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https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl DIY Forum >> Plumbing Questions >> Numpty CH design ! https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1489652668 Message started by londonman on Mar 16^th, 2017, 8:24am

Title: Numpty CH design !
Post by londonman on Mar 16^th, 2017, 8:24am

Just moved temporarily into rental accommodation. Found out (too late!) that the ground floor has four UFH zones - each with its own thermostat. Two zones are underneath thick oak floorboards - cracking insulation by those oak boards....why did they bother?

Upstairs are normal rads with TRVs plus heated towel rail in the bathroom.

So....did they zone upstairs and downstairs ? Nope

So...did they have any sort of timeswitch ? Nope

So in order for the upstairs rads to have any CH, there has to be at least one zone of UFH downstairs demanding heat so that the pump is circulating. If you don't want to use the UFh (we don't) then you are stuffed !

So it's a question of remembering to turn the stat up in one area in the evening to warm the bedrooms and bathroom up, to turn it off when you go to sleep and then if you wake up early - say 5am - to turn it back on so the bathroom warms up.

Crazy!

And on the electrical front, in the kitchen...'''What? No sockets?"

Yes, mounted underneath the wall cabinets and hidden out of sight. Only.....

Only the Numpty who fitted them, fixed them the wrong way round so that the earth is facing outermost. That would have been OK but the Numpty mounted them too close to the wall and so if you have any appliances (we do) that have moulded plugs then they can't be plugged in :( >:(

So it's loads of extension leads and sockets on the very limited worksurface. Lots of water splash opportunity.

Bloody numbnuts.

Title: Re: Numpty CH design !
Post by CWatters on Mar 16^th, 2017, 7:42pm

Sounds like a DIY electrical installation :-)

Title: Re: Numpty CH design !
Post by thescruff on Mar 17^th, 2017, 10:34am

UFH is fine underfloor boards if its done properly.

It has to run 24/7 to work at a low temperature

Title: Re: Numpty CH design !
Post by Natedog on Mar 19^th, 2017, 5:09pm

do you mean the sockets are upside down so the cable wants to stick up instead of hang down? not done for some under cupboard lighting to be plugged into, was it?

Title: Re: Numpty CH design !
Post by londonman on Mar 21^st, 2017, 5:07am

No, the sockets are screwed to the bottom of the wall cabinets and so effectively upside down horizontally, if you get my drift. Photos here

http://thewoodhaven2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2525

Title: Re: Numpty CH design !
Post by thescruff on Mar 22^nd, 2017, 1:57pm

londonman wrote on Mar 21^st, 2017, 5:07am:

No, the sockets are screwed to the bottom of the wall cabinets and so effectively upside down horizontally, if you get my drift. Photos here

http://thewoodhaven2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2525

That would be really great if you have steam from kettles, pans etc

Title: Re: Numpty CH design !
Post by Natedog on Mar 25^th, 2017, 2:41pm

CWatters wrote on Mar 16^th, 2017, 7:42pm:

Sounds like a DIY electrical installation :-)

To be fair, looks like one too ;D

Could you just rotate the faceplate 180 degrees for a short term fix?

Title: Re: Numpty CH design !
Post by The_Trician on Apr 2^nd, 2017, 12:15pm

Polish or Romanian kitchen fitters methinks, especially the sockets.

Title: Re: Numpty CH design !
Post by londonman on May 12^th, 2017, 7:38am

And as the days start to warm up, the sheer stupidity of the CH design becomes increasingly obvious. It would be nice to have a warm towel rail or just take the edge off the chill in the bathroom but the only way to do that is to have on of the four UFH zones downstairs working. Bloody daft!