Are thermostaic rad valves worth having.

[nickjaxe]

Hi guys my 1st post, I have just had a price for a new boiler to replace our very very old back boiler, the heating engineer says our old rads will be fine but I am wondering if its worth him fitting thermostatic valves on the rads,

Its just that I was reading that they will take many years if ever to pay for themselves, The fitter quoted £20 fitted and in no way was he pushing them he just gave me the option,

So I basically need to know are they worth paying over £150 for them 7 in total, we have a 3 bed semi solid wall construction,

The boiler he will fit for us will be the Worcester Greenstar 30si I presume that should be a good unit.

Nick.

 

[secret squirrel]

I like trv's a lot, I have some rooms that just have the chill off and then other rooms that need to be warmer. I personally think they're worth the money and encourage my customers to have them.

 

[Renewable M]

requirement of building regs if you are upgrading. there we go.

And installed for 150 quid is a good price.

Sure you will be very pleased with the improved comfort and lower bills.

 

[so-solar]

As above, regs state that you must install trv's, it is part of the benchmark for worcester boilers too! £150, good price. You really should say yes. You can control every rad in the house(except 1)

 

[Puddle]

.......Yes..........

 

[nickjaxe]

Thanks guys looks like we have 100% in favour, are there no situations when they are not a good idea,

The other thing that puts me off them is the possibility of water leaks when the plumber fits them to our rad pipes that are coated with layers of paint, as I was saying we are keeping our old rads.

Nick.

 

[evsy01]

its coated in paint but that will come off the copper should be ok just make sure he doesnt put too much force on the old copper joints as they could leak. . . . saying that if hes half decent this shouldnt be a problem for him. u have too have 1 radiator fitted with normal valves acting as a bypass rad. i usually fit normal valves to the rad in the same room as the room stat as a trv could work against the roomstat. not sure if u mentioned if your having a room stat but a base model honeywell one is not much more than £10 and easy to fit. ask for one much easier to operate and regulate your new boiler

 

[nickjaxe]

Glad you mentioned room stats evsy01, which one should I go for, the guy told me about a wireless radio type, I just want a reliable one, what should I ask him to fit and which is the best room to fit it,

Thanks so much for the info you have given me guys its very helpful.

Nick.

 

[evsy01]

well either living room or hall way. do not put in kitchen!! depends on if theres a route for cable if i put a wireless one in. i prefer a traditional wired one myself. a honeywell Room Thermostat T4360B 1015 16A id recommend if u can run a 4 core wire

 

[jpm]

good price for trv's.rf prog/stats are now cheap

 

[derrybongo]

Does the worcester not have a bypass fitted ?
or is this just good working practice

 

[Bernie2]

Must admit trv's are now required if upgrading, no choice really.

For myself, I think the usual type are a waste of money.

What they are really after is controlling the room heat, it just so happens trv's are the cheapest way to do that. But not necessarily the best. However as a means of automatic control they are better than nothing.

The trv with a remote sensor head would be better but dearer.

When I worked for a company that did service work and repairs on housing association properties, I doubt out of the possibly thousands of houses we went into, not very many seemed to use a trv the way they are supposed to be used.

They seemed to be mostly turned right up or off and left like that.

The temperature was controlled by the programmer i.e. If it was cold the heating was on, if it was warm it was turned off. Then we always had the one or two who seemed to want to use the trv, not being able to do so, because the pins where stuck.

 

[nickjaxe]

Thanks guy for your help, I am so out of touch with modern heating, the boiler we have now is over 30 years old an old back boiler so we are hoping for some good saving when we get our new boiler,

But I do have a better picture now thanks again.

Nick.

 

[doitmyself]

TRVs do have a poor reputation, mainly for not working properly. This is usually due to poor installation and lack of correct adjustment.

See [DLMURL="http://www.draytoncontrols.co.uk/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=801"]Drayton TRV Commissioning Instructions[/DLMURL]

 

[Kip]

As for Room Stat, id prefer the Siemens range, 12V. Brilliant Stats, nothing wrong with the Honeywells just prefer Siemens lol..

TRV's are a must as apart of regs now, best practise.