Plumber left one radiator on all the time

[Stu777123]

Hi all,

My girlfriend has 1 radiator on in hallway constantly at her flat and was told by a plumber who did it that it had to be like that. There is no valve to turn it off apparently. She said she had Hive installed years ago which she no longer uses. I wondered if this was a common thing or even a thing and why a plumber would leave it like this?

 

[JohnD]

My girlfriend has 1 radiator on in hallway constantly at her flat

why does she turn the heating on in summer?

why is there no room thermostat?

 

[Mottie]

Is it part of the bypass system?

 

[SM_]

Hi all,

My girlfriend has 1 radiator on in hallway constantly at her flat and was told by a plumber who did it that it had to be like that. There is no valve to turn it off apparently. She said she had Hive installed years ago which she no longer uses. I wondered if this was a common thing or even a thing and why a plumber would leave it like this?

Not a plumber but I've heard this when handling TRVs they leave one radiator with just standard valves so that the system can get rid of excess heat in the system for safety it's usually a bathroom radiator in the case of TRVs or its used for the room thermostat.

There should be valves though so you can isolate the radiator either end, just they won't be temperature controlled.

 

[Gasguru]

Entirely normal for a variety of reasons and very little to be gained (gas savings) by shutting it off..heat will just move from the heated rooms.

 

[ianmcd]

it shouldnt be on if the heating is not on how does she switch the heating on and off ?

 

[sxturbo]

Think there needs to be further expansion from the op.

Hive installed but no longer uses it?

What type of system is it? If it's y plan maybe the 3 port valve has failed and when hit water is called for its heating the rads to

 

[ericmark]

What type of system is it?

This is also my question. Back in the 80's it was normal to have one radiator normally the towel rail acting as a by-pass, but the advent of the modulating condensating boiler changed all that.

But oil boilers are rarely modulating and so much depends on boiler and system.

I modern gas boiler uses the return water temperature to work out what output is required from the boiler, so water must be able to circulate, this is normally through radiators until all radiator TRV close and then the by-pass valve opens.

When the hot water returns to boiler the boiler turns off, a timer will restart the boiler after a time, and if hot water still returns it increases the off time, and if cold returns it decreases off time, so by-pass valve needs to be close to the boiler, or inside the boiler, and all radiators should have a TRV fitted.

However there are exceptions, the fan assisted radiator does not have any valve to restrict flow, and uses fan speed instead, so hard to say exactly how any system should be set up, as there is always an exception to the rules.

 

[Mottie]

Back in the 80's it was normal to have one radiator normally the towel rail acting as a by-pass,

When we moved into our house in the spring of 1990, the rear radiator in the through lounge would get hot even with the heating off. We did have a gravity hot water system though and it stopped when I converted it to a fully pumped system.

 

[ericmark]

When we moved into our house in the spring of 1990, the rear radiator in the through lounge would get hot even with the heating off. We did have a gravity hot water system though and it stopped when I converted it to a fully pumped system.

My system is same now, a c plan, there are two pumps and two motorised valves but both for central heating, the DHW is thermo syphon and no thermostat it is simply timed, and the towel rails are on the DHW system, there are always exceptions.

With my oil fired central heating Hive would be far better than the Nest I have running now, but when altering central heating one has to consider cost, and the most cost effective way to improve my system would be a USB cradle for Nest and move the thermostat into the living room.

The central heating when I moved in needed you to turn it on at the programmer then walk down stairs and plug in the pump, the thermostat had the base but there was no sender so did nothing, how previous owners used it I really don't know, going outside and down a set of steps to the flat under main house not really a good option in the snow. I would assume they used wood and burnt it in the open fire. That is now boarded off and used as the exhaust for the AC saves opening a window.

The problem is we relate to what we know, so in my case until this house all gas boilers, all well and good saying you have a by-pass valve etc, but for all we know it could be a back boiler on a wood burner.