Digital Radiator Valves - R They anygood?

[Jockdooshbag]

I am contemplating fitting a wireless room thermostat in my house. I currently have a combi boiler and each radiator has its own TRV. I started looking into these digital TRV's which let you programme each radiator individually which seems pretty good. B&Q have valves for £30 so i was wondering if fitting these would give me more control and also save gas bills a bit. Has anyone used these digital TRV's and are they any good? I read somewhere that they can be noisy plus they need 2xAA batteries each but then it says they last 2 years. Should i just get a room thermostat and forget these fancy valves and stick with my current basic TRV's?

I like the idea of having the ability to switch off most room radiators at night and leaving only the bedroom and nursery ones on as in winter its nice having heating on at night, especially for the wee one but i didnt fancy heating the whole house while doing this which i presume is what would happen with the standard room thermostat stetup. Whts peoples thoughts on this?

Cheers

[cheezemonkhai]

Sounds like they'd cost you more in AA's and their own cost than you'd save on them over their lifetime if you ask me.

If you want to keep some rooms cool/hot at certain times, then surely a dual circuit with a motorised valve and two timers would make sense?

[mannyo]

I don't see how you would save on the gas bill, the boiler will have to run no matter how many radiators you need to heat up.

[Jockdooshbag]

I don't see how you would save on the gas bill, the boiler will have to run no matter how many radiators you need to heat up.

It requires less heat to power 2 rads than 10 so it would definately save money as the boiler doesnt run if the rads arent demanding hot water. Its tue though it may take a while to recover the £300 quid it would cost to fit digital TRV's to all 10 rads in my house. My current TRV's have been on for about 14 years now so the money saving doesnt need to be a short term gain im more interested in the fact that it would give me better control over my whole house which has to save money long term surely. I read somewhere that dropping your house temp by 1 degree saves 8% per year. Tahts quite big savings from a small adjustment so i think i should be able to pay off any purchase costs reasonably quickly. I just dont want to risk it if these digital valves are pants as no-one i know has them.

[Jockdooshbag]

Sounds like they'd cost you more in AA's and their own cost than you'd save on them over their lifetime if you ask me.

If you want to keep some rooms cool/hot at certain times, then surely a dual circuit with a motorised valve and two timers would make sense?

Im no plumber but does a dual circuit not involve re-plumbing? Digital TRV's for all my rads would cost me £300 which isnt massive but it is if they are noisy and dont work very well.

[cheezemonkhai]

I guess that depends how your pipes are run, but in a house I was in, it was three floors and each one had been plumbed on a per floor basis.

The conversion had a plumber install three motorised valves (plain open/shut) and a thermostat on each floor. That then allowed the floors to be controlled individually.

Top floor off as rarely used, middle cooler with a burst before bedtime and ground was warmer but only when it was going to be in use.

Obviously if you've already got TRV's it's fairly pointless doing so.

What I would say is that, while a mechanical TRV might last 15 years, it's highly doubtful that an electro-muchanical hybrid will last that long.

I personally don't see that you'd ever make any saving at all from them.

If you want more control over temperature during the day, I fitted a honeywell digital programmable thermostat.

That allows you to control temperatures during the day, to have warm and cool periods.

As long as your existing TRV's are working, you'd find that gives you most of the controllability for less than £100.

[mdon]

It requires less heat to power 2 rads than 10 so it would definately save money as the boiler doesnt run if the rads arent demanding hot water. Its tue though it may take a while to recover the £300 quid it would cost to fit digital TRV's to all 10 rads in my house. My current TRV's have been on for about 14 years now so the money saving doesnt need to be a short term gain im more interested in the fact that it would give me better control over my whole house which has to save money long term surely. I read somewhere that dropping your house temp by 1 degree saves 8% per year. Tahts quite big savings from a small adjustment so i think i should be able to pay off any purchase costs reasonably quickly. I just dont want to risk it if these digital valves are pants as no-one i know has them.

These seem like overpriced gimmicks, even if they did save you 8% of your annual gas bill ( I seriously doubt) it would still take 8 years to re coup the £300! Seems like a waste of money to me.

[gadgetman]

You might only heat 2 rooms, but through heat loss/conduction I think you'll find you'd use the same or more shutting down so much of the system.

I think the idea of these is to only shut off one or 2 rooms.

If your timer is set right, and your home insulated and draft free you shouldn't loose more than a few degrees overnight. If you need to just run it at 15C at night.

[Jockdooshbag]

My house is well insulated, the main reason for wanting more control is due to having a young baby now in the house. We sometimes leave the heating on at night now which i never did before so i was justb trying to maximise the efficiency of the system considering i am generally using it more than i used to.

I was dead set on a programmable wireless room thermostat until i saw these digital TRV's so was really just wondering if one was better than the other. I think the room thermostat is the more common setup, proven technology and all that so i know that will help keep bills to a minimum. Maybe these digital TRV's are not proven yet as to whether they are any good or not. Waiting for my hetaing engineer to call back about somehting else im needing so will see what he says.

[cheezemonkhai]

On the programmable room stat, I had a drayton one, that was trying to be too clever and kept switching off to save energy. Result was a very cold house, because it heated to near the temperature, then kept cycling.

Being a rented property, it never got up to temp, so you ended up setting it two or three degrees above so it got near to warmth, then if it manage to get close, it'd keep on going. This was mainly an issue on particularly cold days, but still far from ideal.

Honeywell CM907 is what I've now fitted and it's excellent

Edited 19 October, 2012 by cheezemonkhai

[myheartbeatsfortwo]

I'd go for the wireless room stat, it can be done yourself for under £100 and signed off by an electrician if needs be. You'll encounter more faff replacing TRVs. Stat is generally about 4 wires going to the boiler for the receiver, or a plug in directly sort if say a Worcester stat and receiver.

[gadgetman]

My house is well insulated, the main reason for wanting more control is due to having a young baby now in the house. We sometimes leave the heating on at night now which i never did before so i was justb trying to maximise the efficiency of the system considering i am generally using it more than i used to.

I was dead set on a programmable wireless room thermostat until i saw these digital TRV's so was really just wondering if one was better than the other. I think the room thermostat is the more common setup, proven technology and all that so i know that will help keep bills to a minimum. Maybe these digital TRV's are not proven yet as to whether they are any good or not. Waiting for my hetaing engineer to call back about somehting else im needing so will see what he says.

What temperature do you intend to keep their room at? If you have a monitor with temp reading and alarm as we did/do, how low is it getting overnight? Our heating is left on 21 during the day ,and even during the very cold snap never dropped below 17C overnight without it being on.

Remember 18C is an ideal temperature for a baby. Over 20 isn't recommended during sleep as most cheap temp cards show - last bounty pack has an nhs one in it.

[Jockdooshbag]

What temperature do you intend to keep their room at? If you have a monitor with temp reading and alarm as we did/do, how low is it getting overnight? Our heating is left on 21 during the day ,and even during the very cold snap never dropped below 17C overnight without it being on.

Remember 18C is an ideal temperature for a baby. Over 20 isn't recommended during sleep as most cheap temp cards show - last bounty pack has an nhs one in it.

I have a min / max thermometer in the downstairs hall right next to front door as this is generally the coldest place in the house. Currently it is dropping to 16c at night and i try to keep it at around 21 when heating is on. Its not massively cold outside at the moment so not sure how low it will drop at night in the coming months. I may be better putting room theromostat in room baby sleeps then to maintain about 18c at night. I wanted a wireles thermostat so i supose i can use that in the evening when in the lounge etc then drop temp to 18c and chuck it in nursery when sleeping. She sleeps on our room currently but will be moving to nursery shortly i think. When winter really kicks in it definately drops below 16c at night inside the house, ive never measured this but if feels bloody freezing when going to toilet in middle of the night so wouldnt fancy the wee one enduring those temps especially as she sleeps i one of those "grow bag" type things meaning her hands are not covered. She is a flapper so doesnt like being swaddled.

I would probably buy a wireless room theromostat in a heartbeat if it was easy enough to install i.e plug and play into boiler. Does anyone know if its possible to connect one of these up to the boiler yourself or does a heating engineer need to get involved?

[gadgetman]

What are the readings in both the bedrooms?

[Jockdooshbag]

What are the readings in both the bedrooms?

I havent recorded the min and max temps in the bedrooms but maybe i should. It does feel chilly during the night but then it will seeing as you have just emerged from under a warm duvet.

I spent a bit of time last week setting up my current basic TRV's using the thrmometer and the house is now far more equalised than it was before and the boi;ler seems to run a lot less as i think i had radiators fighting aginst each other previously i.e one set too high and one set too low in similar areas. The hous eis now a far more comfortable and consistent temperature and i have learned roughly through trial and error what the settings on the TRV's equate to temperature wise i.e 3 on the TRV = 23C. I ahave now dropped them all slightly below 3 to try and achieve around 21-22c. Seems to wok quite well at the moment.

I know i will leave the heating on overnight later this week due to the forecasted cold snap so just want to know what is the most efficient way to do this? I dont need 21-22c at night so i am assuming a wireless room thermostat could be left in bedroom at night and turned down to say 19c. This should keep the chill off but surely save some gas in the process. At least then i can place the wireless room thermostat in whatever room the wee one is in. Is this logic not correct or is there a simpler way to achieve this? Surely then this system would mean we could take the wireless thermostat into the lounge in an evening and crank it up to 23c or more if we felt the need. She certainly would thats for sure.

The problem is i would like it warmer in the morning for getting up so would a programmable wireless room thermostat let me do this?

[cheezemonkhai]

I havent recorded the min and max temps in the bedrooms but maybe i should. It does feel chilly during the night but then it will seeing as you have just emerged from under a warm duvet.

I spent a bit of time last week setting up my current basic TRV's using the thrmometer and the house is now far more equalised than it was before and the boi;ler seems to run a lot less as i think i had radiators fighting aginst each other previously i.e one set too high and one set too low in similar areas. The hous eis now a far more comfortable and consistent temperature and i have learned roughly through trial and error what the settings on the TRV's equate to temperature wise i.e 3 on the TRV = 23C. I ahave now dropped them all slightly below 3 to try and achieve around 21-22c. Seems to wok quite well at the moment.

I know i will leave the heating on overnight later this week due to the forecasted cold snap so just want to know what is the most efficient way to do this? I dont need 21-22c at night so i am assuming a wireless room thermostat could be left in bedroom at night and turned down to say 19c. This should keep the chill off but surely save some gas in the process. At least then i can place the wireless room thermostat in whatever room the wee one is in. Is this logic not correct or is there a simpler way to achieve this? Surely then this system would mean we could take the wireless thermostat into the lounge in an evening and crank it up to 23c or more if we felt the need. She certainly would thats for sure.

The problem is i would like it warmer in the morning for getting up so would a programmable wireless room thermostat let me do this?

A programmable stat (Honeywell CM907 at least) will let you set 6 temperature change points during the course of a day, and different ones for each day of the week. You can over ride this with a holiday mode or party mode to leave it off for a number or days (holiday) or on for additional hours (party).

I use mine to vary the temperature during the day, so that the house is warm in the morning, cool when we might be out and warm in the evening. I then set the temp cold (12 degrees) over night, but have the house back up to temp for work time.

I have no reason to think the wireless version wouldn't work the same, which is ideal for what we needed and sounds like what you're after too.

[Jockdooshbag]

A programmable stat (Honeywell CM907 at least) will let you set 6 temperature change points during the course of a day, and different ones for each day of the week. You can over ride this with a holiday mode or party mode to leave it off for a number or days (holiday) or on for additional hours (party).

I use mine to vary the temperature during the day, so that the house is warm in the morning, cool when we might be out and warm in the evening. I then set the temp cold (12 degrees) over night, but have the house back up to temp for work time.

I have no reason to think the wireless version wouldn't work the same, which is ideal for what we needed and sounds like what you're after too.

Sounds good. Will research some wireless stats. Have heard a few other speak about the honeywell one.

Not sure party mode will be much use at the moment. Not much partying going on with the wee one around. I'll make up for it later when she is older.

Cheers for advice.

[Clunkclick]

Thermal curtains on stairs and front door + portable ceramic heater, switch-off gas ch early and late season. Electricity consumed by CH pump= leccy consumption of ceramic heater. Works for me.

Nick

[cheezemonkhai]

Sounds good. Will research some wireless stats. Have heard a few other speak about the honeywell one.

Not sure party mode will be much use at the moment. Not much partying going on with the wee one around. I'll make up for it later when she is older.

Cheers for advice.

I had a drayton one before the honeywell and it tried to be clever to "save energy" and left the house always cold.

I couldn't figure how to turn that feature off, even with googling there was no obvious answer.

At that point it went back and got replaced.

As for the party mode, it's less for a party and more use for staying up a bit late, or came home early one day.

You press party set it for a few hours and then the system drops into normal operation when that expires

[Jockdooshbag]

Was thinking more about the wireless theromostat last night. I know, what i life i lead eh, but i think there may be a problem with using one.... I have TRV's on all my radiators so if i use a wireless thermostat in whatever room im in surely the TRV would over ride the thermostat if i wanted it to be hotter. i.e if TRV limits radiator to 22c but i crank up thermostat to 24c then its pointless really as the radiator will keep shutting off before it gets above 22c.

It would work when i wanted the room to be colder than the TRV set point i.e at night but to get it to wrok the other way round i would need to remove the TRV in that room or turn up the TRV which kind of makes the wireless thermostat pointless.

Have i got this wrong?

I would mainly use the wireles room thermostat for maintaing a slightly lower temp at night say 19c but i would still like the option to have it hotter in the lounge as well if i wanted but i certainly dont want to have to take the trv off or tur it up and down all the time to be able to use this function.

For this reason maybe the digital TRV's may be a better option. Now im really conflicted again.

The digital TRV's means programming each one individually but then once done it doesnt need touched again. Untill batteries need replaced but this is every 2 years so not too bad as long as the programme doesnt get wiped when the batteries come out. Dam i was certain the thermostat was the way to go but now im not so sure.

[cheezemonkhai]

Yes, the TRV would win, but it's ok, you just turn the TRV up to full in the room that the wireless stat is in

Then the Stat controls everything as the TRV is acting as if it isn't their.

Most people say that you shouldn't have a TRV on the rads in the room your stat is in or if you do turn it up to max.

Edited 24 October, 2012 by cheezemonkhai

[sp1ke]

If you are talking about the lightwave RF digital TRV's then I'd suggest looking at the support forums on their site before you buy. When I last looked the support didn't seem that great & there seemed to be some talk of a new version of their heating controls due at some point soon.

Fwiw their lighting & remote wifi solution seems pretty good.

See forums on lightwaverf.com for more

Hth

Edited 24 October, 2012 by sp1ke

[Phosphoric]

Seems awfully complicated to me.

We have a programmable roomstat with 6 time zones a day and different settings for weekdays and weekends, works fine. Set to 16C after 9.30PM. We have a cold bedroom as it is in a converted loft space, perhaps not well insulated. So, up there we have an oil filled electric radiator 1kW with built in thermostat. That cuts in sometimes on a really cold night

I think that would be ideal for a nursery too.

[999pooch]

Honeywell CM907 is what I've now fitted and it's excellent

+1 for the CM907. Brilliant bit of kit, Spend 30 mins setting it up and then pretty much leave it be!

Programmable r

[999pooch]

Honeywell CM907 is what I've now fitted and it's excellent

+1 for the Honeywell CM907. Brilliant bit of kit, Spend 30 mins setting it up and then pretty much leave it be!

Programmable room stats are an essential CH mod. and the CM907 is one of the best.