Central Heating - on yet?

[lazybloke]

For a central heating install to be to current regulations there must be a rad without RTV and all the others MUST have one fitted.

I did that too, TRVs everwhere exept a towel rail in the en-suite. I doubt it was a requirement at the time (25 yrs ago?), although it was all* DIY so i didn't pay much attention to regs.

*DIY except for commissioning the boiler and putting in a new larger gas connection from the meter. I left those jobs to the pros.

 

[Milzy]

After today’s ride it went on full for a few hours. Those early morning starts sure are chilly.

 

[presta]

I did that too, TRVs everwhere exept a towel rail in the en-suite. I doubt it was a requirement at the time (25 yrs ago?), although it was all* DIY so i didn't pay much attention to regs.

*DIY except for commissioning the boiler and putting in a new larger gas connection from the meter. I left those jobs to the pros.

The one without the TRV is supposed to be the one where the roomstat is, so that you don't have two stats competing to control the same space. My roomstat is in the hall, so I just leave the hall TRV wide open instead of removing it, then I can easily move the roomstat elsewhere if I want to.

Thanks for the data, I have just last week installed Home Assistant on an old 2012 MacBook Air. I'm in the process of exploring the various options for monitoring various devices,

If you're interested in the difference between timed and continuous running, you can download the Heating Degree Day data for your nearest weather station from here. Heating load is proportional to the difference between the inside ant outside temperature multiplied by the time over which the difference exists: degree days, so once you have your HDD data you can divide your energy consumption in kWh for any given period by the HDD for the same period. Since you have time in both the numerator and denominator, if you put them in the same units they cancel out, and you're just left with power divided by temperature (W/K instead of kWh per HDD).

I think you'll need a substantial amount of data though, to average out random fluctuations

 

[fossyant]

Just switched ours on - mainly to check it works still - don't want it not working when it goes cold.

Had a minor 'worry' a few months ago when the bathroom radiator came on when the hot water was on - usually means a failed valve or synchron motor - in this case there were towels etc piled on top of the two way valve, restricting the little lever from moving. No such issues since moving excess 'laundry'.

Was thinking about switching on last night as the house was quite nippy, but that would have meant the bedrooms were too warm for sleeping.

Right, better go switch it back off for a few more weeks.

 

[Drago]

Funnily enough I ran ours up to temp on Wednesday, all good.

 

[briantrumpet]

No! Back door's currently open too.

My goal is always to get through to November. The top tip last year from someone recovering from chemo was to get an oodie, and they certainly help numb the pain.

Full credit to one of my cycling friends who has even managed to persuade his wife that delaying the big switch-on is worth it, and that their house won't turn into mushrooms if it goes a few degrees below 20C for a while. I give up when mine goes below 15C.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I suspect SWMBO had it on for an hour yesterday without telling

The radiator in the utility room was suspiciously hot!

 

[briantrumpet]

I suspect SWMBO had it on for an hour yesterday without telling

The radiator in the utility room was suspiciously hot!

My many years at work where individuals controlled the radiator thermostats in the rooms they taught in is that *generally* the women are only happy when their rooms are at about Gas Mark 3.

I was curious why my French neighbour always asks me if my house is too cold (I heat it with just a woodburner), and when I asked her what temperature she keeps her house in winter, she said 25C. Sheesh!! 🥵

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

My many years at work where individuals controlled the radiator thermostats in the rooms they taught in is that *generally* the women are only happy when their rooms are at about Gas Mark 3.

I was curious why my French neighbour always asks me if my house it too cold (I heat it with just a woodburner), and when I asked her what temperature she keeps her house in winter, she said 25C. Sheesh!! 🥵

I saw a report some years ago about the ideal temperature in an office

it went through a lot of surveys and experiments and stuff

and came to the conclusion that women need it a few degrees warmer than men

We talked about where I worked at the time and totally ripped it apart

firstly dress code for men and women are very different in a lot of offices.
Men are often expected to wear a suit (Yes I know I'm old!)
but women are expect to wear a dress or blouse/skirt (or trousers) arrangement
and a cardigan is normal in this case
a man wearing a jumper or anything is thought of as "not as smart"

and also

every common space, including open plan offices that are very common, have a couple of thermostats
and maybe one or two controls if you are lucky

so you end up with the people near the control have an ability to set it to what they want

so if the control is near a door with a draft then the people at the other end are very hot
or if the thermostat is at the other end then the people near the door are too cold


as far as schools go I have never taught in a classroom with any sort of modern system

but the temperature is basically out of control
my room was always an IT room
hence it had 20-25 heaters not including a projector which was at times like a small electric fire in terms of heat output!

AND you cant have the blinds open as it makes the room too bright for the kids to see the screens

so if it is sunny then the sun shines through the window (open or not - and they normally were stuck closed anyway!) and onto the bind
which them heats up and acts like a radiator

in winter you could fight to get the radiators working - which might or might not work anyway - but if they came on that was it - they were on
and when the computer (etc) had been on for a few hours there was no thermostat to switch them off


all of which made the atmosphere "interesting" when a class arrived after PE and sat there for an hour in a hot room



anyway - I'll stop wittering

 

[fossyant]

I suspect SWMBO had it on for an hour yesterday without telling

The radiator in the utility room was suspiciously hot!

Or your valve is broken !

 

[fossyant]

Being in an office that is probably 80% women, I can confirm women do indeed need the living/working environment a few degrees warmer. We get the 'blimmin freezing outside/inside' all the time, and I'm there feeling rather warm. I'm just called 'weird' these days.

Even in the car, where I'll have the a/c at 16c, it's at least 19c for MrsF.

 

[Drago]

It was like that in the dibble. The women would switch off the AC in the summer and the men would melt. The women were conveniently oblivious to the fact that they could regulate their temperature by wearing the fleeces they'd been issued, but the men couldn't strip any further than their T shirts. So we suffered because they couldn't be arsed to walk to the locker room to fetch a fleece.

 

[Dan Lotus]

I'm of Mauritian descent, so much prefer things warm.

My partner conversely tends to like things cooler, she's English through and through, with a bit of Scottish present as well.

We have a thermostat on the network, that has a schedule where it will attempt to get the house to a certain temperature at a certain time.

I cannot get my head around (much like people drinking lager at the airport at 6am) making a conscious decision to switch the heating on or off - that's what your thermostat is for. If you have to make that decision, your thermostat is set at the wrong temperature no?

If you wait to 'switch the heating on' then it means you will be fine during the summer, but then come the autumn into winter there will be a period of a few weeks where you will be slightly uncomfortable, before you cave in and put the heating on.
I find it exceedingly odd - if you do that, I'd suggest you just need to run it the thermostat at a lower level so it kicks in later, and will probably save you more money year round.

What am I missing?

Ours was initially set at 20.0, but I've gradually been inching it down to 19.6 - and that's without pressure from my partner!
Overnight I think I have it set to 15 or 16 - I don't subscribe to the idea of letting the temperature plummet overnight (Though I do like a cool bedroom) as then your boiler has a LOT of work to do to get the heat back up to where you want it.
Even at those temperatures it will rarely kick in overnight - has to be properly sub zero conditions.

 

[Andy in Germany]

and came to the conclusion that women need it a few degrees warmer than men

Men's skin is thicker than women's, according to my ergotherapist colleagues.

One theory is that men needed thicker skin and more hair so we would be less affected by cold, thorns or danger when out hunting, whereas women needed to be aware of temperature changes so they could react quickly to potentially dangerous drops in temperature for babies.

 

[gavroche]

We are still in summer, so: NO.