Thermostat

[jack24]

Hi,

Just finishing off a new extension which involved changing from oil to gas. Boiler is fitted and builder is coming back to balance the rads. He hasnt fitted a thermostat but has fitted TRV's on the new rads downstairs. When I pointed it out to him he was wishy washy, and said that they don't work properly, and anyway the TRV's would do the job. I've checked to see if there is any requirement to fit one with new systems and I've also checked to see if there is any specific mention in the building regs but it seems limited to new builds and not changeovers of existing systems. Has anyone any advice?

Thanks

Jack

 

[simp]

I had a similar conversation with our builder recently - which I think I understood - so allow me to summarise, and please correct me if I'm wrong!

We had wanted TRVs on the Rads and a thermostatic control on the boiler (to replace an existing timer control). Plumber put TRVs on rads, but was reluctant to put thermostatic sensor on the boiler because the house, although small, was not zoned. AFAIK, a new build of our size would have three zones - upstairs, downstairs and water - so that there could be a separate thermostatic sensor for each zone. We, on the other hand, have just one zone - which means for example that the thermostat would keep the boiler off on a hot day, and we'd have no hot water... Or if the downstairs were colder than upstairs, the heaters upstairs would be unnecessarily warm. So the compromise is a timer on the boiler, and we just use the TRVs for the individual rads... Which is not quite as efficient, but means that we won't keep on forgetting to turn off the immersion when we need hot water in summer!

That's what we did, and that's what I think your plumber is advising you to do - and it sort of makes sense to me - although I'm sure that Heinbloed is going to advise otherwise!

 

[z102]

Sure, I will.
Any heat spending item- be it a radiator or a warm water tank- should be equipped with an individual thermostat.
The only -and I mean the ONLY- exemption when to use a room thermostat is when you have several radiators/under floor heating zones supplying the same room. These would have to work COORDINATED, meaning one switch/thermostat will controll them.
In all other cases there should be one thermostat for one heatsource.
Sack your plumbers and demand your money back. Threaten them with the ombudsman, send them the baillifs.
The trade of plumbing is not regulated in Ireland, our competent gouvernment thinks that market forces would look after the plumbers. So it's your turn.