We have two radiators in the house that do not have temperature controls (ie knob with numbers on it).
One is in the bathroom and the other in the hall.
Combo boiler provides the heating.
The hall unit really is just heating empty space and whilst there is comfort going from one part of the bungalow to another it seems that it would make sense to at least turn it down.
How do I know which of the two sides to turn down/off? They only have decorator's caps on them.
Doesn't matter but if your system has been balanced you will unbalance it. Just remove one the the caps and use a pair of pliers to close down the valve completely then unwind the spindle by one complete turn and wait a few days to see what effect it has had. Adjust as required.
If you have thermostatic radiator valves on all the other radiators then one of these with just lockshield valves may be acting as a safety mechanism if all the thermostatic valves close down because the room temperatures are met. Possibly the bathroom one should be left alone to provide a path for the pump to push water through if all other radiators close down.
They are safety devices, so that if the boiler is still running, it does not overheat. Leave tham as they are. Jonathan
In message snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org>, AnthonyL snipped-for-privacy@please.invalid writes
Umm. Is there any chance these radiators provide a circulation path left open on purpose?
Also, is there a room thermostat and is it installed in the hallway? Turning off a radiator in the same area as the room thermostat means the demand for heat may never be met in that local area and the thermostat will continue instructing the boiler to provide heat.
Many years ago I found moving a room thermostat from a hallway into the room used most for relaxing or watching TV reduced my gas consumption by at least 15%. I fitted a wireless room thermostat with the receiver mounted in the original location and the transmitter (thermostat) in my front room.
Good point. But there are no room thermostats. If we want warmer we turn the heat control on the boiler up. If I want a particular room unheated or on reduced heat I turn its radiator valve down. Most radiators have thermostatic valves.
Doesn't balancing mainly apply to a two level property. Ours is just a bungalow. The boiler is at one end of the line. It wasn't always so; it used to be in the attic.
Extensions and alterations to the property in general were not always carried out professionally and re-arranging the heating may be one that is sub-optimal.
What's a "decorator's cap"? AFAIK if a radiator doesn't have a TRV it had an on/off valve. Turn it off and let the radiator go cold, then turn it back on a *very* little bit. You may be able to hear the water going through. If it doesn't get warm enough open it a teeny amount and check again. (I've done this with a heated towel rail as I only need it to dry towels, not heat the bathroom.)
I don't know. The radiator is on a leg feeding to a subsequent extension but turning it off shouldn't stop that should it? The pipe still runs underneath (scratches head and wonders if that is the case).
Surely the bathroom radiator would be sufficient for that. The thermostat on the boiler cuts in when the CH water has reached its setting.
That's precisely why you want to balance the radiators - without balancing, most of the flow will go to the radiators of least resistance, leaving others ineffective. If the radiators in question are balanced you can preserve the setting - just count the number of turns it takes to close each valve, the one that takes more turns is the one you use to close the rad, while the other can be assumed to be the balanced one and should be returned to its original position.
A cover that snaps over the valve, but isn't keyed to the spindle.
Before you follow this parh, make sure you really understand why it is configured the way it is. Otherwise you might en up with higher heating bills rather than lower.
The important question is where is the heating thermostat?
Often placed in the hall, it will act as a boiler interlock (a building regs requirement) that ensures the boiler stops firing when the house is up to the required temperature.
In order to be able to sense this it needs an *uncontrolled* radiator in that room (usually balances so that it does not heat significantly until most of the other rads are shutting down on their TRVs).
If your setup is like that, then it is important not to cut off the radiator in the room, since that will just make the heating run continuously.
Either - the caps conceal lockshield valves. Either can reduce the flow through it.
If you have TRVs on all rads, then you need a bypass valve fitted somewhere. Some boiler include one internally.
That is why one rad is often left such that it can't close off the flow and hence always provides a bypass.
That prompts me to ask the OP to confirm that he doesn't in fact have decorator's caps on thermostatic valves:
That's just a cap really.
A decorators cap is a thing that comes with TRVs, that allows the TRV head to be removed, and the cap screwed on in its place - thus locking the valve "off". This allows rads to be drained and removed for decorating without a risk that a cold snap will cause an "off" TRV to suddenly open when its "frost protection" lower temperature is reached.
Then you ought to be looking at installing a wireless stat.
Or for a thermostatic valve a screw down cap that can be fitted when the thermostatic head is removed. This allows the valves on both sides to be shut off allowing a radiator to be removed to decorate behind it.
What a weird invention. Why not just close the valves with a spanner?
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