How to turn off radiators and still heat water (GAS)

emmavic

Hi all,

could someone please explain to me how to turn off my radiators so that I can heat water only with gas? I do in theory know how to do this but the last time I turned off the rads I ended up having air locks when I turned them back on.

I do not have a switch to solely heat water from the gas boiler, so I assume turning off the rads is my only option?

Have been using the electric emmersion since the water got (slightly) warmer and have noticed a HUGE leap in my esb bill (from €74 to €154 - yikes!!) - and I assume that the gas is cheaper...

Any help greatly appreciated.

srfc d16

Im having the same issue myself.
Some of my rads are old and dont have the option to turm off on the rad itself so i was wondering the best way to go about it.

spiraleye

turn down all the room thermostats to zero

emmavic

spiraleye wrote: »

turn down all the room thermostats to zero

What do you mean room thermostats? I have a "thermostat" that controls the temperature but it is a general one for all the radiators?

What I really need to know is how to turn off the radiators properly so that when I turn them back on they are not air locked...

Also need some reassurance that if I do this the gas will simply heat the water.

Thanks

spiraleye

you should have either - one room thermostat that controls all of downstairs or room thermostats in all the rooms . just turn them down to zero that will stop the radiators from heating up but will heat up your water.

also if you have thermostats in the bedrooms upstairs for example turn them down to zero ,

each home is set up differently. but the above is what i have done as i too had to bleed all my rads after turning them off ...

emmavic

Did as the previous poster advised and it did not work unfortunately. Can anyone else help?

Thanks

para45

Hi . You need to get a good plummer and if you know a electrician also . Ask if they can work togethr or know each other the better . You need to know if you can zone your house . If there isn't sufficient wiring instead of breaking the house down have the option of wireless. these zones should include upstairs and down stairs if you say you have thermostats up and down then thats half the battle . Then you only need one more zone for your hot water . Preferably even a thermostat with a time clock for you hot water cylinder also which means you will have three zones then .

You get three zone packs now days that are wireless or hard wired . These will cover your time clock for your boiler and then up /down and hot water cylinder. You can then also get fancy once that do certain temperatures at chosen times of the day re occupancy etc

My house is a older house that didnt have any of these in place . Once I done it I noticed big improvement . More efficient.

Posy

emmavic wrote: »

What I really need to know is how to turn off the radiators properly so that when I turn them back on they are not air locked...

I've got gas in the house I've moved into and have only ever had electricity before- what does air locked mean?
Is it bad for a radiator to be switched off when the gas is on? So you can generally only heat your water by having your rads on too?
Sorry, I'm totally dim when it comes to gas heating!

spiraleye

Posy wrote: »

I've got gas in the house I've moved into and have only ever had electricity before- what does air locked mean?
Is it bad for a radiator to be switched off when the gas is on? So you can generally only heat your water by having your rads on too?
Sorry, I'm totally dim when it comes to gas heating!

air lock is when air builds up in the radiator and stops the radiator working properly as its not full of water, having an air lock in a radiator is not a huge issue/problem it means that you have to turn on the heating, go to each radiator and bleed the air out of it .

how do i bleed a radiator i hear you ask ?

well you need a bleeding key only costs a couple of euros , go to the radiator , look at the rear of the radiator (top end ) and on the left or right you will see a 'hole' and inside that hole you will see a nut which you need to loosen a tiny bit .

if you hear air coming out ..bingo .. you are bleeding the air out ... after a while you will hear the radiator gurgling (thats the water coming into the radiator ...dont panic thats normal) after a while where you hear the air coming out ..water will come out ... at that point close the nut and thats it ... repeat for all radiators ...

when bleeding the rad .. put an old towel under where you are bleeding ... water will come out from that nut you loose ...so you dont want to ruin your carpet in case water comes out.

its not bad to turn off rads when the heating is on BUT ... heating systems differ but you should have switches on the gas boiler where you can select where you want heating and water or water only ..... but you can heat the water by turning the immersion on obviously you will be using electricity .

see if you have the boiler instructions in the new house and have a read of it failing that google the boiler model and you should find your info there .. hope this helps .

para45

para45 wrote: »

Hi . You need to get a good plummer and if you know a electrician also . Ask if they can work togethr or know each other the better .

A heating engineer is a better bet, more and more plumbers are developing
the skills to wire a heating system themselves.

spiraleye

spiraleye wrote: »

air lock is when air builds up in the radiator and stops the radiator working properly as its not full of water, having an air lock in a radiator is not a huge issue/problem it means that you have to turn on the heating, go to each radiator and bleed the air out of it .

how do i bleed a radiator i hear you ask ?

well you need a bleeding key only costs a couple of euros , go to the radiator , look at the rear of the radiator (top end ) and on the left or right you will see a 'hole' and inside that hole you will see a nut which you need to loosen a tiny bit .

if you hear air coming out ..bingo .. you are bleeding the air out ... after a while you will hear the radiator gurgling (thats the water coming into the radiator ...dont panic thats normal) after a while where you hear the air coming out ..water will come out ... at that point close the nut and thats it ... repeat for all radiators ...

when bleeding the rad .. put an old towel under where you are bleeding ... water will come out from that nut you loose ...so you dont want to ruin your carpet in case water comes out.

its not bad to turn off rads when the heating is on BUT ... heating systems differ but you should have switches on the gas boiler where you can select where you want heating and water or water only ..... but you can heat the water by turning the immersion on obviously you will be using electricity .

see if you have the boiler instructions in the new house and have a read of it failing that google the boiler model and you should find your info there .. hope this helps .

Good stuff:)

If it's a sealed system you would have to replenish the water pressure as the air is extracted or risk the boiler shutting down and if the system is tank fed then you would have to confirm the system is filling properly as a lot of gas boiler have their low water pressure safety device cut out which can allow the boiler to be damaged. When the boiler is serviced that is the best time to ask about boiler controls, a good RGI would be more than happy to advise on a heating system, Gary.

spiraleye

gary71 wrote: »

Good stuff:)

If it's a sealed system you would have to replenish the water pressure as the air is extracted or risk the boiler shutting down and if the system is tank fed then you would have to confirm the system is filling properly as a lot of gas boiler have their low water pressure safety device cut out which can allow the boiler to be damaged. When the boiler is serviced that is the best time to ask about boiler controls, a good RGI would be more than happy to advise on a heating system, Gary.

ditto forgot about that thanks gary

emmavic

emmavic wrote: »

What do you mean room thermostats? I have a "thermostat" that controls the temperature but it is a general one for all the radiators?

If the stat is on the wall then it should shut down the heating when turned down, if not get the controls checked, if your referring to the temperture control on the boiler then that just controls the temperature of the heat leaving the boiler.

emmavic wrote: »

What I really need to know is how to turn off the radiators properly so that when I turn them back on they are not air locked...

Turning off a rad doesn't cause air locks, a leak does, on or off you would still have problems if you have a leak.

emmavic wrote: »

Also need some reassurance that if I do this the gas will simply heat the water.

Get the boiler serviced and ask the RGI, if you don't feel happy turning off rads then get the RGI to show you how and advise you on the best/practical up grades for your heating system, Gary