Is it cheaper...

ciaran67

to heat the water using the heating but of course turning down the temp gage so rads dont come on

or

flicking the switch in the cupboard marked bath or sink?

I still cant used to just turning on a tap and hot water coming out!

Tomato

I think the heating with the rads off is the cheapest option. Also the handiest if you have it on a timer and your immersion is not... no 5am jumping out of bed to flick it on for your morning shower ...

ciaran67

Tomato wrote: »

I think the heating with the rads off is the cheapest option. Also the handiest if you have it on a timer and your immersion is not... no 5am jumping out of bed to flick it on for your morning shower ...

Ooh defo timer set. Tks mate.

matt-dublin

The way I do it is turn ur summer rads switch off and put the boiler up to high heat for 15 mins, enough water for two showers thin.

Immersion is expensive to run so ie ever used it

Lumbarda

I'm having problems adjusting to this weather (not complaining tho' )! I've turned the thermostat down to zero (snowflake) but the radiators are still heating up when the boiler is on, is there something else I've forgotten to do as it's a year since I last turned the heating part off?! TBH our system probably needs a service anyway so could be that the thermostat needs to be replaced altho' it does still "click" at a certain temp when I turn it.

loobylou

Lumbarda wrote: »

I'm having problems adjusting to this weather (not complaining tho' )! I've turned the thermostat down to zero (snowflake) but the radiators are still heating up when the boiler is on, is there something else I've forgotten to do as it's a year since I last turned the heating part off?! TBH our system probably needs a service anyway so could be that the thermostat needs to be replaced altho' it does still "click" at a certain temp when I turn it.

Leave the thermostat as it was, but go around the house and turn off each rad individually using the valve at one end.
That way you will still heat your water but it will not be "wasted" by having to heat all the radiators.

ciaran67

loobylou wrote: »

Leave the thermostat as it was, but go around the house and turn off each rad individually using the valve at one end.
That way you will still heat your water but it will not be "wasted" by having to heat all the radiators.

But isnt that the same?

caesarthechimp

ciaran67 wrote: »

But isnt that the same?

It's worse; you could be heating the pipes leading to the rads.

loyatemu

Lumbarda wrote: »

I'm having problems adjusting to this weather (not complaining tho' )! I've turned the thermostat down to zero (snowflake) but the radiators are still heating up when the boiler is on, is there something else I've forgotten to do as it's a year since I last turned the heating part off?! TBH our system probably needs a service anyway so could be that the thermostat needs to be replaced altho' it does still "click" at a certain temp when I turn it.

2 points here:

1. obviously if you turn the stat on the boiler to the snowflake, the rads should not heat up, so there's something wrong there.

2. But even if they weren't heating up, this would only work if your boiler is setup to supply hot water directly, which on our boiler (in the Grove) was not the case.

In most houses (afaik) the boiler heats the water in the heating system (the rads and the pipes between them) and the heating system in turn heats the water in the cyclinder (a pipe from the rads goes through the cylinder). In this setup, turning the stat on the boiler all the way down will stop the water in the cylinder from heating up also.

Lumbarda

Thanks so much for the replies. Loyatemu, it's not the stat on the boiler that I turn down but the one on the wall on the landing. That's what I did previous summers and it seemed to work prefectly, we'd hot water but it didn't heat the rads and there was no need to switch the rads off individually (very handy at this time of year when you might still need the heating on at night for an hour so all I had to do was turn the landing thermostat up again). The info (sticker) on our actual boiler is wrong as it says to turn down the stat on the boiler but one of the plumbers told me when we moved in that that actually was for a different system to the one we have and that all I need to do is turn down the landing stat which has worked fine up to this. I think the system just needs a service, probably a very good idea anyway from a safety point of view as we haven't had one done since we moved in 4 years ago! :eek:

Thanks again for all the advice everyone.

skelly22

You can also switch off the supply to the rads from beside the hot water tank so only the tank heats up. I replaced the bath/sink switches with a timer which is much easier to control & means you never leave the immerion on for hours by mistake!

caesarthechimp

skelly22 wrote: »

You can also switch off the supply to the rads from beside the hot water tank so only the tank heats up.

Probably this is the fault; if its a small grey motorised valve with a short flex to a switch, and its set into the pipe, it may be failing to close. Turning down the room stat or switching off beside it should trigger it to close.

Lumbarda

Thanks a mill, Enrate and Skelly, will look into that. I bought a timer for the immersion but never had it fitted, think it's buried under the stairs somewhere! :eek::)

Anyone know a RGII Registered Gas Installer who'd service/fix a boiler for a reasonable rate?!

ciaran67

Lumbarda wrote: »

I'm having problems adjusting to this weather (not complaining tho' )! I've turned the thermostat down to zero (snowflake) but the radiators are still heating up when the boiler is on, is there something else I've forgotten to do as it's a year since I last turned the heating part off?! TBH our system probably needs a service anyway so could be that the thermostat needs to be replaced altho' it does still "click" at a certain temp when I turn it.

Mine is doing that as well. Even though ive turned it to the flake symbol the rads are still coming on. Ive turned them all off now. Im wondering if the boiler needs a look at... err Mr Landlord!

d31b0y

This is happening in my place too. Boiler is due a service, but there does seem to be a lot of people with the same problem. I've turned off all my rads also, but the pipes are still being warmed. Granted that's not a huge problem or a huge amount of piping. Can anyone say for definite that this isn't the default? That it wasn't happening from the offset?