OT:- Radiators lol
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totally OT but someone could possibly help..........

we have a gas combi boiler and 2 radiators in the flat. someone told use to leave the boiler on and use the thermostat to switch the radiators on and off (ie flick it to 0 for of and about 26 for on).

Is this correct? also what is the cost difference of having half of the radiators on and opposed to all 5?

and should they be on full wack or half there temp?

surely the hot water flows around the system at the same temp regardless of weather there turned on or off doesnt it?

sorry for all the questions but never really thought about it before lol

it doesn't make any difference how you turn the heating on / off, either at the boiler, time clock, or thermostat, it's just a case of what ever is simplest for you.

The boiler works out the tempreture coming back from the radiators, if it's less than 10% lower than the water left the boiler than it will stay on, as soon as the water returning is a temprture close to origonal, the burner will turn off, but pump will stay on, (on some boilers pump will run intermitantly.)

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Do the radiators have thermostatic valves on them (adjustable valve with numbers 1-5 on them)?

If so set these to approx number 3 and leave it at that as this will give you a comfortable living temperature (approx 21 degrees celcius).
Yes the water will flow around at the same temperature what ever but if you do have thermostatic valves on the radiator then once it has reached its temp you have set it to then a wax capsule will close the valve not allowing more water in.

It will depend on how big the other rooms are that the five rads are in.

You don't really want to be turning the rads on and off using the room thermostat as they have a thing called
an anticipator in them. This will sense when you are reaching says 21 degrees and turn the boiler off at say 20 so the latent heat from the boiler will not let it rise too far above the 21 degrees you have specified.
Also being a switch in the stat as with everything if your constantly flicking it back and forth it will wear out quicker.

Excuse the massive post!

Hi,
Having half the rads on should use approximately half the gas as the bolier has less work to do.
Cheers,
Gavin :)

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