New boiler, rads keep getting cold

[Mrs Naylir]

Hi we had a baxi18 installed June. From day one the plumber could not get all rads hot and to stay on. They came back and changed pump, no difference changed all trvs. Now, the problem is this They all come on and are hot after about 45mins one goes cold and does not come back on . There are two that come on and work as they should. The bathroom comes on and cools down alot but is hot on left trv side cold on right. The others soon cool down and only heat up a bit. Now I realise trvs work on ambient temperatures but my lovely old system never went off with the westherm trvs these are tower it is a conventional system. The plumber is a lovely lad but I rang him and asked what it could be and he said he didn't know when they came back on the 3rd occasion they got them all going but went before they went off. We have now paid for the new system, new pump and trvs. Cant keep paying out. We are elderly and stressed. They seemed to struggle balancing it as as soon as one warmed up another went off and they rebalanced and then another went cold. Any ideas

 

[Mrs Naylir]

So he made no note of previous boiler output or did any heat loss calculations? The problem you're experiencing with rooms never coming up to temperature can be caused by an undersized boiler but I still think you have something else going on. Even if the new boiler was undersized you would still reach a certain indoor temperature, the fact you say rads warm up then go cold for ages suggests something else is going on as well.

I think your right. Funny it worked when he took trv off. I told him it would go off after a bit permanently but he had to rush off. The boiler warranty says baxi 418 so I guess it is the right size our gut feeling is the cheap Trvs. He said all new systems go off completely. Because my Husband is elderly and so am I and female. He wont believe us. When I pushed him on why the trvs completely go off till rad is cold, he said it is hard to explain. He is such a nice guy but we have spent thousands, we are not wealthy and it looks like we will have to get in a new plumber and start again. He honestly, just does not know why it happens. Is it possible for trvs to be too sensitive to temperature levels. We can't be the only ones to ever have this problem

 

[SJB060685]

It is possible that the trv's are at fault, in which case it would be a manufacturers responsibility under warranty to fix.

 

[Mrs Naylir]

It is possible that the trv's are at fault, in which case it would be a manufacturers responsibility under warranty to fix.

Thank you. I will put a new post on re this brand of trvs

 

[John.g]

If all the TRVs are opened fully to index 5 they should stay full open until they are sensing a (room) temperature of 30C, so definitely something clearly wrong, they do shut off fully at the set temperature and have a very small hysteresis of a a degree or two but are fairly slow acting so are nearly always passing some water, they shouldn't open/shut rapidly.

 

[Mrs Naylir]

Thank you so much this what we thought but our plumber said the new systems don't work like the old my 30 year old ones never went cold. Do you know if Tower trvs are any good. Our rooms are nowhere near 30 degrees

 

[John.g]

No, I'm afraid or thankful that I've never heard of them. I replaced all (8) my 10/12 year old assorted ones but mainly Myson over the summer with "cheap?", around £12, EPH ones, all working perfectly well.

 

[Deleted member 120897]

Tower I believe are in the lower price bracket, and in my experience I would tend to stick with proven named brands such as Honeywel, Drayton, Pegler et al.

Are you able to remove the trv heads? If so, you could remove the ones where fitted and see how long they stay hot for and if the rads are indeed getting hot?

 

[Mrs Naylir]

No, I'm afraid or thankful that I've never heard of them. I replaced all (8) my 10/12 year old assorted ones but mainly Myson over the summer with "cheap?", around £12, EPH ones, all working perfectly well.

I think these are around £5

 

[Mrs Naylir]

Tower I believe are in the lower price bracket, and in my experience I would tend to stick with proven named brands such as Honeywel, Drayton, Pegler et al.

Are you able to remove the trv heads? If so, you could remove the ones where fitted and see how long they stay hot for and if the rads are indeed getting hot?

Just took trv head off rad immediately hot. Let's see if it stays hot. Thank you will update

 

[John.g]

Tower I believe are in the lower price bracket, and in my experience I would tend to stick with proven named brands such as Honeywel, Drayton, Pegler et al.

Are you able to remove the trv heads? If so, you could remove the ones where fitted and see how long they stay hot for and if the rads are indeed getting hot?

and get some neighbor that has a hammer (no don't do that), get him to reverse it and us the handle to push the pin(s) in (they should then spring out but only move ~ 3 to 5mm)

 

[Mrs Naylir]

Tower I believe are in the lower price bracket, and in my experience I would tend to stick with proven named brands such as Honeywel, Drayton, Pegler et al.

Are you able to remove the trv heads? If so, you could remove the ones where fitted and see how long they stay hot for and if the rads are indeed getting hot?

Just did as you suggested immediately went hit. Now will see if it stays that way. Will update

 

[John.g]

Just took trv head off rad immediately hot. Let's see if it stays hot. Thank you will update

The head is normally held on with a knurled nut so the head should be fitted with it fully opened (index 5) then finger tighten the nut otherwise you are trying to push in the pin at the same time.

 

[Mrs Naylir]

Tower I believe are in the lower price bracket, and in my experience I would tend to stick with proven named brands such as Honeywel, Drayton, Pegler et al.

Are you able to remove the trv heads? If so, you could remove the ones where fitted and see how long they stay hot for and if the rads are indeed getting hot?

Thank you so much it stayed on. We have put the head back on nie. Wow that was tricky as it was very very hot without it. So can I assume that it is obviously the trvs.

 

[Deleted member 120897]

Thank you so much it stayed on. We have put the head back on nie. Wow that was tricky as it was very very hot without it. So can I assume that it is obviously the trvs.

I would say trv issue yes. Perhaps the original installer and yourselves can come to some agreement?