No Stupid Questions @lemmy.world Oxymoron @lemmy.world 2mo ago

Think my radiator temperature thing is broken.. any ideas?

You know the temperature thing you turn round from like 0 to 5 depending on how hot you want it to be? Well I think, in trying to turn it off I may have turned it too far. As the it just keeps turning but in a jerky movement and the number doesn’t change if that makes sense? Like there’s a little plastic arrow that points up at the setting it’s on, so that you know what setting it’s on. But now it’s like the whole thing is turning rather than just the plastic cover with the numbers on.

So I think (well I’m hoping cos the opposite would be worse) that it’s now turned completely off and there is no way to turn it on. But because the whole thing is turning and the numbers don’t change up or down regardless of which way you turn it, it’s possible it could be on any one of the 0-5 settings but only stuck as showing on 0.

Any ideas?

Cheers!

20 comments

I truly mean no disrespect; no one can be good at everything. But if this is the vocabulary you use to describe the object and the problem, it's probably best to call a pro.
- I just love this response so much
Thermostat

If it is broken, they're inexpensive and typically easy to replace. Usually it's just one or two pairs of wires: one pair kicks your heat on when connected, the other turns your A/C on when connected. If you don't have A/C (or have a dedicated thermostat for heat), then it'd probably only have one pair. Edit: Forgot, some have a dedicated pair for the fan. Mine doesn't, so it slipped my mind.

They usually have a faceplate part that comes off (the part that you think you may have broken) and a mounted part that stays on the wall usually with two screws.

You might have better luck taking some pictures and posting the question to [email protected] to get some more specific advice.

Edit #2: Just saw your new post in home improvement. I was way off lol. The last house I lived in that had radiator heating used a regular thermostat to control the boiler. The one you're describing is totally different.
- Cheers, just posted on there. I’ll just attach the picture here anyway as well.
  
  I think it may not be the thing you’re thinking it is, cos yeah nothing to do with A/C, we don’t generally have that in most UK homes unfortunately aha.
  
  Here’s a photo of what I was calling the thermostat (but might not be).
  
  It's a TRV head. You can unscrew it with the ring under the black area - may need an adjustable spanner to loosen. When you take it off, see if the rotation works and that the pin inside moves up and down. You can also check the metal pin/valve where it attaches isn't stuck (it may need quite a bit of force to check - could need whacking with a hammer if it's actually stuck). If everything seems OK, re-attach the head and see if it's working. If it isn't, new heads are cheap. What you have looks like what I have - cheap generic TRV heads, easy to find online.
  
  Yeah, thanks. I saw your other posted and added an edit to mine. I was way off.
  
  The house I lived in that had radiator heating used the wall-mounted thermostats to control the boiler. That's totally different. Hope you get an answer.
  
  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caleffi-Ecocal-Replacement-Thermostatic-Radiator/dp/B07VGY3J6P/
  
  Look here, just as an example.
  
  You can easily replace it, but pay attention to the size of the thread (after you have unscrewed it). M30x1.5 is the most common, but there are other sizes, too.
- typically easy to replace.
  
  Easier in older vehicles, it seems like modern vehicles want to put anything useful underneath about 50 different other things so you have to halfway disassemble the vehicle to get at it.
  
  Houses also have thermostats
Go look at YouTube videos about thermostatic radiator valves. You can replace the head pretty easily.

20 comments