Thermostatic valves: this can't be right...can it?

M

Matt Lord

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Hi there.

Just moved into an older house to discover that all the radiators appear to have old thermostatic valves... at both ends.

I'm no central heating engineer, but shouldn't one end have a lock-off valve? Aren't the two valves just sort of fighting with each other?

Any advice on how to proceed?

In the meantime, I've fully opened all of them in the hope that the central thermostat in the hall will handle things as best it can.

Thermostatic%20valve.jpg
 
Usually one TRV on the flow and a lockshield on the other is the way to go......however I have found your situation too, but only one TRV was actually adjustable by hand - the other one was under a tamper cap. I presumed that this was meant to prevent undue fiddling with a maximum pre set temperature, but not really sure.
John :)
 
I've not seen TRV's fitted to both ends of all rads. What was the point of that. If all rads are now heating correctly, simply refit one of the heads and leave the other as is. You can fit your heads on any end providing your valves are bi directional, ie will allow water to flow in either direction. I cant quite make out the arrow on your picture.
 
Good skills, chaps.
I'll have a look at locking one off with a screwdriver as suggested.
Are these bi-directional valves? i.e. is doesn't matter which one I lock off?
 
I found this situation in a guest house......my logic sort of reckoned that if the capped off TRV was set to say 3, than even if the other was fully on the rad wouldn't develop full heat for too long :eek:
Takes all sorts!
John :)
 
This is what the head looks like. It's adjustable (in that it screws up and down) but it doesn't look as if it senses temperature!

20151127_194531.jpg
 
That looks remarkably familiar! No heat sensing element there, and maybe screwing the thing down doesn't actually depress the pin. I'd just take the cap off, see that the pin is protruding fully and the radiator should heat up.
John :)
 
Those are decorators caps and effectively turn the valve into a wheelhead.

The valve on the other end should have something like this:

Vt117-500x500.jpg


That is the thermostatic bot.
 
Right. OK. Good stuff.
So I'll stick a proper thermo head on one end and lock down the other.
So what's the best end to stick a thermo head on? Inlet or outlet? Inlet I presume?
(And am I right in thinking the pipe that heats up first is the inlet?)
 
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