Anyone know anything about heating controls?

[uksparks]

Hi,

I have just swapped my ancient potterton room stat with a new Honeywell DT90E, just because there's now no argument about what temperature its at.

I have a a non condensing boiler with indirect heating via a coil thing (i think) which is unvented.

Its a Potterton Suprima 60L 78.15 Efficient D rated boiler which kicks out 17.6kW.

See link: Potterton Suprima 60L Gas - Boiler Efficiency Ratings

Reason for my concern and want to do something is because the gas bill for the last 4 weeks was £150, the last house it was only £35 per month ish, but this was 312 units, £150 of actual usage not guesstimated.

Anyway, see the photos below of what I have.

I have 15 Radiators and want to know if I can make it all wireless and have a stat in each room, so would want probably 8 room stats.

Can I do this with what I have? I have a TRV on each radiator, but what I want to know is, can I change them all for wireless and pair them all with the relevant radiators so that I can turn the heating up in one room and it opens the stat or something?

Do you see what im getting at?

 

[David M]

The house is only 14 years old, has cavity wall insulation, tons of loft insulation, everything you can possibly do.

What do you feel is causing my high gas bill?

I don't know if leaving the hot water on auto is going to be better / cheaper than leaving it on once / twice a day? Any ideas?

Whats the benefit of a condensing of the non condensing boiler? I don't know anything about them.

Condensing boilers are far more efficient and "more environmental friendly". They work on the basic principle of recovering as much as possible the lost heat ejected through the flue.

 

[TJ Anderson]

Hmm, ill check about the frost thing, and having just looked at the temperature knob, its on Max..

Presumably if I turn this down will it not make a difference to the temperature of the water? Roughly where abouts should it be on the dial?

Thanks for the help everyone!

Your boiler stat controls the heat of the primary pipework. You have an S Plan arrangement. This indirectly heats your water via a Zone Valve through a coil in your cylinder. This is regulated by your cylinder thermostat. It would only affect water temp if you set boiler stat at a lower temp than cylinder stat.

 

[Deleted member 72666]

Firstly make sure the units of gas that have been consumed are both the same, ie cubic ft or cubic mtrs.

 

[uksparks]

Have you checked your meter matches up with your bill, some suppliers bill you in m3 but the meter reads otherwise and therefore you get a high bill
BBC One - Watchdog - Reading meters

its in cubic meters.



As for the bill, your guess is as good as mine.

 

[Octopus]

ALWAYS check the meter the day your bill arrives or better still the day its read. And if its estimated make sure that you submit a reading.

It could simply be that they are estimating YOUR usage based on the previous people who may have liked living in a very warm house.

If its BG, and you have opted for monthly payments, be aware that they take the previous 12 months, allow for price increases and then divide by 11!

We had the opposite problem as our house had been empty for 18 months, so every quarter they tried to reduce our payments as they were recalculating using the "zero" values!!

 

[GB.Kayak]

I think you need to be a registered, approved, trained installer to fit those....

I have been looking @ Honeywell's evohome system recently and I don't remember any indication in the installation guides regarding this requirement for installation. Basic installation requires simple changes to the boiler control wiring, the replacement of the TRV control heads, not the valves, and the pairing of wireless devices.

 

[uksparks]

Your boiler stat controls the heat of the primary pipework. You have an S Plan arrangement. This indirectly heats your water via a Zone Valve through a coil in your cylinder. This is regulated by your cylinder thermostat. It would only affect water temp if you set boiler stat at a lower temp than cylinder stat.

Ah ok, so if i cranked it right down on the boiler it will be ok? See pic below, roughly how far should i turn it? Imagine its a clock face, 12 being straight up its about at 8 oclock at the moment.

 

[uksparks]

ALWAYS check the meter the day your bill arrives or better still the day its read. And if its estimated make sure that you submit a reading.

It could simply be that they are estimating YOUR usage based on the previous people who may have liked living in a very warm house.

If its BG, and you have opted for monthly payments, be aware that they take the previous 12 months, allow for price increases and then divide by 11!

We had the opposite problem as our house had been empty for 18 months, so every quarter they tried to reduce our payments as they were recalculating using the "zero" values!!

The meter readings, I took them myself and did it online.

See below.

 

[Leesparkykent]

Having the stat on the boiler turned right up shouldn't really make a difference on your gas bill as long as you have a room thermostat and hot water cylinder thermostat, these thermostats determine when to switch the boiler on and off , the thermostat on the boiler just controls the flow temperature so in theory if this is down low it would cost you more to run as it will take longer to heat the hot water and get the room up to temp. If you have a frost stat you should also have a pipe stat without the pipe stat the boiler will just keep running until the frost stat gets up to temperature. Also is the room thermostat in a room with a trv? ( they could be competing against each other).

 

[uksparks]

and this one how its worked out.

 

[TJ Anderson]

I have been looking @ Honeywell's evohome system recently and I don't remember any indication in the installation guides regarding this requirement for installation. Basic installation requires simple changes to the boiler control wiring, the replacement of the TRV control heads, not the valves, and the pairing of wireless devices.

I have fitted this system. It was done on a Listed stately home to provide zoning over two floors to avoid re-piping. The TRV's are battery operated. We had RF issue's (massive house). Honeywell sent an engineer and we had to relocate programmer to a new location. I certainly would not entertain it in your place, have you priced it up yet?

 

[uksparks]

Having the stat on the boiler turned right up shouldn't really make a difference on your gas bill as long as you have a room thermostat and hot water cylinder thermostat, these thermostats determine when to switch the boiler on and off , the thermostat on the boiler just controls the flow temperature so in theory if this is down low it would cost you more to run as it will take longer to heat the hot water and get the room up to temp. If you have a frost stat you should also have a pipe stat without the pipe stat the boiler will just keep running until the frost stat gets up to temperature. Also is the room thermostat in a room with a trv? ( they could be competing against each other).

No, the stat is in the hall way, large ish hall, no TRV on the rad though in the hall.

 

[uksparks]

Im just going to have dinner then ill be back.

 

[TJ Anderson]

Having the stat on the boiler turned right up shouldn't really make a difference on your gas bill as long as you have a room thermostat and hot water cylinder thermostat, these thermostats determine when to switch the boiler on and off , the thermostat on the boiler just controls the flow temperature so in theory if this is down low it would cost you more to run as it will take longer to heat the hot water and get the room up to temp. If you have a frost stat you should also have a pipe stat without the pipe stat the boiler will just keep running until the frost stat gets up to temperature. Also is the room thermostat in a room with a trv? ( they could be competing against each other).

UK Sparks. These are some really good points from LeeSparky. Spot on.

 

[Leesparkykent]

That's good you don't want a trv on the rad in the hallway where the room thermostat is positioned. Do you have frost protection?