A2 new build cold rooms

OEP

've been in an A2 rated new build since October. There are 4 bedrooms upstairs; 2 at the front of the house and 2 at the back of the house. We've only recently started using one of the rooms at the back, the radiator had been on low until about 2 weeks ago. I've noticed that room is a lot colder, about 2.5 to 3 degrees. The same with the other room at the back.

Some info:

- The front is south facing, back north facing. However the issue is the same at night.

- There is one upstairs thermostat in the master bedroom, at the front. This is also the only room with people (2) sleeping in.

- The radiators seem to be working OK

- Vents are trickle vents in the windows. Have them closed but issue persists.

- Heating is air to water. Bills aren't high so it doesn't seem to a problem with the whole house.

How can I begin to pinpoint if there is an issue? I don't even know what I could be but it seems there is excessive heat loss somewhere.

Can a thermostat be moved easily? If it was moved out of the master bedroom the situation might improve.

marco_polo

I'd say your best starting point would be a thermal imaging inspection, it should be able to pinpoint exactly where heat loss is occurring.

Water John

So, the thermostat in the Master Bedroom controls all upstairs? If that is so, then the heating is kicking out before the backrooms are heated.

cunnifferous

Exact same problem in my house. The two thermostat zones are both on the south facing part of the house, so one side is always cold.

Also pretty sure the house isn't very airtight. It has a report but I don't believe it as there are cold spots.

OEP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121842972#Comment_121842972

Yea, that thermostat controls upstairs. That is one of the problems, second is it seems the master bedroom retains hear really well. I've been keeping a close eye on the temperature and it doesn't drop much at all. One wall is almost completely covered by a wardrobe, not built in but I'm assuming this has an insulating effect. Also then that we're using it so it stays above the set temperature at night too.

OEP

I've been keeping an eye on the room temperatures. For context the thermostat is set to 20, I like it warm, and has to drop 0.4 below for the heating to kick in. The cold rooms don't seem to drop much below 18, even if the heating hasn't been on for a long time - so they're probably retaining heat pretty well?

Can a thermostat be moved easily?

Water John

Thermostat is almost certainly hard wired, not easy to move. You could simply leave all doors open upstairs during the day and see the result by bedtime. Your temps are high. The standard for bedrooms is 18c.

OEP

My office is upstairs too, 18 is too cold for me to be sitting at a desk.

Water John

18c is cold for an office alright. Could you rebalance the rads so that the master bedroom rad is cut back in throughput of hot water? In effect slowing down the heating in that room, leaving other rooms to catch up.

OEP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121846068#Comment_121846068

I wouldn't know how to go about rebalancing but I have turned down the rads in the master bedroom, we'll see how that goes.

Calahonda52

Are there TRVs on the rads?

If you ramp up the stat in the bedroom then it will over heat while the other rooms heat so you could look at TRVs on the rads, nice wire less versions now so you could have the rooms at different temps and essentially ignore the wall stat by setting it at max

Private Joker

You could consider getting a nest thermostat if you want to move them around.

The base is hardwired and you can move the actual nest to where you want.

Be careful putting trv's on an air-to-water heating system. There needs to be a constant return through the system.

OEP

The rads have trv's, except in the rooms with the thermostat.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121847973#Comment_121847973

I'm assuming I'd need to get someone who knows what they're doing to install that?

OEP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121849728#Comment_121849728

I wear jumpers. And I paid for a well insulated house to be comfortable.

I have the rad in the master bedroom turned down. It seems to help a little. The issue really is that the thermostat is in the wrong room. The master bedroom loses very little heat, given it is south facing, has two people in it at night and that extra bit of insulation through the wardrobe

cnocbui

An electric fan heater would get a well insulated room up to 20 in next to no time. Then turn it off.