Where pipes are exposed, they do add to the overall heating effect. Pipes should ideally be insulated where the heat would just go to waste.
Many systems these days use microbore piping rather than the usual copper 15mm pipework. Arguments for an against. The resistance to flow in thinner pipes means a pump has to work a bit harder. Thinner pipes mean the pipes themselves have less of a heating effect. At the same time, this gives your heating system a much lower overall volume of water to heat and then circulate.
Don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player. I DON'T work for or on behalf of EON.Next, but am willing to try and help if I can. Not on mains gas, mobile network or mains drainage. House heated almost entirely by baby dragons.
@retrotecchie . Can't reduce my heating below 18C cos rheumatoid arthritis so always looking other ways to save. Liked u idea of motion sensors leds. But can only find the small separate light ones not the just bulb type. Have I not looked enough or are thr just bulb type not available?
do u need to insulate pipes in rooms 2 radiators in house do u know? Have been told u dont cos heat of them only adds to warmth of room anyway. I think that's wrong cos radiators r designed to give out heat not pipes if that makes sense?
also gree discussion bout kettles. Managed to reduce the minium on my kettle by half previously
Any info gratefully received. Thanks
Amazon sell them as do many other online retailers. I've seen them in Screwfix too.
@retrotecchie thank you. Used link to get details then ebay with topcashback and using nectar card. And barclay cashback card , every little help😀 .7W . Should save money and me tripping over things trying to find light switch in dark too. Thanks
@retrotecchie thank you. Used link to get details then ebay with topcashback and using nectar card. And barclay cashback card , every little help😀 .7W . Should save money and me tripping over things trying to find light switch in dark too. Thanks
Have now installed the LED bulb in downstairs hallway. Don't know how much power saved cos didn't have it on much (it was the old type 'efficient' bulbs) but it has saved me tripping over many times. Now as I open front door the hallway light comes on, welcoming and don't have to search 4 light switch in dark now. I think it's probably a little bright for job but good anyway. So thanks again @retrotecchie
Something I did in mid-December was to investigate how to balance the radiators. The biggest rad (in the most important room - the lounge) never seemed to get as hot as the others and took a while to get hot. I had tried using my home beer thermometers to measure the heat coming off them all but they really weren't that responsive and besides I'm too old to be bending over for too long. I took a punt on a fairly low-cost unit prior to Xmas costing £11 for a digital IR gun. Expected it not to work but it certainly did - accuracy was pretty good but what I really needed it for was a fast way of working out the speed at which the rads heated up. Armed with the information about which rads speeded up the quickest, it was clear that the lounge rad was the slowest.
Now I gingerly explored the black arts of adjusting the 'lockshield valve' - the one on the other side of the TRV on most rads. The lockshield is critical in making sure that the system is balanced i.e. rads receive pumped CH water at the same rate when balanced. Every single one of these lockshields were set fully open which effectively starved the lounge rad of much needed CH flow. The upshot of all of this is that the only rad with a near fully open lockshield is the lounge (also the furthest away from the boiler) whereas the ones closest only get a 1/4 turn open. Doing this has made the coolest rad much warmer (and faster in heating up) than it used to be and tamed the ones that got very hot to just hot and the house feels a little more snug overall. Thermostat set to 17C for most of the day and gas bills for December (colder by 2C compared to the norm where I live) down from 1500 kWh in 2021 to 1250 kWh in 2022. January looking better so looking to go from 1300 kWh/month in 2022 to 1100 kWh/month.
So what I did was very easy to do and could make your system better balanced. Lots of stuff on the web re the theory and practicalities in balancing your CH system without spending a small fortune.
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