Heat balancing between poorly insulated and well insulated parts of house

[jgkgolf]

In our house it's much harder to heat the kitchen than the other rooms mainly becaus it is in a separate single story section at the back with 3 exterior walls and poor insulation in the roof. To heat the kitchen properly we need to have the boiler on quite high which makes the other rooms too hot. I tell my missus we should keep the boiler on high and turn the thermostatic valves down in the other rooms but she thinks this will use a lot more energy than turning the boiler down and having the thermostatic valves fully open in the other rooms and put up with the chill in the kitchen. How can I explain to her that she is wrong?

[cynic]

Use lockable TRVs

[David Hansen]

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:20:06 -0800 (PST) someone who may be [e-mail] wrote this:-

With difficulty.

Thermostatic valves should be set at a comfortable room temperature, which is unlikely to be fully open or turned down far.

Assuming this is the case then heating these the rooms will in essence involve the same amount of energy no matter what the boiler setting. If the kitchen is chilly then that will involve less energy than if it is warm. I'm leaving aside issues like short cycling.

In the short term you should have the boiler turned high and the thermostatic valves in all rooms set for a suitable room temperature. However, this will mean using more energy.

In the medium term you should have the kitchen (and perhaps the rest of the house) insulated to reduce heat losses. Grants are often available for this.

[Alan Braggins]

Depends how big "a lot" is. Basically she's right that heating the kitchen will use more energy than leaving it cold.

[Martin Bonner]

I don't think you can, because I believe she is right.

If you don't heat the kitchen (much), you will use less energy than if you do.

One thing you may find helpful to explain to your wife is that (to a first approximation), changing the setting on a TRV does /not/ change how fast the room heats up when it is too cold.

Thus, even when you have the boiler turned down, you can turn down the TRVs, and it won't make any difference (until you set them too low of course). You can then turn the boiler up a bit, and the extra heat will go into the kitchen (because the TRVs will switch off).

[meow2222]

I don't think you can, because I believe she is right.

If you don't heat the kitchen (much), you will use less energy than if you do.

One thing you may find helpful to explain to your wife is that (to a first approximation), changing the setting on a TRV does /not/ change how fast the room heats up when it is too cold.

Thus, even when you have the boiler turned down, you can turn down the TRVs, and it won't make any difference (until you set them too low of course). You can then turn the boiler up a bit, and the extra heat will go into the kitchen (because the TRVs will switch off).

++++

She's right, a warmer kitchen will eat more energy.

TRVs shouldnt delay room warm up compared to a room stat alone, but IRL they do, because theyre not really thermostatic in the literal sense. Instead they open and close over a range of several degrees, meaning they slow heating down when it gets near to set point. They're an improvement on manual valves, but calling them thermostatic is slightly too optimistic.

NT

[Dave Liquorice]

With difficulty and I don't think, unlike other posters, she is correct. They seem to have missed the fact the rest of the house is too hot. Thus lots of energy is being used there that could be used to heat the kitchen. Basically it's not possible to say if the fuel bill will go up or down. I'd be tempted to go on the down slightly side as the rest of the house will lose much more heat than just the poorly insulated kitchen.

What you need to do is set the TRV's in each room to the temperature you find comfortable but comfort is very much based on what you are used to. Suddenly lowering the temperature of rooms may well generate complaints. Some people find a room at 22C comfortably cool, I'd be roasting in it. Make small adjustments over a few weeks.

[Mike]

Build a patio incorporating 'unique' foundations.