Adapters for Thermostatic Valves and electronic TRV's

[Itsallaguess]

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Just posting this link here because I've recently been searching for a radiator thermostatic valve adaptor, to enable me to convert an older, large valve connection to make it suitable for attaching an electronic-timer TRV, rather than having to consider replacing the whole radiator valve itself.

With so many connection-sizes and types of old valves, it's been a fairly difficult exercise that I'm pleased to say has been solved brilliantly with the help of the following comprehensive overview of a very large number of valves and connection-types -

https://www.buildingservicestutor.com/the-big-overview-adapters-for-thermostatic-valves/

Web-archive version - https://tinyurl.com/yt28tbd5

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[DrFfybes]

Really goo.

I wonder if the USA regularly uses the term "Thermostat" instead of TRV though?


Confused me on occasion.

[MyNameIsUrl]

‎...to make it suitable for attaching an electronic-timer TRV...

If you wouldn't mind, could you recommend a specific brand of timer TRV? I looked at one recently and it was really shoddy so I didn't buy it, but I would like to try something of good quality.

[Itsallaguess]

If you wouldn't mind, could you recommend a specific brand of timer TRV?

I looked at one recently and it was really shoddy so I didn't buy it, but I would like to try something of good quality.

No problem at all - but the only model I've really got any experience of is the Honeywell Rondostat HR-20 -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Honeywell-Rondostat-HR-20-Radiator-Thermostat/dp/B000KNE738

Note that it's a digital-timer TRV only, with no SMART functionality, but it was that timer-based simplicity that I was specifically looking for, and have since been more than happy to implement by using it.

I bought one back in 2016, I think it was, for our main bedroom, because we wanted a method of automatically cooling down our bedroom during the colder months where the rest of the house central heating is often on until around 8pm, because we struggle to sleep well in a warm bedroom during winter.

Using this digital timer-based TRV, it allows us to automatically close off our bedroom radiator at 5pm each night, and it then opens it back up at 9pm, after the central heating is usually turned off, which allows the minor irritation of the noisy valve-wheel opening back up to happen at 9pm whilst we're all still usually downstairs, rather than at 5.40am in the morning, when the boiler kicks in for an hour to warm the house up early on. That radiator is turned off completely from around April to November, so the timer-TRV is only used during the winter, and it'll usually go through a pair of AA batteries each year. Beyond that, it's a great fire-and-forget solution to our particular use-case, and I'm pleased to say that it's been rock-solid reliable for the 7 years or so that I've owned it.

They're more difficult to get hold of nowadays, but Ebay seems to have a trickle of them every now and then, as people interested in this area of central-heating-management upgrade to the latest SMART TRV's, and I was able to take advantage a while back and grab another relatively cheap one, in almost-new condition, and it's that one that I'm looking to install now with the valve-adaptor mentioned in my post yesterday.

The whole TRV market is huge now, and as you say, finding a good quality option at a sensible price is very difficult. I'm not interested in the SMART side of things at the moment, and as usual, I'm happy to operate in the type of market where people are shedding their older-generation kit whilst they spend top-dollar upgrading to the newest SMART-based technology.

It's an approach that's served me well over the years, and one that allows me to pick up reliable and useful kit at relatively good prices, but it's a process that does need a little patience.

If you do end up with something that you're happy with, I'd be interested to hear where you land. For me this is the type of technology where hearing of people's personal experiences can be very useful.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess