Heating help please!!

[king of pipes]

You have definitely have a problem there your usage should not be that high, a engineer will need to attend and tightness test your system and do a gas rate to work out your heating load , if the council refuse to come out tell them you think you have a gas leak play them at their own game once they get there you can have your say , failing that contact citizens advice and let them help you get this resolved . cheers kop

 

[SimonG]

You also need to understand how a thermostatic radiator valve works. Your heating can be on and a radiator can be cold if the room temp has made the thermostatic valve close. Even harder if a trv is dodgy.

 

[Ric2013]

Hurricane: I had no idea how clued up you are or aren't. I'm only trying to help and I don't always get it right. If I come across as patronising, it's because most people simply don't have a clue and I have to assume that's the case with any new poster.

I'm not saying that the radiator should get cold when the system is on, I'm saying it may well be normal for it to cool - once the system switches off. Often, systems that are off still have considerable quantities of hot water in the pipework that can keep the rads warm, or the rads can have a high water content. I don't know what type of radiator you have, or how much heat your house needs vs. how much heat your system puts out. Depends on where you are, the site, how hot your party walls are, the type of house, and how hot you need your house to be - I'm assuming you're mostly in bed due to not being able to be very active, and this may mean you need a warmer house than some can get away with.

Basically, though, it sounds like a system that is designed to heat the entire house and you're trying to heat only one room. I can't say I blame you, and I don't like the concept of central heating for the very reason that it will often work inefficiently and ineffectively when you using it as you are, or as I do at home.

Difference is though, that you are, in a month, somehow using almost the exact amount of gas I am in just under two months. But this alone wouldn't really surprise me as I don't know many people who pay as little as I do for gas. But most people do manage to keep their houses much warmer than mine.

I don't think I can help you more than this. I think you need to push the 'fuel poverty' card and hope someone in the council can be persuaded to take an interest. If you can get Citizen's Advice, the NEA, your local councillor etc to push your case forward, as it sounds like your dwelling is defective, this may help you. Good luck.

 

[The Marnix]

Hi,

Im new here and only made this account due to getting no help from the council or my energy supplier...

Im having issue with my central heating, it seems really expensive and doesnt even heat the house up!

Im on smart meters due to no standing charges but the heating just eats my credit.

I topped up £20 last monday when i had £5 credit and its used all £25 within a week, i only have my heating on for a max of 6 hours per day, ive timed it and it seems to use £2 for 2 hours usages, which seems stupidly high?

The radiators heat up fine down stairs and ive bled them myself which did seem to help, but the main bedroom rad doesnt get very hot and as soon as i turn the heating off its stone cold within 5 minutes while the rest retain heat for some time.

My boiler doesnt ever seem to turn off and just keeps heating the water, i thought its supposed to turn off when the house reaches a certain temperature? Mine doesnt..

So i know my rad in the bedroom is broken, but ive watched videos and done everything i can to fix it, yet it just doesnt get very hot and loses its heat instantly, this combined with the heating just eating my money makes me thing theres a bigger issue? £20 per week when i live alone and only have my heating on for VERY small amounts of time see stupidly high and my gas cost is pretty average/low.

Please somebody help me work this out.

 

[The Marnix]

Hi Hurricane,
I think first of all you should calculate how big your radiators should be. I use an online calculator at Best Heating (BTU Calculator | Radiator Sizing Guide - BestHeating »»). Then measure the size of your rads and compare them to something similar to get an idea of what output they have.
If your rads are undersized, the boiler will run and run and never get the place hot. Its not too good for the boiler either.
It sounds like you may need to balance your radiators to push the flow to the one in your bedroom.
Yes, it is right to put radiators under the windows. It can be a problem if you have long curtains hanging over the radiator.
Regarding thermostat positioning. I think the hallway is probably the best place for it but if the hall never gets warm enough to activate the stat then the boiler will never switch off. Does the radiator in your hall have a TRV? Because it shouldn't. The way a heating system should work is the room where the stats is should be the last one to get to temperature and the first to lose its temperature. That is why the hallway is good. So if you over heat your hall the stat will shut the boiler off too early and if it never gets warm enough it will never shut off.
This is why balancing the radiators is so important.
Have a go at balancing them yourself. It's not difficult.
Switch you heating on and off a few times and walk around and feel your rads to see what ones heat up first and get an idea what ones are the most served and which ones are the least served (the index).
You then need to leave your index radiator (presumably your bedroom) fully open and close all other to about 1/2 a turn open.
Yes 1/2 a turn. Radiator lockshield valves (the one without the thermostatic head) go through about 4 turns from open to closed, but all of the regulation (valve authority) is on that last turn. So 1/2 a turn open is a good place to start if you already now where your index is.
If you already know that this radiator is undersized, don't try to balance to it. You will just sacrifice the rest of the system for no benefit. Balance to the next coolest rad instead and get that one changed or repaired.
You said that you shut off all the rads except the one in your bedroom? When you did this did the bedroom get up to temperature?
I don't like the sound of your TRV being noisy. See if you can work out what make and model it is and check to see if its bi-directional or not. If it isn't, has it been installed in the wrong direction?
Check that the pin is moving. The pin is on the valve, the bit inside the thermostatic head that you referred to, presses the pin down. With the head off, press the pin on the valve up and down to check that it isn't stuck down. You can try pulling it up with a pair of pliars if it appears to be jammed but take care, I've heard of people pulling that pin out quite easily. You only trying to test if there's movement on it. If there isn't leave it and get it replaced.
Next, is the system dirty? You can get someone round to check this for you, but in my experience, flushing companies are usually more than happy to tell you it needs to be flush whether it does or not.
If your rads are sludged up you may find that they are cold along the bottom and around the centre. Have a look at some rad flushing company websites, they will probably have some pictures to show you where sludge builds up.
I've seen british gas engineers determine if the pipework is dirty by placing a magnet onto the copper pipework. The idea is that if the magnet sticks then there is sludge in the system. DON'T DO THIS or let anyone else do this. When you do this you will magnetise the sludge and turn a partially blocked pipe into a fully blocked pipe.
Let me know how you get on with these checks and we will try to narrow down the problems. I am happy to write a report on the system for you to submit to the council.
I hope this is of some help.