[Closed] Unanswerable question: new central heating system - will it be warmer?

if it has a greater KWh - output then yes it will he i beteer

Imagine you replcae a 10 kwh heater withna 15 kwh one for example
It will be like sumer in your home
It may cost you too much to use though 😳

Makes sense 😯 I guess my logic goes "these rads are pretty hot to the touch, how would newer rads that are also pretty hot to the touch heat the house any better even if the boiler is more efficient?"

Would be nice to have a more efficient boiler - at times over the very cold period the warmest place in our house was outside by the boiler's flue 😉

no expert but i'll have a go 😉
a [i]quality[/i] new boiler / radiators will likely heat the house in a more efficient (time and cost) way but insulation is, of course, key to how long the heat stays with you...
Check with your local council to see if
a. they have any money left at all
b. if they do, are there grants available for cavity wall insulation etc?

FWIW, we have a big 'n' daft 3 bed semi, 1850 vintage, stone built...
I was worried about the long term heating costs so, as it needed gutting, I stuffed insulation everywhere i could... between floors, getting the plasterer to use 40mm kingspan insulated boards where possible when 'dot and dabbing' external walls... etc etc..

I thoroughly recommend dry-lining the outside walls with PU foam backed insulation board like this: [url= http://www.lafargeplasterboard.co.uk/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLd4o39DQHSZnFO8cbmYfoR6KJGZuiCRnEOyJEgvS99X098nNT9QP0C3JDQyPKHRUBu80qKA!!/delta/base64xml/L0lDU0lKQ1RPN29na21BISEvb0VvUUFBSVFnakZJQUFRaENFSVFqR0VBLzRKRmlDbzBlaDFpY29uUVZHaGQtc0lRIS83X0JfMk0xLzU!?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/Plasterboard+UK/Products/GTEC+Board/Performance+Boards/GTEC+Thermal+XP+Board ]55mm board[/url] It IS a faff, it is a messy job, and you will lose a tiny volume to the room, depending upon how thick you line it. We found that it made an enormous difference though. House is 100 yr old, solid walled detatched on an exposed! hillside.

You can do much of the work yourself. I involved plasterers for the skimming but that was it. I gave myself a week per room, doing one room at a time to minimise disruption. Started with the living room, then bathroom, then boy 1's bedroom etc. Very satisfying too.

Depends on flow temps. If the old boiler/system was maintaining the same flow temps as the new one will, then there may not be an appreciable difference. Bigger rads will help but you may need larger pipes to deliver more water to them (unlikely though). A bigger pump may be required.

New rads will make for a more efficient system ie transferring heat better. I've replaced the rads in 2 houses and well worth the effort. If you can shorten any pipework, you'll make it better too. Depending on how old the existing one is, the new boiler and rads could be a big improvement.

Where is your thermostat? If its in a stuffy well heated room somewhere, it will shut off the boiler before the other rooms heat up. Could get a wireless one so you can stick it in whichever room you are using.

On the other hand, if the rads and boiler are just undersized for the house, time to splash some cash 🙁

Bigger/higher output rads will amke the difference, my new gas boiler replaced an oil boiler. It goes to 75c max whereas the oil boiler stat allowed to to go to 90 deg, so the rads struggle to heat the place when it gets really cold so i just run the heating nearly 24 hrs a day to keep it topped up

Second the insulation route.

Yep, agree that insulation is a good thing, just that as far as I can see, apart from small gains here and there the only insulation option remaining is external solid wall insulation (no cavity walls) - the internals of the coldest walls seem to have been lined with the insulating board stuff so that route's been explored.

The thermostat IS in the lounge which is often warm due to the wood burning stove however if you "turn it up to eleven" you can override that - crazy logic.

I think some of the rads [b]are[/b] too small and most of them are single thickness with no fan bits on the back so reckon they do struggle to radiate but can't base that conclusion on any science!

We used to call the back room the fridge (3 outside thick stone walls).

I ripped off all the old dry lining and dot and dabbed 50mm celotex all around it, got it replastered and used the discreteheat skirting radiators.

It's now totally toasty and the warmest room in the house.... hurray!!!

New boiler and replacement radiators that were the same size as the originals in our house last year. Thanks to Scottish Powers graph thing of our consumption our use of gas (only use it for heating/hot water and the hob) and we consistently used about 30% less gas all year, and the house feels more comfortable throughout. No hot/cold spots. Might be the thermostatic radiator valves as well but overall I will confidently say, yes.
You will love it and wish you did it ages ago.

edit-insulating may well help even more of course 🙂

Yes.

I'm similar to Tracker72. Had a new boiler and thermostatic valves on the radiators this summer and according to the figures on the Scottish Power website, my consumption has dropped 1/3 in this current cold snap compared to Januarys.

You could try using [url= http://www.homesupply.co.uk/radiator_output_calculator.php ]THIS[/url] to find the correct radiator outputs in KW. When you have done this for every room you can total them up and this will give you the boiler output required.
As has been said before keeping heat in a house is the key to keeping it warm.

A new boiler will be much more efficient, so you can save money whilst maintaining the same temperature as before; you can spend the same amount on gas and have a much warmer house; or you can be somewhere in between 🙂

You could try using THIS to find the correct radiator outputs in KW

Good link - thanks, I feel a spreadsheet comin' on!! 😉

Reckon I wouldn't object to spending this (it would seem, if my calcs are correct) astronomical amount on gas if it actually made the house warm, so think new boiler has to be the way forward regardless of what I do insulation-wise.

Cheers all, very interesting input, as always.

The modern radiators are more efficient, so you may find a smaller one is recommended by the calculations and puts out more heat than the existing ones.

Having your thermostat in a room with another heat source isn't very good - it won't reflect the house temperature and 'falsely' cut thea heating as that room is warmer than the rest.

K2 rads (panel front and back with fins between) are really efficient. And put foil on the Walls behind to reflect more heat into the rooms. And consider where they are sited for most efficient air flow (normally under windows is best).

Why is it better to put them under windows?

One thought is that you put them in the coldest part of the room - used to always b under the windows. It is thought to prevent draughts around a room ie cold air falls at window, rad on opposite wall has hot air rising, air flowing around the room with a cold draught on the floor. Also that space under the window is 'dead' as you can't put anything else there really.

molgrips - Member
Why is it better to put them under windows?
POSTED 32 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Also get a remote electronic temperature controller - it's where most improvements are made to a constant comfortable temperature.

Too Tall is correct it is to do with the way it will make the air circulate around the room. They aren't really radiators but convectors, so create air movement. Better to pull warm air across the floor than cold. Dead space and convection staining are other issues to consider.

If you put radiators next to the window, and have a set of long curtains in front of the radiator - aren't you effectivelly just heating that one small pocket of air?

If you have long curtains and have them closed all the time then possibly yes.