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Is my radiator valve missing or is there not supposed to be one?

14 replies

PaperFlowers · 18/01/2013 14:43

My house is 15 years old and has the orginal central heating system (boiler, cylinder, radiators), which seems to work fine.

The living room radiator (unlike the others) is a double thickness one and does not have a valve for turning it up and down, but does look like it should have one from the pipework. It doesn't get as hot as the others, so I would like to have go at turning it up with some pliers.

However, I'm not certain it should have have a control valve as I seem to remeber my mum's living room radiator deliberately not having one of these (poss something to do with water pressure????).

I don't want to break my heating - should I have a go at turning the radiator up with pliers, or do we think it possibly shouldn't have a valve anyway??

Also, would replacing it be as simple as plonking on a new control knob

Thank you very much in advance.

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PigletJohn · 18/01/2013 15:06

if it is is your main living room, it is very likely that the Room Thermostat is also in that room (this is nowadays considered good practice)

In which case the rad is deliberately adjusted to warm up slowly, otherwise the room stat would turn off all the heat before the rest of the house was warm. It is preferable for all the radiators except this one to have thermostatic radiator valves, to prevent the other rooms from being made too warm.

the other reason why a radiator might have no control knob, is if you have a solid-fuel boiler which is not accurately controlled by a thermostat, and might overheat without a large radiator to absorb the heat and prevent boiling.

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PaperFlowers · 18/01/2013 15:16

Hi PigletJohn, thank you I had a feeling you would be long to help!

Yes the thermostat is in the living room and it always seems so cold in there compared to how lovely and toasty our bedroom gets, so I think you must be right about the radiator being set up to get warm more slowly.

Is it possible to adjust the living room radiator somehow do you know? I'd be very happy if it would warm up a bit faster.

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PigletJohn · 18/01/2013 15:24

do the other rads have TRVs?

is it completely hot all over, including the top rail and the middle?

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LIZS · 18/01/2013 15:27

Does it need bleeding ?

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PaperFlowers · 18/01/2013 15:27

Is a TRV a thermostatic valve? If so, then yes they do.

Yes it is hot all over - the plumber bled all the radiators when we had to get our diverter valve replaced. Must say though, haven't felt the middle so will do when I get home.

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digerd · 18/01/2013 18:42

My old system from 1969, I believe, had 1 rad in the bathroom that had no thermostat on it, my DB's 1984 heating system also has the bathroom rad with no valve on it. I was told something about the pressure with the old boilers, needed one without. New Boilers do not need this and every rad has a TRV now - advised to have by regs-.
Also advised is that the room with the room thermostat in should not have TRVs or at least they must all be on full. And that room is always the warmest in my house house, as all others have TRVs turned down to halfway < no.3>
However, during the summer, and heating off it is advised to turn them all up to 5 as have the annoying habit of getting stuck. I have always done that for 5 years, but have had some stick anyway, and had to fiddle with the metal thingy to release it/them.
PIGLET
My heating was OK this morning - phew, relief.

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JulieK31 · 12/12/2022 17:19

Hi there
i live in a new build house. All radiators are working well except for the one in the hall which is freezing. It has no heat regulator knob on it.
Ive a feeling it’s because it’s near the thermostat which is in the hall too. How do I get it to heat up? Could you please help?

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JulieK31 · 12/12/2022 17:22

This is what they look like

Is my radiator valve missing or is there not supposed to be one?

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PigletJohn · 13/12/2022 01:33

I think they are both RAS-C2 lockshields or something similar.

The adjuster is concealed beneath the hex head. There is a key which I expect has been lost but might have been tucked behind the radiator in a plastic bag or on a bit of string. If you contact Danfoss they might send you one

Do not adjust either of them more than half a turn. Very little opening from the closed position is needed.