Sorry not the most riveting topic on here but I'm chuffed with the results so far.
Fitted a Honeywell evohome system at the weekend and am amazed and really pleased with the results so far. It's essentially a wireless control which can then run several different zones. Our house is now split into the downstairs being zone one and then all the bedrooms and bathroom being separate zones all coming on at different times. Although this sounds like a faff it's all controlled from the one place and you can have three periods of on and three off each day of the week for each zone. A total of 147 possible combinations! The reasoning behind the madness is that the kids live in the lounge until bedtime so what's the point of heating their rooms when they're not in them, same with our bedroom. So with the wireless motorised radiator valves we can now set it all to come on at separate times. Fingers crossed for a saving over the week and less wasted energy.
what's the point of heating their rooms when they're not in them
Because it then takes even more heat to get them up to temp when it does come on (possibly)...?
I put a timed stat 9yrs ago & found the most efficient method is with the difference between temp changes set to just 2c. We had solid wall insulation (external) on our house (ex council semi), & I've noticed a huge decrease in the amount the heating is on to maintain the temp.
You're suggesting keeping them at a fairly constant temperature all day everyday? Plus or minus two degrees? Interesting. I'll bear it in mind. It's a bit of a learning curve so far but like I say fingers crossed.
Going off what the OP says it won't take that much effort to heat them up (I'm not clued up on Honeywell evohome stuff) but if another part of the house is already being heated then all that's happening is that the already hot CH water is being allowed to flow into the cold radiators. That might drop the overall CH system temp by a few degrees but it's not like he's just turned a stat on in a room that's 16deg and asked it to get to 22deg.
How noisy are the motorised radiator valves?
There is an audible whir when they operate but it's not intrusive and is a bit like the noise the fridge makes as in I don't notice it anymore! I guess it's similar to when you wind up a small clockwork toy.