zoothorn

Hi Ferdinand. Good Q- alas cannot add onto/ up. Its the lowest ceiling Ive ever known in a house perhaps (& would add a badly out of kilter step). Imagine a characterful black & white beamed cottage ceiling.. then take a foot+ off! It must be to same level, which continues thru to adjoining kitchen.

Hi Onoff- Ive put in VG back door seals, so no draughts now. We disagree on PIR (my eg was a BIG, double-fullwidth-doored, both open, cold december evening.. log chap self built this separate garage & main huge house adjacent.. one rad on medium only, & just one step inside = you just felt the warm insulation like a comfort blanket): if I had 300mm PIR in walls & ceiling, despite the back door close to kitchen, it'd be massively different & I say till the cows come home: its cold UP from the floor no1 (+ yes via walls) I'm sure, as my ankles feel cold 1st. Anyway.. I have a decent 'leccy slimline wall heater in kitchen/ cvan bang out heat. If its very cold, it flat out for 2 hours & I'm 3m away.. my hands, nose, legs remain a bit cold. Only way I can get warm is a fan heater on too, firing at me/ a godsend. A huge ammount of heat to combat/ get the better of the cold in room. The same in big main room, but magnified: a HUGE maxed 2hr wallop from stove just to get room medium-warm then keep this going at max a must or cold wins. A battle I rarely win to be honest & retire 9.30 (couches, & corners of room always remain cold) & a huge no. of logs per night. not fun. I need to have something done/ anything now Im desperate.

Chaps- happy new year! kitchen 90% done: lino.. will be pro job I've decided: those door frame in-outs/ 1 mistake & I'd mess up. Then plinths/ lastly skirting. The improvement of living cooker side is massive. Sink/ tops & tap's WAY better than expected too- the best bits. Room unfortunately seems just as cold as before, but, it was worth trying.. & great trial for upstairs job (spring). As cold's back top of agenda, I'm doing prep/ a new thread re. my main room floor. Mods- could it be moved to a more popular section I wonder? I seem to not be getting any replies, here.. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/8149-cold-stone-cottage-orig-floor-insulate/ Thanks, zoot

Hi chaps, happy new year. I have a C1830 small welsh stone cottage with terrible cold issue, coming up from old floor for definite. Its a stone 2ft thick, 4-walled original 'shell' (so 1 big main room) with an 80's 1st floor addition (2 small beds) plus small ground-floor kitchen/ b'room extention. Main room floor: my builder did see a bit of blue dpm edge 'evidence', so maybe not original floor: but I'm certain there's no insulation as its SO cold underfoot. So is the right idea to dig & put in PIR? And could it be done in 'halves'? (say a placcy screen for dust, shifting stuff over > do one side at a time?). I do have minor damp patches twds edges too.. so dpm either badly done or compromised would you think? Your thoughts appreciated. Zoot

Hi Mike, no the system is ancient/ 80's looks like. They moved in 2.5 yrs ago (the most un-tech couple ever). If familiar with these heaters, Id be grateful for your thoughts on symptoms of the one i can't seem to work/ figure out (runs flat out 11pm > 6 am.. then simply not on whatoever during the whole day: its LHS dial 'boost' is on low, as it says is 'normal' to on its flip-down cover.. RHS dial -presumably "heat"- is say midway). If I can get a consensus on the likely issue, I can at least give my folks this info. Whether or not they then trust me (even saying its a "reliable consensus of experienced builders' opinions on a terrific site etc".. ie not just my wild guess) to do anything about it, stuck in thought still that 'its working as it should'.. is alas still 50/50. Thanks.

Splendid idea Nick- thanks. actually if I got abcd prep ready I could do once they'd gone to bed.. but clang/ if I got in a pickle/ or just if they caught me so much as fiddling the dials it'd cause them stress. Im a long way away too. alas.. it stays as is.

Many thanks for replies chaps- it'll be of use to some other's elderly folks, if not mine I'd hope.

Oh I could do it in 5mins flat now I know, Im sure/ put flap convector fix into youtube etc. But they won't do it. Its working you see, to them, as it should be if its getting hot between 2 time periods > then off. They 'just haven't set it right' they'll say & refuse my help to fix it.

No point Dave. My folks will never agree its not exactly as it should be, as "he's not an expert" (or mumble "now he thinks he's knows all about radiators" rolling their eyes etc). Its a new system for them only being in 2.5 yrs. Even if I'm 100% certain, have fixed all mine up, with pics to show. 'Mmm.. no, let's just leave it'. Trying to explain trv's to them.. then unable to put proof into practise myself as these damn things are infuriatingly fallible so you can't ascertain if they're working right themselves. And you just give up & put up with cold rooms with cold rads. I'm concerned you see cos their house is cold (nothing like mine thank gawd) & 83 & 78 & frail.. but they never had warm houses like most folks cos they scrimped on the ££'s putting C.heating on for an hr AM & PM. When they had it in last house. What can I do? most frustrating.

Its not my rad but my old folks. They can't afford new ones, & will not entertain the idea either that should I know why this one is not working as it should, if that's the case, as "he's not a radiator expert" he being me, they just won't trust what I 'm saying isn't anything but a wild stab in the dark. To them its as it should be (this is what they thought/ think). So status quo remains: total belting wasted heat from 12-5AM.. & a cold rad all day. I was just trying to see why I can't get it to work. If the one upstairs in bed2 -doesn't- show the same belting-out heat 12-5am, as I assume not or I'd have woken up sweating, then this Id have to conclude this alone must be a symptom of a faulty rad.. now I know a bit more about its storing system. And if the most likely issue then is a stuck flap, then there we go. But nothing I can do, most frustratingly.

Right. @ProDave Now I do understand that. But I don't understand the whole damn design then, if the thing is -only- failing to store the heat, & the heat presumably would still have to be pumped in say midnight to 5AM.. then it'd be both warm during night -and- warm during day. When you only want warmth during the day. I can't cope. Where's my Viz.

But Dave, it is heating up. Just at the wrong time. Isn't it?

@ProDave if it is definitely getting hot, & as said I noticed it was hot both at midnight & 5AM, & as the room was toasty at 5AM I can surely assume the damn thing's been on between these 2 times.. does this not rule out a fault with the bricks, &/ or the flap?

I tried to give a link to a pic.. scroll down/ twds rhs like the scruffy stewdent-grant one here https://www.northwestheatingsolutions.co.uk/landlordselectricheating/ Aux switch? blimey nothing I can see like this. The unit enters the wall, on which plate is a switch. I'll call it a rad just for here/ easier.

I don't know how I can establish if this is correct. Can I not just attempt to get it working, IE get the rad warm during the day 1st tho? Afaict that means a case of 'reversing' the time at which its going on.. from AM to PM. But with no time dial.. I can't see how.

I can't be considering the weather tomorrow, yet, if I can't even get the damn thing to make heat at a normal time. The ammount of heat/ getting the damn thing at 'optimal' setting' relative to today's or tomorrow's weather.. is a fathom away. I don't care what ammount of heat comes out, just for now. I just want it to go on at all.. or.. if I can, at a normal time. Once I can achieve this -then- I can consider adjustment of the ammount of heat it produces. Surely. At the moment its hot at night & cold in day. Is this correct then?

@ProDave But this is the setting its at. The boost is left on 1 (the spiel in the metal drop down cover for the 2 dials says 'for normal operation set the boost to 1). The other dial, whatever it is & I assume it has to be heat level, is up say 4. Ok with this setting, I get no heat from the unit until midnight, when it roars away.. seemingly until 5 AM. At 5 AM it shuts off to nothing. All day, from breakfast time to midnight, with this setting not touched or faffed with, its cold. The room is cold. Before this, say 1AM to 4 AM, the room is warm. The question remains,. how can I get a situation wherby the room is not warm at 4AM.. but 4PM instead?

I'm sorry but this explains the internal engineering of such a heater. But it doesn't tell me how to turn it on. Please can someone just tell me how to turn the radiator on?

Thanks for the help chaps. It seems I just don't speak radiator. For eg "You must alter the input control to import the correct amount of heat for to-morrow’s weather." is incomprehensible to me. The idea of different settings for different times of the year.. I cannot possibly cope with understanding. Its 10 pages ahead. What I want to do, is simply get the radiator on low-medium, in the evening. Nothing but that. What I don't want is for a warm room at 5AM, cold room at 5PM which is what its doing at present.

This looks like the type, if ylou scroll down a bit/ the scruffy cream-brown one RHS. 2 dials: left Boost, & right S'thing.. https://www.northwestheatingsolutions.co.uk/landlordselectricheating/

But Nick Id have no idea how to set the rad to get this. Im sure better options re. 'tarriffs' but Im a long way from being able to entertain these. I'm just trying to undertand how to work this rad.

Hi PeterW- I'm not on board here tho, as when I said flap I was referring to the cover for the 2 dials that pops open.. rather than any part of the heat mechanism; there was no obvious 'flap' in this respect. Twas just a (fat ~5" thick) rectangular rad, vented along top, 2 dials twds top right.

Ah, alas no pics or model. Im just back from their house you see (& way colder! my slim leccy rad flat out for 2hrs, just 3m away.. yet I'm in hat shivvering with cold. urgh). I can only recall fairly fat typical 80's looking cream colour rads, with brown top vent & control areas. But I don't think anything strapped to the front. Sorry! The same rad upstairs in my (their) bedroom2.. was nr perfect, on low in evening & thru night too it seemed = just nicely warm room, & constantly (so it seemed to me too). I can rarely if ever get any rad to do this whatever make or type they're usually on flat-out or stone cold.. but rarely if ever like this one in their bed2 @ 'just nicely warm'. A mystery.

Hi Pro Dave. Ok I understand a bit from this, but not majority still. There was no 'input' control. LHS dial 1-5 'boost' (says on the flap normal operation set it to 1). RHS dial I'm not sure what it was called, but surely must be 'heat' if its a similar dial with 1-5 on. And altho I can get a gist of 'charging at midnight - 7 am' the main Q of why it was flat-out hot between (or certainly both at start & end of) these times still totally baffles me. I mean can this be working 'correctly' as it is leaving us cold in the afternoon & on at night? presumably, surely not..

Hi chaps, just back from my old folks house, fat old 'leccy storage heaters. I cannot (nor can they/ no clue whatsoever) understand them. Tbh nor trv's (so far as if a valve head is slightly working 'wrong' there's no indication if faulty or just you just haven't set them right, or so sensitive that setting isn't feasable.. so you have no idea if a rad is working as it should).. nor my one 'modern' 'leccy slim Economy-Radiator Co I have here either! (so stupidly complicated its small screen is, & online info is, with so many permeatations I cannot make it work -other- than via the plug/on/ & at flat out for so long as is needed regardless of what the heck the screen's telling me). Back to my folks storage heaters. The principle I understand, they store > unload. Ok so we're cold a'noon & I see its plugged in the wall (visible lead/ switched on) & on it a panel opens with 2 dials, boost/ heat. Spiel says keep boost on 1 for normal/ ok let's forget that. So one dial for heat 1-5. Simple? er no, the polar opposite seemingly for muggins here. I cannot get it to work not 1, to 5. So we're all left cold. Then I notice at midnight.. its on full pelt. Eh? what's more I come down today at 5AM.. the thing's still on full & the room's warm (1st time over xmas.. room finally warm at exactly when everyone's in bed not that they've ever likely established this, let alone why). If there was some sort of time dial, fine/ I could see why on midnight-5am > 'storing' rest of the time.. & probably able to set it to store @ night > on PM/ ev. But no. Nothing its plugged into, or on the unit to signify when/ time etc. There cannot be a 'brain'/ central command NORAD (clever) centre in airing cupboard as sendng info via mains wires would be magic. Wouldn't it? Can anyone help?