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Hello Nick

                 We have 2 coils in ours top one for boiler and bottom one for solar(heats more of tank)

I suppose a standard single coil one is all you need

Plus I think the solar coil is diffent may have fins on it or is just loger as heat is usually lower so needs more time etc to do its job!

Roge

Ps I your case maybe the tallest you can fit in the cupboard and maybe the ones with double insulation?

The so called good ones a s/steel not sure about that and depends if you need a pressurised type or open vented?

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Not having a pressurised one in the house thanks…… that’s a bomb….. I saw the Mythbuster episode where they blew up a hot water tank….:ohmy::ohmy::pinch:

Still tempted by the thermal store version where the water in the tank is only the storage and heat is extracted via another coil which is fed at mains pressure. The tank itself is vented, so not a bomb!

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Hello Nick

               What is the advantage of the thermal store type if it only has water in it?

We have these type of radiator controls on most radiators so we can control them indevidually (Study/lounge and dining room do not come on in the morning as we do not use them!)

The bedroom does but then does not come on until 7.30pm to 9.30pm when needed

There are others that come on and off at different times up to 3 times a day.

Our solar controller is one of these (9years old!) so as well as controlling the solar water it controllers the LPG boiler up to 3 times a day and I can tell it what temperatures we want at different times of day!

It is no good heating the water up with LPG in the morning then the Sun comes out to heat the tank up later!

I set it for a low value in the morning not to come on if not below 100F and off at about 115F (we do not shower or bath in the mornings but the is an override function which you can use and again set the temperature to what you want)

Our imersion heater is controlled by a unit that you select the once only time you want 15min 30mins or 60mins so can not be left on!

I would advise make sure the new tank has pockets for electronic temperature sensors the ones on immersion heaters are rubbish mechanical things that usually have about a 10 degree range between off and on and then still hit and miss

Eqiva radiator thermostat, white, 130809G0A, 1.5 voltsV : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

SolarProject-Products

Horstmann E15 Electrisaver Electronic Push Button Boost Timer Switch : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

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That's an interesting setup you have Roger! Looks like you have achieved essentially the same system I have for fraction of the cost.

I used a ready made system from Honeywell (the evohome system) to get the same zoning/timing control of the central heating and hot water.

What I'm not seeing with your system, do the radiator thermostats also control the boiler/solar system, or are they independent of each other? With the evohome system if you tell one room to heat up it also activates the heating solenoid valve, which is what triggers the boiler and the pump to start. Useful, although not foolproof as the dogs have managed to start the heating on the odd occasion!

The Evohome solution is rather expensive, particularly for a large house though I reckon since fitting it (2016) I have more than made the money back. The other mod I made to my house was to fit radiator fans in some rooms. I used the "Speed Comfort" system, again not the cheapest but nicely tucked away under the radiator. I have found that it a) heats up the room far faster, and b) has reduced the oil consumption for the boiler. I only have these fitted to "main" rooms, I might try fitting one to my bedroom radiator at some point, initially I was concerned with possible noise (they turned out quieter than expected).

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1 hour ago, thebrookster said:

The other mod I made to my house was to fit radiator fans in some rooms. I used the "Speed Comfort" system, again not the cheapest but nicely tucked away under the radiator. I have found that it a) heats up the room far faster, and b) has reduced the oil consumption for the boiler. I only have these fitted to "main" rooms, I might try fitting one to my bedroom radiator at some point, initially I was concerned with possible noise (they turned out quieter than expected).

Wondered about these fans, we have 10 and 11 ft high ceilings in the house and thought these might do the job of reducing the layering effect

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12 minutes ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

Wondered about these fans, we have 10 and 11 ft high ceilings in the house and thought these might do the job of reducing the layering effect

My ceilings are somewhere around the same height, and yes it does reduce the layering effect! I was uncertain about them initially, but decided to take a whirl on one room and was pleasantly surprised. So then I did the other main rooms.

(I can't swear for the height of my rooms, so found an old photo to illustrate!)

IMG_20161130_143116_copy_2320x1305.thumb.jpg.bd9c6d4b7e11f24546d485eb80de14ee.jpg

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1 hour ago, thebrookster said:

What I'm not seeing with your system, do the radiator thermostats also control the boiler/solar system, or are they independent of each other? With the evohome system if you tell one room to heat up it also activates the heating solenoid valve, which is what triggers the boiler and the pump to start. Useful, although not foolproof as the dogs have managed to start the heating on the odd occasion!

Hello Phil

               No they are all just for the room.

We have a CH boiler controller in the dining room which can have 2 prorams a day(all different if you need that?)

We have hade these for about the same time and they are still going I just change the batteries evey year(I forgot one and it leaked and knackered it!)

The solar controller controls the HW side of the boiler up to 3 times a day and 3 different cut in and out temperatures! and the solar panels and that is 9 years old!

The valve heads have saved us money over the years and they are cheap ones so the display is upside down as they meant to fit at the top of the radiators as most continentals seem to do!

I just take them off if I want to change the program(they were as cheap as £12 each were as the Honerwell were about £50+ each just to have the display the right way up) no brainer to me!

Roger

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49 minutes ago, rogerguzzi said:

Hello All

             We live in a Cottage and I can paint the all ceilings standing on the floor except 2 upstairs ones were they are apexed as the roof

Roger

:biggrin: That's like the family croft house up near Aviemore. Upstairs in the centre of the apex standing up straight my head touches the ceiling

This our living room, the top of the cupboard door is about 7.5 ft above the floor. Painting the ceiling almost needs scaffolding.

20211026_185843r.thumb.jpg.da59283702a1649cbfde20b29bd55974.jpg

1 hour ago, Nick Jones said:

Ceiling fans….. to send the warm sir downwards…..

Like the  programmable radiator controllers Roger.

Nick, the fan can be anywhere to move the air, and lower is subjectively better. Discovered this when I had a fan driven air filter running once.

Might give those Speed Comfort fans a go

 

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maybe we need a new topic on heating system rather than take over Rogers Living off grid.....

Highly recommend the Evohome system, expensive to setup but works so well I have it in every room (including controlling an electric oil filled  radiator in my garage) so can switch the radiators on when needed. It has the usual internet/mobile control but if the internet goes down it just carries on working.
Lovely example of an appliance designed and built by a company who know how to build control systems rather than a software company..... 

Very interested in the discussion about heating and heat storage. I need to change our boiler and hot water tank. Have looked closely at ASHP,  hybrid ASHP and boiler and even electric boilers but cant see how they would work in our house (4 bed high ceiling 1920 no cavity walls). Looking at a new gas boiler replacement with spending more money on insulation..... 

Mike

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Hello Nick

                 We have 2 coils in ours top one for boiler and bottom one for solar(heats more of tank)

I suppose a standard single coil one is all you need

Plus I think the solar coil is diffent may have fins on it or is just loger as heat is usually lower so needs more time etc to do its job!

Roge

Ps I your case maybe the tallest you can fit in the cupboard and maybe the ones with double insulation?

The so called good ones a s/steel not sure about that and depends if you need a pressurised type or open vented?

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On 10/26/2021 at 9:08 PM, Escadrille Ecosse said:

:biggrin: That's like the family croft house up near Aviemore. Upstairs in the centre of the apex standing up straight my head touches the ceiling

This our living room, the top of the cupboard door is about 7.5 ft above the floor. Painting the ceiling almost needs scaffolding.

 

 

 

You mean like this?

RRIMG_0957.thumb.JPG.402894040ba918ec0f7d311d0d487ac3.JPG

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Hello Red Rooster, 

that is uncannily like the living room in our annexe extension, except that we have no support trusses. It is built onto the gable end of the main house so we have a similar unrendered stone wall at one end.

The roof is made from structural insulated panels which need no trusses merely a ridge beam and an auxiliary beam on the widest section of the assymetric roof. Nice and airy. Ours is about 3.5 metres to the apex and scaffolding was used to paint the ceiling.

Alec

 

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