To keep your home warm it is important to understand how the heating and hot water works, to do this you need to identify what kind of system has been installed.

If there are electric panel radiators (common in our larger developments) these have individual heating controls on the device and the property will have hot water supplied from a tank which you cannot control

If your home has hot water radiators there will be a boiler providing the heating and hot water which is accessible to most tenants.

Left electric panel radiator, right hot water radiator

A boiler based heating system will usually have three main parts which control the heating, the first is the boiler itself, secondly a thermostat and finally Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRVs).

The Boiler

These have several controls which need to set to make sure they run efficiently. Watch a the following video to see how to setup an Ideal condensing boiler which is the most commonly installed type in Unipol properties

Find boiler user guides

Thermostats

There will be one device in a communal area of your home which checks the temperature around it and switches on the heating when this drops below the one set on the thermostat. Thermostats can either be basic dial or a more complex model which allows you to set different temperatures depending on the time of day. It is recommended that you set the temperature on a thermostat to between 18 and 21 degrees.

Find thermostat user guides

Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRVs)

These are fitted to most radiators in a property and control the flow of hot water to individual radiators but do not control if the whole property heating is turned on. If you find some rooms are cold while others are the right temperature try turning up the thermostat a degree then turn down TRVs in rooms that were the correct temperature before.

View video on how to use TRVs (external)

Troubleshooting

If your radiators are still cold after following the advice above watch this video on how to troubleshoot common faults.

Energy saving tips  

• Turn down TRVs if you are leaving your room empty for more than a day but other people are still in the property
• Turn down the thermostat to 5 degrees if the whole property will be empty for more than one day
• Don't have the heating on and windows open, if a room is too hot use either the thermostat or TRV to reduce the amount of heat being produced by the radiator.
• Never need any additional electrical heaters  as they consume huge amounts of energy. If you are cold when the heating is on let us know.

Monitoring energy use

Even if you living in an energy inclusive property, Unipol will read your meters on a regular basis to ensure ‘fair usage’ and will contact you regarding any concerns about excessive energy consumption.

If you need help get in touch and we can come out and show you how it all works.