Upgrade CH system: what trv's ? a

[Forbes]

Hi, I'm not a plumber but a retired householder who used used to do some of my own plumbing. The CH system in our house was installed before the days of compulsory trv's and just has a lockshield valve and a control valve on each radiator. Many of these have not been touched for over 20 years and so start to leak when any adjustment is attempted ( should be no surprise!) . I now want to replace all the valves in the house ( except the handful already replaced in emergencies ) with new trv's and new lock shields . I quite like the idea of an electronic programmable on each radiator. Pegler used to do something like that but they seem to have given up on the, and there seem to be some reasonably priced German ones about but I'm not sure what they do. Can anyone suggest such a trv? I don't want to go in for one of the fancy systems controlled from a smart phone, just independent valves that are a step up from manual trv's .

Another question , if I may , is it still a good idea to balance the system these days or do you just leave up to the trv's to sort that out?

 

[doitmyself]

Another question , if I may , is it still a good idea to balance the system these days or do you just leave up to the trv's to sort that out?

Read the attached document.

 

[Forbes]

Thanks, doitmyself. That's quite a performance then. I'll get a pro to do it. But the answer seems to be: Yes, balance the system before letting the TRVs do their stuff.

 

[Rob Foster]

Have you ever had ur system cleaned out of all the ferric gunge, if you are doing an up grade do all at same time. its
a diy job to change rad valves in my opinion..esp when the weather warms up . look at lidl for cheap programable valves.
you need a list ..all to do at same time. later if you want Rob Foster aka centralheatking

 

[Welder]

At the risk of being hunted down & shot, I'd not yet fit any electronic TRVs. For me they are not yet reliable enough and neither do they yet harvest energy from the heat to pump back into the battery they use.

Personally I'd go for independant room valves with an appropriately placed stat. Just little ol me

 

[Rob Foster]

At the risk of being hunted down & shot, I'd not yet fit any electronic TRVs. For me they are not yet reliable enough and neither do they yet harvest energy from the heat to pump back into the battery they use.

Personally I'd go for independant room valves with an appropriately placed stat. Just little ol me

I will never hunt you down and would never shoot you...YDave ..you are correct most of this new ...'connected' stuff is so
intermediate its untrue...we should all wait a while before
committing, On the the same track I looked at a tesla
last month, at Knutsford had a drive ..2.5 secs o 2 60 ..wow. but only 320 miles range.. maybe next year when the batteries are better and cheaper
Angela will not let me buy a
Maseratti Quatroporte because
'its gross' ..it was going to be my 60 present to myself ..never mind

 

[Forbes]

Rob, yes the system was cleaned out a few years ago, Dosed and a magnetic filter fitted. I realise that this all needs doing again when I upgrade the valves. I don't intend to do this myself as I am getting a bit long in the tooth and creaky in the joints, but before I start looking for a plumber /heating engineer I want to decide for myself what kind of valves to use. I am beginning to incline towards the standard non-electronic, non-programmable trv's (thank you Dave), but that would be with some regret because I think that it should be possible to design, manufacture and market a reasonably priced and reliable programmable trv. Better still , one with a wireless control by a room thermostat (one per room ) but maybe I'm living in cloud cuckoo land.
Thanks guys.

 

[Welder]

I am beginning to incline towards the standard non-electronic, non-programmable trv's (thank you Dave), but that would be with some regret because I think that it should be possible to design, manufacture and market a reasonably priced and reliable programmable trv. Better still , one with a wireless control by a room thermostat (one per room ) but maybe I'm living in cloud cuckoo land.
Thanks guys.

Forbes remember that whilst much is 'possible', as you stated it is a determination of 'reasonably priced' that makes it unattainable. We all have unreasonable expectations of 'reasonably priced' which is why we end up with the rubbish we are served. We then complain it's unrepairable and fails quickly but, when you stand back, that's how they make their money. If they made something as per our combined descriptions no one, including you, would buy it. We all want our heads knocking together

 

[Rob Foster]

Rob, yes the system was cleaned out a few years ago, Dosed and a magnetic filter fitted. I realise that this all needs doing again when I upgrade the valves. I don't intend to do this myself as I am getting a bit long in the tooth and creaky in the joints, but before I start looking for a plumber /heating engineer I want to decide for myself what kind of valves to use. I am beginning to incline towards the standard non-electronic, non-programmable trv's (thank you Dave), but that would be with some regret because I think that it should be possible to design, manufacture and market a reasonably priced and reliable programmable trv. Better still , one with a wireless control by a room thermostat (one per room ) but maybe I'm living in cloud cuckoo land.
Thanks guys.

good , drayton valves are in my opinion best centralheatking

 

[EvilDrPorkChop]

Honeywell Evohome is a great system however maybe a bit over kill for what you require if you want to keep things simple and costs down.