central heating woes.....question.

[malfunkshun]

I'm with the others, adjust the TRVs. My old place, which was three stories, I had the top floor at the frost setting, the first floor at 1 or 2 (bigger rooms were on 2) and the ground floor on max. Worked quite nicely, unless you have a really poorly insulated house/drafty doors and windows that should do fine.
Oh and as I have been lead to believe the thermostat should be in the coldest room, you then use the TRVs so that the warmer rooms aren't too warm. (Happy to be corrected on that bit).

 

[teulk]

If nothing else works just set the thermostat as high as it will go and set the heating on timed, That way the heating will stay on and not go off at a specific temperature, well not until it reaches the max temp of your thermostat which it probably wont.

 

[peige]

You only really use the wall thermo as a glorified on off switch. Turn it right up and let each rads thermo do the job.

 

[Raumarik]

Close down the TRV'S on the rads so the rooms upstairs don't warm up so quick and the hot water will get diverted to the lower floor with the TRV'S fully open.

Tried this as our 3 floor house has "cold bottom" syndrome.. works! Cheers RJC for helping this noob out!

 

[malfunkshun]

You only really use the wall thermo as a glorified on off switch. Turn it right up and let each rads thermo do the job.

If you do this the boiler will continue to fire up, even if it is for a minute or two at a time, to reheat the water in and near it because the thermostat never switches it off because the TRVs are keeping the ambient temperature below the switch point.

 

[Simon]

If nothing else works just set the thermostat as high as it will go and set the heating on timed, That way the heating will stay on and not go off at a specific temperature, well not until it reaches the max temp of your thermostat which it probably wont.

This will just make the hot rooms hotter. It won't warm up downstairs.

Also - One radiator won't have a TRV so this will just get red hot

 

[Morv]

It could also be a couple of other things too. Make sure the trv valves have not stuck by taking the heads off and see if the pin on the valves move in and out. Or it could be that the heating pump is gone and the rads above are getting hot because of gravity. As for a condensing boiler, if it is properly set up you will save a fair bit compared to a none condensing boiler.

 

[Magic_x_uk]

this is a mine field i guess as we all have a TRV's on our radiators and then we also have a wireless thermostat. So what should the thermostat be set at and where do you best put it.

I've set mine at 18*c and put in the master bedroom and put that rad's trv on number 3 (goes up to 5).

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

We have same issue, heat always rises and our thrmostat is on ground floor.
Once heating has been on for a few hours downstairs is again freezing, top floor is boiling.
Its seems to be approx that top floor will be at stat temp plus 10 degrees c, middle floor about about stat plus 5, ground floor struggles to get to stat temperature.
Top and middle floors rads shut down due to room stats, bottom floor warms then goes slowly cold.

Cant find a way to fix it, even with top floors rads off, sooner or later the same situation kicks in. Only way I can really see round it is a door at bottom of the stairs which keeps warm at ground floor level. But thats not allowed to be fitted due to stairs!

 

[teulk]

This will just make the hot rooms hotter. It won't warm up downstairs.

Also - One radiator won't have a TRV so this will just get red hot

Your right unless you turn down the radiators in the hot rooms, it will at least give the rads downstairs a chance to get hot. I live in a 3 storey house and my rad with no TVR is on the landing ( coldest part of the house ).

 

[Morv]

It sounds like it could be the trv heads or the pump. Usually we find if the upstairs is getting warm and the downstairs not, then 9 times out of 10 the heating pump is gone.

 

[St0rmer66]

It sounds like it could be the trv heads or the pump. Usually we find if the upstairs is getting warm and the downstairs not, then 9 times out of 10 the heating pump is gone.

Seriously you have no idea. If the pump was "gone" then it wouldn't even work, the boiler would either fire up and turn off very quickly (if it was an old boiler designed for a gravity system in the first place) or just plain overheat and cut out with some quite spectacular banging in the pipes (anything even remotely modern). If it was the former you MIGHT get 1 or possibly 2 radiators warm, but not 2 floors worth! .

OP: Turn down the TRV's on the top floor to a very low setting; 1 or 2 is probably enough, the middle floor to around 2 or 3 and then the ground floor to 5 or 6 (max). Make sure you close either all or the majority of the doors throughout the house to keep the heat in and stop it "bleeding" out and heating the thermostat prematurely. You may still have to set the thermostat higher than most people recommend (22 as a guess) but keep in mind that every house is different and it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be using any extra gas than someone in a similar house with the thermostat in a different place. It's just a number, don't take it too seriously. Tweak it to YOUR PREFERENCE. Good luck!

 

[unwashed potato!]

Hmm. If the middle landing is warm and that is where the thermostat is it means the heating is never on long enough to heat the ground floor. If i disable this thermostat is the problem not solved?

if you listen to the advice given about 50 times in this thrad the problem is solved! why are you avoiding it?

To answer your question no problem not solved as this'll make another issue with hot rooms getting even hotter to the point you'll need to open windows on the top floor just so downstairs get's a bit of warmth

listen to what everyone has said in this thread

 

[koolpc]

We don't have rad thermo valves or a central thermostat!!! Guess this is really bad?