The Annual Central Heating Discussion?

munckee

StanleyAccrington said:

Fired up our radiators last night. All good apart from the rad in the spare bedroom which is clay cold. Debating whether to faff around with the valves/balance the rad system or just leave as is cos my guitars are located in that room.

The radiator in our room is off because the guitars on the immediate vicinity. 

Travisthedog

Ditto!!

mrkb

StanleyAccrington said:

Fired up our radiators last night. All good apart from the rad in the spare bedroom which is clay cold. Debating whether to faff around with the valves/balance the rad system or just leave as is cos my guitars are located in that room.

Stuck valves are easy to turn into leaky valves, which can turn into expensive plumber visits - beware!

ToneControl

remember that sometimes the TRV fails, but the pin underneath is still fine

i.e. unscrew the top assembly (which does not contain water) and swap it with one from a working radiator

StanleyAccrington

I've had a look it the TRV. The pin seems to be stuck (it won't move when pressed with finger) but it looks to be stuck in the valve fully open position which should mean some hot water should be going through it. Might be a plumber job.

scrumhalf

I normally wouldn't put the heating on until October at the earliest, but having emerged from hospital a couple of weeks ago I decided that the more sensible approach would be to have a warm flat and not a cough/cold tat would rip my chest open again.

boogieman

StanleyAccrington said:

I've had a look it the TRV. The pin seems to be stuck (it won't move when pressed with finger) but it looks to be stuck in the valve fully open position which should mean some hot water should be going through it. Might be a plumber job.

Give the pin a tap with a hammer, that works a lot of the time. They can stick in either position but it’s usually in the off one. That’s what a plumber will try first anyway, and then charge you £100 for the privilege. 

Grunfeld

LuttiS said:

Annual put on a jumper discussion. 

I'm never going  to be a Bear Grylls type -- a jumper is as near as I get.

I engage in a self-deception that I could manage on a North Sea trawler if I really had to. 

I even got the hat the other day.  Mind you, it is very toasty! 

Keeping the heating off saves a few quid.  And you get to wear a great hat.

sev112

This is first year with a wave controller thingy.  It used to be easy with the old boiler. Now I can’t make head nor tail of it.  I just want to keep the house at say 5 dog always, but also come in in the early morning for an hour, and a couple of hours in the evening.  Apparently that’s not easy to do, but I’m sure we’ve done it with old boiler for 10 years previous.  
Maybe my memory is tricking me

exocet

Switched mine on a couple of weeks ago but as I use an external weather compensator, it’s only running at low temperature most of the time. Still running on a timer at present but once things turn cold, I tend to leave it on 24 hours a day - daytime set at 19 and  night time temp set to 15 degrees. 

Nitefly

I'm just debating whether it's time to get my long-sleeved shirts out...

strtdv

Ours has been on for a few weeks now. Got the boiler serviced last week, needed a new hose and hydraulic ram (old one started to leak), but the whole lot only came to £130 including labour.

It's a very old boiler but doesn't give any trouble. I reckon the benefit of changing from an 85% efficiency boiler to a 92% efficient one would take a very long time to pay itself off.

Vibetronic

definitely on. Hands too cold to play otherwise (wife's suggestion to wear a jumper doesn't help this, as has been mentioned...!)

Roland

octatonic said:

I’m pretty confident I will be the last to cave this year.

In your case when does the aircon go off?

ToneControl

strtdv said:

Ours has been on for a few weeks now. Got the boiler serviced last week, needed a new hose and hydraulic ram (old one started to leak), but the whole lot only came to £130 including labour.

It's a very old boiler but doesn't give any trouble. I reckon the benefit of changing from an 85% efficiency boiler to a 92% efficient one would take a very long time to pay itself off.

apparently condenser boilers never actually work at their full efficiency in normal UK homes
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1710224/Are-condensing-boilers-a-waste-of-money.html

keep your old boiler as long as you can

ronnyb

Woodburning stove here. Next door neighbour gave me all the hardwood from his conservatory that he'd replaced. Took me a full day last week to saw it all up but then it's free heat all the way. 

quarky

ToneControl said:

I've used mine occasionally for a month or 2
Constantly for the last few weeks

What temperature do you guys set your houses to?

Turned ours on today, mainly to dry some bike leathers! We normally have it on 20, but had it on 18 I think today.

jrc2806

Ours is on auto at 20degrees..... note to  self - must remember to make sure that guitars aren’t near radiators!

57Deluxe

10 days back but I am on and off the OFF manually soon as....

exocet

ToneControl said:

strtdv said:

Ours has been on for a few weeks now. Got the boiler serviced last week, needed a new hose and hydraulic ram (old one started to leak), but the whole lot only came to £130 including labour.

It's a very old boiler but doesn't give any trouble. I reckon the benefit of changing from an 85% efficiency boiler to a 92% efficient one would take a very long time to pay itself off.

apparently condenser boilers never actually work at their full efficiency in normal UK homes
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1710224/Are-condensing-boilers-a-waste-of-money.html

keep your old boiler as long as you can

We've had this conversation before?

Condensing boilers are more efficient providing that you run them at lower temperatures such that the return temp is 55 deg or lower. Most modern boilers can modulate to maintain a set temp. If you fit a weather compensator, it will vary the temp according to external air temp. Simply changing the boiler is not likely to work - you need to oversize the radiators in order to get the same heat output compared to a smaller radiator with higher temperatures.

As for reliability...I've had a condensing boiler for 10 years, never gone wrong. The breakdowns that the article refers to are either down to poor boiler design or poor installation. It describes the scenario where the condensate outlet  freezes. Dare I say it but the Germans sorted this out years ago when they introduced the "store and release" condensate system. Instead of drip feeding the condensate out, a chamber fills and releases once full, it's like a toilet flushing! This prevents icing at the outlet.