Why is my central heating not working

[chadwell]

Help

This is a bit long winded but need to describe before asking my question..sorry

Had central heating fitted as I had electric heaters before. I have a very small one bed house the whole of downstairs is open-planned i.e. galley kitchen into front room with stairs. Downstairs has one radiator. The room thermostat is placed towards the top of the stairs on a wall just below the railings for the landing. Directly in front of the bathroom. I have a small radiator on the landing, towel rail in the bathroom and a radiator in the bedroom, this one has a temperature value on it.

I have Potterton Performa 30 HE combi-boiler
Honeywell T6360B1028 Room Thermostat fitted.
Timeswitch is a Siemans RWB7

My problem is that downstairs doesn't get warm, upstairs gets v. warm, so the boiler stays on constantly, which isn't ideal as its going to be costing me a fortune in gas.

The room stat doesn't automatically come on when the temperature drops below or turns off once its above the temperature. Where the room stat is situation there is cold air coming across the carpet on the landing directly across the thermostat, which could be the reason it doesn't turn off but not the reason for it turning on. I woke up one morning expecting the heating to be on (timer) when I realised I forgot to click it on to 20 (it was on 19), so it didn't come on, when I looked at my thermometer it was 16.5°.

Could it be the case that the room stat is not in the right place? I just want to be able to have the heating on and kept at a regular heat without the boiler on constantly, I'm using the room stat as a on/off switch to regulate it. It means I can never go out without turning the heating off first.

I hope someone has a solution.

 

[mogget]

Unfortunately, with an open plan staircase in a small house it's almost certain that upstairs will be hotter than downstairs, due to convection.

There's a 'quick and dirty' test you can do on the thermostat. If you turn it up just enough for the heating to turn on, then aim a hairdryer or fan heater at it, the heating should turn off due to the temperature rise.

 

[D_Hailsham]

I have a very small one bed house the whole of downstairs is open-planned i.e. galley kitchen into front room with stairs. Downstairs has one radiator.

Who decided how many rads you needed? Even if it is the correct wattage, just one rad downstairs may not be best.

The room thermostat is placed towards the top of the stairs on a wall just below the railings for the landing.

This does not make sense.
Is the thermostat upstairs or downstairs?

What is opposite the bathroom door; is it a radiator? Does the landing rad have a thermostatic valve or just the bedroom rad.

Honeywell T6360B1028 Room Thermostat fitted.

The installer should have fitted a digital stat not an old fashioned mechanical one.
Can you check how many wires are connected to the stat?

My problem is that downstairs doesn't get warm, upstairs gets v. warm

Probably not enough downstairs rads. A TRV on the landing rad would also help.What is the bedroom TRV set to?

The room stat doesn't automatically come on when the temperature drops below or turns off once its above the temperature.

Mis-wired stat?

Where the room stat is situation there is cold air coming across the carpet on the landing directly across the thermostat, which could be the reason it doesn't turn off but not the reason for it turning on.

Stat wrongly located. The cold draught would tend to keep the heating working all the time!

I woke up one morning expecting the heating to be on (timer) when I realised I forgot to click it on to 20 (it was on 19), so it didn't come on, when I looked at my thermometer it was 16.5°.

This can happen with mechanical stats if not wired correctly. They will have a very wide temperature difference between on and off.

Could it be the case that the room stat is not in the right place?

Sounds like it!

I just want to be able to have the heating on and kept at a regular heat without the boiler on constantly, I'm using the room stat as a on/off switch to regulate it. It means I can never go out without turning the heating off first.

Not an unreasonable request.

Have you contacted the company which installed your central heating and complained to them? It is not working as it should and this is down to them to put right - at no expense to you.

 

[bengasman]

your rads should have trv's so upstairs should not get too hot.
putting a roomstat in an open stair case is a dumb idea; put it upstairs, or downstairs.
the whole thing sounds like it was a rush job, get them back to finish it properly.
i am assuming you instructed the installer to build a working heating system that heats the house properly, which means that if you can't get it evenly warm, he failed the job.