Thermostatic Radiator valves
Can anybody recommend a make of rad valves. Several of ours are leaking brown sludge so we need to get them replaced.
Thanks
Comments
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How much do you care about their appearance?
Drayton are fine but not the prettiest.
Would definitely take the opportunity to get the system flushed and remove all the sludge as well.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
When we extended, our builder fitted the cheapest ones he could get his hands on. All leaking within 5 years. The Honeywell ones in the rest of the house are still OK after 30+ years so I've been replacing the leaking ones with today's equivalent.
I like the fact they are flow agnostic
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Cheers folks.
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Either Drayton or honeywell are OK. Have you considered upgrading smart valves / hive type system. That way you can control heat in each individual area. Ideal for only have bedrooms on in the late evening/ morning rather than all the time the heating is on.
Too many bikes according to Mrs O.0 -
Annoyingly I only upgraded the controller to a Hive after I'd replaced the valves otherwise I'd have done just that.
Maybe next time I have to drain the system down I'll bite the bullet...
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Whenever I try to use the valves in individual rooms to control ours I end up with the system knocking like it needs bleeding for some reason so I have to leave them where they are and rely on the central thermostat which isn't ideal (bedroom radiators are generally off at all times).
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Plumbing is not my strong point, but the smart systems just involve replacing the head and not the valve itself. They are really easy to swap. Even I can do it.
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You need to have one rad that has permanently open valves with lockshields either side to ensure that if the boiler has a "heat demand" from the room stat that it has somewhere to flow if the other rads in the house are shut down for whatever reason.
Sometimes. Maybe. Possibly.
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This is something I have never understood with heating systems, and rads.
To my understanding they effectively work on a ring, a pipe comes out of the boiler and go to rad 1, that pipe goes out the other side of the rad, and onto rad 2, and so on, until we get back to the boiler to complete the 'ring'
My question is this, if you have thermostatic valves on all rads, and let's say rads 1 and 3 are off, but 2 is on and triggers the thermostat, presumably there is no way that the hot water can get through to said radiator, as the rads either side are shut off.
I'm guessing this may well relate to what @photonic69 has posted directly above 😛
Felt F70 05 (Turbo)
Marin Palisades Trail 91 and 06
Scott CR1 SL 12
Cannondale Synapse Adventure 15 & 16 Di2
Scott Foil 180 -
Noting my above comment about my plumbing knowledge, the flow splits before rad 1 with one pipe going to the flow of rad 2. The return of rad 1 and 2, then connect to the return piping.
I think the point above about always having one on is so the boiler has somewhere to dump its heat if required. Otherwise, it would just be a loop of hot water continually being heated.
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Yes, they are plumbed in parallel, not in series. Each valve tees off the circuit.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition1 -
Which is why they are not plumbed like that. There is in effect a ring out from the boiler (flow) round the house and back to the boiler (return), but at each radiator there's a T junction from the flow pipe and another to the return. So if a particular radiator is shut off the water can still circulate.
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Didn't realise they were interbreedable. Past experience trying to swap heads on mechanical valves made me think it's not universally possible
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I think anything from this century is. Also, the smart valves come with adaptors. I recently changed one and I have no DIY skills.
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I don’t want any thing “smart” as we have sold the house subject to contract. Just want something reliable.
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Interesting - the first house we bought was not setup like that at all, hence my confusion, it was literally a copper or flexible pipe into a rad, out the other side, and onto the next rad - I guess they had done it on the cheap 🤠
The idea of an actual ring, with T's off it makes total sense however, though adding in some extra connections, I see they are necessary.
Felt F70 05 (Turbo)
Marin Palisades Trail 91 and 06
Scott CR1 SL 12
Cannondale Synapse Adventure 15 & 16 Di2
Scott Foil 180 -
Cheaper still to simply omit the pipework altogether, mount the radiators upside down and fill them with a kettle and a funnel.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition2 -
Standard ones from Screwfix or Toolstation.
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Nice to see you sorted the way central heating works folks. As mentioned you cannot put thermostatic valves on all radiators as it can create a blockage and potentially stall the pump. Normally the bathroom radiator would be without a thermostatic valve. Commercial systems will normally have a pressurised bypass that operates when dead heading.
Too many bikes according to Mrs O.0 -
Ours are Draytons. Seem to work fine.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0
