heating up the water in the cylinder, my towel radiator in the bathroom gets hot at the same time and the hot water coming out of the tap isn't as hot as I think it should be??

Many houses in the UK have the bathroom radiator connected to the circuit serving the hot water cylinder. The intention is to allow the bathroom radiator/towel rail to be heated when the heating system is off in spring and summer. The bathroom needs additional heating since you'll be undressed and wet.

The towel rail can act as a short-circuit, starving the cylinder of heat, in which case you'd need to adjust the lockshield valve that should be on the return. The cylinder may be scaled up and/or it may be old and ineffective, and/or the boiler flow temperature may be too low. Probably best if you found someone competent to look at the system.

 

[slapper]

Spot on answer Onetap,done this on several installations at customers request

 

[bengasman]

Untitled

• bengasman
• 7 Sep 2009
• 11

 

[slapper]

Do the bathroom rads get hot when ch is on and dhw off?

DUH,wot a question

 

[kevplumb]

Do the bathroom rads get hot when ch is on and dhw off?

DUH,wot a question

seeing as the OP didn't describe his system

and some prune threw a hijack in the middle of the thread

why is it a dumb question

 

[bengasman]

why is it a dumb question

It's dicky again Kev.