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Hey guys

looking for abit of advice on my heating system in a house I’ve just moved into. Last week I had to bleed a few radiators which I thought was normal but today I’ve had to go round bleeding them again and there was quite abit of air in them. How often should they need to be bleed? The down stairs toilet needed bleeding first time round but now it’s stone cold but doesnt need bleeding. What could be wrong with this? Also a few radiators are hot to touch but if I put my hand over the top it doesn’t feel like much heats coming off them and lastly for a new build property it’s costing anything from £4-6a day for gas and the heatings only on a few hours a day but doesn’t seem to reach temperature. For a new build property it seems abit excessive my old house was built In 1960ish and didn’t cost this much to run.

any help would be appreciated

thanks
 
Sorry this sounds like a typical new build , probably only teething problems but get yourself around the site office , assuming they are still there.
 
They do have after care but I was hoping it’ll be things I could sort out myself. I’ve done a 2 page snag list that Im still waiting for them to start. The heatings been on for 2 hours and the temperatures gone up from 16 to 18 degrees. Not sure if I’m expecting to much but I used to live in a relatively new house 7 years ago I’m sure I used to walk round in shorts it was that hot this time of year
 
Any pictures of the install ? do you have weather compensation fitted to the system ? Probably just needs a few tweaks here and there get the installers back its their responsibility to get it working properly. Kop
 
It’s a ideal logic heat 15 with a tribune xe tank. It’s got 2 zones for heating a stat on the 2nd floor for 1st and 2nd then a stat on the ground floor for just the ground floor. As far as im aware it hasn’t got any weather compensation
 
It is rather cold at the moment, plus your house is a brand new build I’d guess it’s been empty without the heating on for a bit too, you need to let the fabric of the house warm up, you know like walls floors kitchen units etc, then the house will start to feel warm. Is the temp dial on the front of the boiler at 65degrees and the rads getting piping hot to touch?
As for bleeding, the system will have been thrown in by a subby on a price, probably over worked and the install price as low as the builder can get away with, it’ll take a while to settle and all the air to work it’s way to the top of the system, keep bleeding the rads but don’t forget to top up the pressure, you’ll find the filing loop and gauge in the cylinder cupboard. Let us know how you get on.
 
Have you checked the system pressure?
Is the hot water cylinder on the top floor?
 
Slacky,

From the information that you have given, it would indicate that the boiler is working very hard, but not achieving the set room temperatures.

First, check that your meter readings and cost calculation is correct - take readings direct from the meter at the same time each day. Don’t rely on the information from a portable Smart Meter device.

If your calculation of £4 to £6 of gas / day is correct (which I would doubt):

As an order of magnitude, assuming an average gas cost of 3.5p /KW, £4/day represents your boiler (12kw) on 80% load for 12 hours. That would possibly be caused either by too low a flow temperature set at the boiler or a boiler that is significantly undersized for the system it is powering. However, you are not saying that the boiler is on continuously - which it would need to be tconsume that volume of gas.

With your handover pack there should be a Bench Mark Certificate completed and signed by the installer. If the Builder/Developer is slow to respond contact the installer direct. Most installers are very responsive to address issues on systems that they have signed off. If you don’t have a Benchmark Certificate demand one - you will need it for the boiler warranty.

Under the Central Heating section, The Benchmark certificate will show you the boiler flow temperature - measure it at the hottest pipe leaving the boiler and see if it matches the recorded reading. It should be around 70 degrees with a return temperature below 55 degrees.

The issues with air and system pressure have been covered by other posters. However, with the system you have described - when set up correctly, you should get all radiators hot to the touch whilst the house gets up to temperature. If you don’t it (the heating system ) needs to be recommissioned and balanced.

Finally, talk to your new neighbours and see what issues they are experiencing with their heating system (if any).

If the builder and installer remain unresponsive, put them on notice that if they don’t address the issue properly, you will engage a third party and back charge them.

Hope the above helps.
 
I’ll be ringing the site Foreman in the Morning to see if anything can be sorted. I just either wanted to sort the little problems out myself rather than have the inconvenience of waiting in for half the day and for them to try fob my partner off because they want to get back to their price work or have an idea of what’s wrong so I know what they should be looking at. I’ve been in the house for 2 weeks now and the heatings was on constant for 2-4 weeks before I moved in not sure how longs things take to heat up. I’ve also noticed the stat downstairs doesn’t go above 18 degreees and I get a low heating warning on the stat because it’s took longer than 2 hours to get to 20 degrees
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Sorry for the double post I didn’t refresh the page before I typed my reply 🙈 I’ve got a commission certificate at home I’ll get it out when I get back. The boilers on highest temperature setting I’ve already checked that. I did too the pressure up to 1.5 bar after I bleed the radiators yesterday. Most of the radiators are piping hot to touch but doesn’t seem much coming out the top of them
 
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The downstairs thermostat sounds like it is a Danfos TP One which has been set by the builder with Temperature Limitation at 18 degrees C, whilst the property dries out. That is common practice by some Developers.

Having said that, it does not explain the symptoms you described in your earlier post - but the information on your Benchmark Certificate will indicate exactly how the boiler has been set up / configured.

If your rads are all piping hot and you are not achieving 20 degrees C - that is starting to point to a system that is undersized
 
Just checked the boiler and it’s set to 80 degreees is this to high?
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Just checked the benchmark it says central heating flow rate 80 degrees and return rate 65 degreees.
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Just checked the stat on the ground floor under installer settings temperature limitations and it’s 5 degreees to 35 degrees is that the section you mean ?
 
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Yes thats a bit high a modern new build property should not require the boiler to be set that high, i would still contact the developers and get their installers to check the operation of heating and its controls . Kop
 
There’s a e on the dial I presume that means efficiency? I’ve turned it onto the e to see if that helps which takes it down to 65 degrees
 
Is there a TRV on the radiator in the room with the room thermostat
 
e is the eco setting to keep the return temp at optimum so boiler stays in condensing mode as much as possible
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can see this turning into another pointless warranty call to ideal as more than likely site will say its under warranty get the manufacturers out
 
If you have a flow temperature of 80 degrees and the rads are all getting hot, then that is the best you are going to get for heat in your property as currently installed and insulated. It us unlikely that there is anything wrong with the boiler.

If you want the boiler to operate more efficiently as a condensing boiler the flow temp needs to be reduced to give a return temp of less than 55 degrees C.

The temperature restriction on the Danfos TP1 can be removed by the parameters on menu 3 or 4 on installer settings
 
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There isn’t a trv on the radiator on the ground floor in the hallway where the ground floor stat is but in the top bedroom where the second stat is there’s trvs on both radiators but no trv just outside the room on the landing outside

I just know when the plumber comes round he’ll just try fob us off with the usual crap. I’ve had them round a couple of times for leaks and you can tell they don’t want to be here
 
when you turn off all your programmers, hot water and both heating stats, does the display on the boiler go to 00
 
There isn’t a trv on the radiator on the ground floor in the hallway where the ground floor stat is but in the top bedroom where the second stat is there’s trvs on both radiators but no trv just outside the room on the landing outside

I just know when the plumber comes round he’ll just try fob us off with the usual crap. I’ve had them round a couple of times for leaks and you can tell they don’t want to be here
shouldn't be trvs on both rads in bedroom where second stat is
 
Yes the boiler goes to 00 and there’s 16 radiators in the whole house. I’ve been round and added up all the kw for the size and type of radiators and it comes to 8.7kw so we’ll in the boiler capacity
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Sorry my mistake on both radiators on the top floor where the stat is there isn’t any trvs on them
 
Hmmmm i would say your boiler is undersized 16 rads and a Tribune cylinder is alot for a 15kw ideal i was expecting around 8- 10 rads max
 
Hmmmm i would say your boiler is undersized 16 rads and a Tribune cylinder is alot for a 15kw ideal i was expecting around 8- 10 rads max
Yes the boiler goes to 00 and there’s 16 radiators in the whole house. I’ve been round and added up all the kw for the size and type of radiators and it comes to 8.7kw so we’ll in the boiler capacity
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Sorry my mistake on both radiators on the top floor where the stat is there isn’t any trvs on them
are you on 3 floors with boiler on ground floor and cylinder on top floor
 
Yes the cylinder on the top floor just outside the bedroom
tbh 15k on new builds is fine with level of insulation running 15 rads see it all the time. I know you shouldn't have to do this but if you go round all the rads make sure the lockshield valves are fully open. turn off the HW then turn both heating stats on and make sure pump is on max setting then turn all the rads off except one, run this rad for a minute or so so you know all the air in the pipwork has been cleared, go to next rad turn this one on then go back to previous and turn it off to clear next rad pipework of air. repeat this step one rad at a time till you have been round all the rads. turn system off and vent all rads and check system pressure. open all rads to max setting and run boiler with HW and both heating zones on and see if all rads get hot. if not its a balancing issue which site should sort out. had this so many times where boiler on ground floor being pumped up to top floor then back down to ground floor rads on microbore. pump setting can be sorted after you know all rads are balanced
 
Plumber came round earlier to look at the heating played with a couple of lockshields got the rads warm and then went as I suspected he would. The heating was on from 12 when he turned up and by half 4 it had gone from 15 degreees to 19 degrees so 4 degrees in 4 and a half hours. At 2pm she turned the upstairs stat off because the 2 smaller bedrooms wasn’t even warming up even with the doors closed. And all this has cost £3.50
 
Just wanted to give you guys a quick update. I’ve spoke to the site Forman and he’s getting the company that does all the insulation out to get there isn’t anything cold spots etc as the plumbers keep saying the radiators are hot it’s working fine. I’ve started writing down the times, temperatures and cost every hour of the day. I just wanted to ask if I’ve got theos the right with the boiler usage. Am I right in thinking if all my radiators add up to 8.5kw and the gas kwh is 4.23p then if the boilers running at 8.5kw it’ll be using 35p per hour?
 
No, you need to convert from gross to net. So at 4.23p /kwhr that equates to £0.40/hr. (multiply your calculation by 1.11).

Having said that, it is unusual ( in my experience) for a gas boiler to operate at full capacity for a prolonged period unless it is heating a swimming pool or the outside temp is consistently below -2 degrees C . This winter has, to date, been unusually warm - my gas bill for heat and water (in Oxon) is minimal ( £2.90 /day) for a 27kw system.

In the current market you should be paying around 2.7p per Kw (inc vat) for gas - Utility Point are around 2.45p per Kw. Gas prices are falling quite rapidly at the moment so be wary of locking into a fixed price deal
 
It doesn’t work that way, the gas consumption is based on your boiler KW rating, so yours is 15kw when on max setting, or thereabouts.
 
Yes, measure the gas rate at the meter, them convert it to KW. That will give you a snap shot in time of what the boiler has modulated to. Not sure how that would help you though.

Very unlikely, in my view, that there is anything significantly wrong with the performance of your boiler.

You would be better off spending your time looking at heat loss calculations to determine the correct sizing of the radiators and insulation of the property.
 
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Yes the boiler goes to 00 and there’s 16 radiators in the whole house. I’ve been round and added up all the kw for the size and type of radiators and it comes to 8.7kw so we’ll in the boiler capacity
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Sorry my mistake on both radiators on the top floor where the stat is there isn’t any trvs on them
16 Rads total 8.7 kw are you heating a dolls house. centralheatking
 

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