Zones, pumps or something else

[Ian_P]

I have a 3 storey house with 17 rads (7 downstairs, 6 first floor, 4 top floor). The top floor is a loft conversion and gets cold very quickly if it's not heated. I find it very difficult to get heat to the top floor. I've got a Viessmann 35kW boiler so I've got the heating capacity for the rads.

I have tired to balance the radiators but to get heat to the top floor I have to really throttle back all of the radiators downstairs to the point that the radiators don't get hot enough.

I was considering zoning the house but wondered if this is a good idea. I've looked at both the modern wireless TRV style systems and the traditional electric valves. I'm not convinced the traditional system is ideal because the top floor is fed part way along the first floor system so I'd always end up running some of the first floor rads to heat the top floor (unless I changed the plumbing circuit). The modern wireless TRVs look expensive.

Because of the cost of the wireless system it got me thinking whether there may be other options. For example, is the boiler pump under-spec'd or not runnign fast enough?

Any thoughhs/guidance much appreciated.

 

[Dan Robinson]

A low loss header might be the solution, but if you have such disparate heat loss throughout the house then several zones might be the key. . How much disruption that takes compared to the cost of the wireless solution is tricky to gauge without seeing the house.

Champagne ideas, beer money is a common theme with these situations.

 

[Ian_P]

I don't get the champagne/beer reference!

If I went down the route of zoning the house I would consider fitting a Danfoss 3 channel controller and then installing extra thermostats on the 1st and 2nd floor as I already have a single zone controller at the moment. Having looked at the kit I'd feel relatively comfortable installing the valves (may come to regret saying that) but I'm not at all confident about the wiring side of it. If I do go down this route then I'd like to minimise the cost of getting a sparky in and would probably lift all of the necessary floorboards etc so that it can be wired up quickly. I assume that some sort of cabling is run from each of the valves back to the boiler control? Also, I assume each valve has to be wired in to the mains?

Thanks.

 

[Ian_P]

Having done some more research I suspect that the wiring actually needs to be run all the way from each of the valves back to the control unit. Is that right?

 

[D_Hailsham]

Splitting the house into three zones may require alterations to the pipe runs so each zone can be controlled independent of the others.