Adding a wireless room thermostat?

[Geoff Pearson]

My house has 14 radiators over 2 floors, each with a TRV, installed in 1987. Some no longer turn off and some don't seem to respond much to variations. This often means we are too hot.

I am thinking of installing a room thermostat - using one of the wireless ones so I can find the most typical spot in the house and manage the boiler off that, with the TRVs being used to balance up the rooms. Next year I hope to do some re-plumbing in the hot months.

Any objections to this? Any models to go for? I already have a modern time clock running heating and HW separately.

Geoff

[ARW]

BTW have you tried twatting the non working TRVs with a hammer?

[Geoff Pearson]

I've had the thermostat bit off and operated the pin bit I suspect there is too much gunk in the system. The downstairs is a single pipe system installed probably 50 years ago (we have been here 27 years). It has been pressure washed twice by Scottish Gas over eh last 15 years. So it is time for a new system - next summer. Meanwhile....

[Geoff Pearson]

Is there a time clock with the wireless bit built in?

[Geoff Pearson]

timeclock - meaning programmer

[ARW]

Not on the model I gave. I did not think you wanted or needed the time function:-)

if you want a programable stat.

[Graham.]

Yes, they are called wireless programmers unsurprisingly.

The "off" periods aren't really off, they are just set to a low temperature that the room would not normally reach except where there is danger of pipes freeing elsewhere, typically 10 deg C.

[Davidm]

Leave you existing time clock set for the CH permanently on, and HW still on timer, then fit a wireless programmable thermostat like this:

can set up to 6 different times/temperatures each day.

[Geoff Pearson]

Sorry - I have been thinking in several directions - after my first post I guessed there should be something like my existing timer/programmer which included the thermostat function - apart from the quite high cost of the Honeywell devices it was not obvious that the DT92E would do the ordinary time function. More reading needed. I was thinking that it would fit to the standard backing panel, making the wiring easy.

[Geoff Pearson]

That seems like a bodge - but a perfectly respectable solution and no more of a bodge than wiring in a room thermostat (wireless or not). I'm also looking to have my hot water and heating to be on at different times (it's not a combi boiler) and your solution would do that too.

[chris French]

In message , Geoff Pearson writes

Not really, it's the normal way to do it with a retrofit

I guess there might be some combined programmable stats/and HW timers around nowadays though

[Tim Lamb]

In message , ARW writes

Mine have only ever stuck in the *off* position. Scraping off the lime scale, adding a bit of plumbing grease and gentle w...king with pliers gets them going for a few more years.

[Geoff Pearson]

I'm in Scotland - we don't have limescale - we have soft water that gives us heart disease. I have a Scottish Gas service contract and their men (and women) have several times had a go at the stuck valves and got nowhere.

[Peter Crosland]

First fix the TRVs as there is no point in heating all the radiators unless you need them.

[R D S]

On the advice of someone on here and having the same issues I bought some of these,

With your 14 rads it's a big outlay but they are frankly life changing.

[Tim Watts]

On Saturday 14 December 2013 16:12 Geoff Pearson wrote in uk.d-i-y:

How is it a bodge?

[Ramsman]

We've had a CM927 for just over a year now, fitted when the new boiler was installed. Very convenient, easily reprogrammed or adjusted, and the additional functions such as the holiday setting are useful.

[newshound]

You could always throttle back some of these with the lockshield valve (not on the single circuit of course)

[Dave Liquorice]

Yep, when switching to a programmable stat from an ordinary one and separate time switch there needs to be a shift of mind set. With a programmable stat you have multiple set point temperatures available based on periods of time rather than a single temperature during any "on" period.

With a programable stat the heating is essentially "on" all the time and the stat controls the boiler based on its set point at any given time and the room temp. Program the stat to say 15 C between 2300 and

0600 and in a modern house that is the same as "off".

[Geoff Pearson]

All the radiators are bypassed - T-ed off the single pipe - so I can adjust with the lockshield valve