Thermostats and heating

[Frazzledmum55]

I recently got a new thermostat that is portable rather than being attached to a wall. Seeing as my bedroom is the coldest room in the flat I put it in there so I could see how cold it actually is.
The highest temperature it’s ever reached is 22 degrees and that’s after being on for hours and hours. It still doesn’t feel warm even at 22. It was set to 24 but will never reach that temperature. Meanwhile the living room gets too hot.
When I’m at work I’ll leave it at 17/18 but the heating never kicks in as it seems it the temp doesn’t drop below 18 degrees. But I’m not kidding it’s absolutely freezing, it’s got to be colder than 18 degrees in there surely?? It’s like the window is wide open it’s so cold.
It’s an end corner room so external walls, and also had a slight damp problem (before I moved in) which is under control and I use a dehumidifier. Not sure if it’s relevant but humidity is usually around 80 if dehumidifier hasn’t been on.
When I get clothes out my drawers I have to warm them on radiators as they feel so cold and almost damp.

What does 18 or 22 feel like in other peoples homes??

Oh also I do have the vents open on the double glazing but they’re tiny. I suppose they could be contributing to the coldness but o need them open as I dry washing in my room and am worried about causing damp and mould

18 for me feels slightly chill and 22 is very warm. Do you have a thermometer you could put in the room to see what that says?

Our flat (Victorian, drafts) is bloody freezing. Thermostat (wall fixed) has to be set to 24 to even feel a slight difference in the temp. When it's on 24, the temp never raises above 19 in our bedroom - we have a baby monitor that tells us

Does the radiator in that room actually get warm? Can you turn individual radiators up and down?

If the bedroom is the coldest and dampest room, that’s the wrong room to be drying your washing in.

22 in my living room feels warm. In the bedroom still feels freezing and it takes hours to get to that.
I could try getting a seperate room thermometer I suppose. I find it hard to believe my bedroom is 18 when the hearings been off all day. It feels more like 5! It’s awful because I can’t relax in there at all it’s just too cold.
My radiator placement isn’t great either. It’s not under the window or even on an external wall.
It’s on one of the internal wall closest to the door. I feel like it’s help more over on the coldest side trying to combat that.

@HeddaGarbled There’s nowhere else to put the washing. It’s also the biggest room. The kids rooms are too small and teenager would have a fit of input the clothes airer in her room.
The radiator does get very hot. All the radiators have knobs that you can turn from 0-5 but they don’t actually seem to do anything. At 5 they are on hot. Anything less than 5 and they turn off completely.

I know it sounds simple but have you tried turning down the heat going to the radiators in the warmer rooms? I've almost cut off the heat to some of our warmer rooms and it's really made a difference.

Adjust your radiators?

My bedroom and DD's room are practically off (don't want to burn her and I like to sleep in the cold) whereas downstairs where I sit stationary and work are on full.

And give it time with the 0-5 setting it's not instant

@DuaLipaSuction yes I’ve actually done that the last few days. I decided I wanted to leave the heating on 19 during the day when I’m at work to see if that helped in the bedroom so it wasn’t dropping so much l, so I turned all the others off hoping it wouldn’t cost as much!

It depends on the temp outside. If it's 5c outside and 18c inside our house is v comfortable like now but if it's 2c outside and 18c in we can really feel a difference

It also makes a big difference how long you've had the heating on. If you put it on at 12:00 midday the house will feel really warm at 20:00 but if we put it on at 16:00 it will feel cooler at 20:00

Does the radiator need bleeding?

Yes I definitely notice a difference when it’s colder outside regardless of what my thermostat thermometer says.I’m generall putting it on 16:00-22:00. It’s usually reached 22 by then but still freezing.

Don’t think radiator needs bleeding. It’s properly hot and the whole central heating system is only a year old.
Never had this issue in my last flat.

What sort of valves have you got on your rads? Standard or TRV? Can you see what temperature water your boiler is sending? If your valves are all open and you turn your thermostat up to 30 degrees or something ridiculous, do all your rads get properly hot all over them?

My thermostat is in the coldest but of the flat and set to 20 when the heating is on for a couple of hours in the morning and evening. While I’m working from home it’s on 18 during the day on weekdays but I often turn it up to 20, but sometimes take the thermostat into the study and shut the door so it heats up quicker.
The radiator in my bedroom is turned off although the room gets some heat from the small one in the en suite. I also open the window every morning!
I’m generally a cold person but I think 22 would be too stuffy and I’d die if that was my bedroom temperature!

@Royalbloo what do you mean by adjust my radiators?? Obviously they’re on as high as they will go, was that not clear? Or is there some other adjustment I don’t know about?

How is the insulation above the bedroom too?

@bungaloid I think they are trv but they don’t seem to do anything. My boiler is set to 70 for the heating and yes the radiators are properly burning hot.

@emmathedilemma my living room is too hot if it gets to 22 I’ll have to turn it down. Bedroom is a different story. It’ll say 22 on the thermostat but still be cold. Like when it says 18 of the heatings been off all day, it’s not the same 18 you’re talking about. It’s Arctic. The carpet feels cold and wet it’s so cold.

@DuaLipaSuction I’m in a flat so another flat above me.

80% humidity is very bad for your health and needs to be dealt with urgently. What was identified as the original source of the damp, has the guttering been checked? Interior walls?
Do you own, or can you make this the landlord's problem?

If they've got numbers on they are probably TRV. If that's the case, you're pretty much there. Put your thermostat in the coldest room, and put the rad valve to max (usually 5) in that room. Set your thermostat to desired temp. Then in your other rooms adjust each TRV to the desired room temperature. I think for 20 degrees it's about 3. Just remember that every TRV is its own thermostat, so you should set them at what you want the temperature to be and leave them / let them do their job. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you need to keep adjusting them. They'll open or close automatically depending on the room temperature.

Mine is generally set on 18 day and night, which is usually warm enough. If it’s really chilly I might turn it up to 19.5. Any hotter than that and it’s like being in the Caribbean 🤣. My house is very well insulated though.