Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRV's) & central thermostat

[paneer]

I only have TRVs on my rads (not bathroom) and no central thermostat.

Should I have a central one? Could this be why my gas bills are high?

I have a combi boiler. Can these central thermostats get retrofitted easily?

Hi Paneer,

Yes, you'd probably see a reduction in your gas bills if you fitted a room thermostat.

It is a requirement of the building regulations (part L) that all new installations should be fitted with room thermostats although this is a relatively new (and sensible) requirement.

It should be straightforward for a plumber to fit, even easier if you choose a wireless thermostat and should save you more than it costs within the first 6 months or so..

Hope that helps!

Dennis

Thanks PipeDreams

Think my boiler was fitted at the era when it was considered TRVs were enough. I've been moaning about my gas bills for a while and this light bulb moment struck when I was talking to some guys at work.

I'd go for a programmable stat, which enables you to set different temps for different times of day and day of the week according to your routine

I don't like wireless stats, IMO they give another level of potential failure.

do you take a thermometer around the house checking what the max and min in each room actually is?
down to 15 degrees ish at night and bedrooms not much warmer in the day for example
what hours is your heating on?

no, I set the TRVs to "3" and run the heating for several hours, or, better, a couple of days, and spend long enough in the rooms to tell if it feels about right.

When it does, stop fiddling with the TRVs, and put a dot in permanent marker on the head and base so you can line it back up again when someone does.

p.s.

the room with the room stat in should have no TRV on the rad; or, the TRV should be set to max and left there. The lockshield on the other end of that rad should be turned down so that this is the room which is slowest to heat up. This is to prevent the room stat turning the heating off when some other rooms are still cold.

I agree to avoid wireless room thermostat. We had one in our last house and if there was a powercut the connection between the boxes (technical term) would be lost and the thermostat thingy would then continually heat the house...made for a very hot house and made the boiler cut out for safety reasons as it was overworking. Easily fixed each time by just turning everything off and on again, but a PITA, occasionally expensive and thank heaven it didn't happen when we were away.

Get wired.