Any advice for central heating thermo?

goz83

Living in a semi detached 3 bed + attic convert home in Dub. I have central gas heating, which does the rads and the boiler, but also have electric for the boiler if needed for hot water only. 1 radiator in each room. Also have trad fire in lounge and this will be replaced will a 6kw stove at the end of the week (hopefully). No back boiler, as it's just for the lounge and didn't want a big job, or expense. House has had internal insulation done in past 2 years (made big difference).

So, I am getting tired of hitting the boost button, or setting time mode on the CH. I would like the house to remain a certain temp and would like to know what I should get (thinking thermostat, but need advice on what to get exactly) to keep my toes from freezing off. I work at home a couple of days a week and forget to turn heating on and before I know it, my fingers and toes are freezing and sore, despite having socks and shoes on. The CH burner is in the kitchen. The upstairs of the house is really only used in the evening, save for the bathroom. I am also having an alarm fitted soon with X10 home automation for the heating, so I can control the heating over the net, or on my phone. Hope that's enough info. I don't want the heating on when it isn't necessary, but I don't want the house to be freezing until I press the boost button and it starts to slowly warm up. Any advice?

shane0007

You could install a wireless thermostat & locate it in a location of average heat such as a hallway, but not close to a rad, door or window, etc.

This will not resolve your issue as by keeping the house all the time at an average heat will certainly increase your gas bills as the heating system will just keep up with the heat loss of the building.

goz83

Yeah I was afraid of that. If I were to build my own home, I would be sure to spend a large amount of it on insulation, aiming to make it passive.

My house is by no means an ice-box, but it can be annoying with the outside temperature varying so much this time of year, making it a bit harder to know how often to put the heat on.

JohnnieK

A programmable room thermostat.

This can be timed and temp controlled. I have 2 honeywell CM901's at home and there great.

You can set the temp at a comfortable set point all day and have it at a cosier temp in the evening and then a nice set back temp during the night.

I also have a Danfoss TP5000 for the sun room. This too is good but lacking in control options compared to the Honeywell.

shane0007

Depending on how old your boiler is & if a replacement was due in the coming future, many HE boilers will modulate their flame to low flame to suit the desired radiator temperature, so a low background heat could be established for times of low demand.

Boilers such as the Ariston & Viessmanm have the option of plugging in an outdoor weather compensator directly to their PCB.
What this will do is base the flow temperature on the desired temperature in relation to the actual outdoor temp. So, of outside is -3C, the boiler knows it must work harder & give full power to achieve the desired inside temp but if outside is say 15C, it knows it only needs a lower flow temp to achieve the same room temp.

When installed correctly, these can have enormous cost savings & very comfortable living.

goz83

I think I need to do a bit of research in this area. The burner is about 5 years old now and the current control panel is closer to 15 years old, or more, having only basic options (1 hr boost....timed on/off and ...always on).

Maybe I could look into individual thermostats, with an ambient and programmable room temp to work with the radiators. Any recommendations there? Would be nice to be able to have different rooms at different temps and to be able to cut the heating altogether in those rooms. The living room is the only room used for several hours of the day. It's a waste heating the rest of the house, but the radiators are old and without temp control.

JohnnieK

Radco in Galway would have the solution your looking for. But be warned that level of control is expensive.