Plumbing/radiator help please!

I am replacing an inefective (too small) towel radiator in my bathroom with a proper rad. I have the correct rad, some thermostatic valves and all the bits I need. I’m pretty good with plumbing so am confident to drain the system (I need to do this patially as I have to re route some pipes) and hang/connect the new rad.

However I don’t know which side of the rad I should put the thermostatic valve. I don’t know which way the water is flowing through the rad as the pipework is hidden. I was under the impression that it needs to go on the inlet side – is this correct? The instructions for the valves don’t say if the valve needs to go on the inlet or can go on either side.

So is there an easy way to find out which way the flow goes (I have just thought I could switch the heating on and try and feel on the rad which side gets hotter but as its a tall radiator this might not work – is this a good way of finding out?) and does it really matter?

Nowadays it doesn’t matter, which is why there’s no instruction.

TBH I don’t know why I bothered fitting TRVs on all our rads; Mrs Gti just goes around and opens them all to full anyway and if she so much as suspects I’ve turned one down so as to allow it to do its job, she whinges like hell and heads straight for the room ‘stat in the hall.

Thermostat wars are waged in our house every Autumn and Spring while the CH isn’t working very hard and some rooms get a bit cool.

I’m even thinking I might insert a small metal disc inside the lounge TRV so as to depress the plunger a little and slow the flow because she likes to sit there with the stove blasting out heat and the massive double rad on full, shivering and complaining while I’m sweating and stripping off.

gti – you know you can set limit stops inside the TRV (screw it off and have a fiddle) which means that although she thinks its all the way open, it isnt…

Feel the valve body on the rad, the one that gets warm first is the flow

There is sometimes a small arrow cast into the body of the valve indicating the flow direction.

I don’t bother fitting them anymore, they can be a pain in the butt.

Stoner – ha ha, she’s already rumbled me on that one!

“WHY DOESN’T THIS RADIATOR VALVE GO TO FULL? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO IT?”

if you are using one of the chrome T fittings to connect the valve then make sure you use plenty of PTFE tape on the valve tail. I found mine to be a PITA to get leak tight but it was a dual fuel fitting (have an element going up into the rad too)

OP, just walk around naked until she turns them down 😀

Thanks all, I think I’m sorted.

I am also now glad that my wife also wants to save money on heating bills! Seriously – globalti – does she have some sort of medical problem or taking some prescription that makes her cold? Sounds a bit excessive!

I would just turn the boiler temperature down for the central heating circuit…….

I bet you could take the TRV top off and alter it so it looks like its on max temp but is actually 50-70%. Trick is to not turn it down too much so it’s obvious…..I’m thinking you might make use of those mega thin Hope brake caliper washers?

gti – have you tried winding the lockshields in a bit and taking the knob off?

gti – have you tried winding the lockshields in a bit and taking the knob off?

If you leave the knob off she’ll notice. Better to turn them down then drill out the lockshield cap so it spins uselessly if you try to adjust it.

However this may mean she heads off into the garage to get a spanner, where your secret stash of new bike bits are found……….. you gotta think of everything!!

She wouldn’t understand about lockshields but what I really want to do is just give the TRV a chance to do its job. The movement of the pin is very small so it would only need to be something like a very thin coin or disc.

In common with many women Mrs Gti survives on just a couple of spoonfuls of yoghurt for beakfast and a miniscule salad for supper so she’s in a permanent state of calorie deficit, hence she is permanently frozen. On Friday evenings she has a massive blowout when she eats a small portion of vegetable biryani then spends the rest of the evening complaining that she’s bloated.

gti – in her world does chocolate have zero calories if no-one sees her eat it?

shouldnt put this on here BUT – if the heatings not required – i let mrs T-R have the thermostat -but flick the reciever to off …. she thinks things are getting warmer but never actually checks the radiator – mean while the stoves doings its job of heating the room.

globalti – Member

TBH I don’t know why I bothered fitting TRVs on all our rads; Mrs Gti just goes around and opens them all to full anyway and if she so much as suspects I’ve turned one down so as to allow it to do its job, she whinges like hell and heads straight for the room ‘stat in the hall.

Thermostat wars are waged in our house every Autumn and Spring while the CH isn’t working very hard and some rooms get a bit cool.

🙁 I feel your pain,we’re about due this annual argument in the flicker household.

I’ve put the lockstops in ours and have refused to take them out, but we have the same argument, I explain how they work, she snaps “I KNOW HOW THEY WORK, I’M NOT STUPID!” and in the next breath says she just wants to turn them up to max until the rads are hot 😐 . “……..so you don’t understand how they work then?” and round in circles……

So basically your situation is that your wife looks after her diet so she can look as smoking hot as possible and the only result is that you have to sit round the house in your y-fronts? I can’t see a negative here to be honest. 😉