How do the wall heaters work??

[Lamminparras]

Alright, I'm a complete newbie to anything dealing with a heater in a house. I have lived in Florida all of my life. I'm assuming these pipes going to the heater are hot water pipes. I would also assume that if I turned the knob all the way, it would come on, right? Well, no, not for me and I'm sure theres a reason that I just don't know. Maybe they only work/are hooked up during the winter? Also what do the settings mean?....


0----------*----------1-----2 • • •3 • • •4-----5
oventrop π____________vindo TH


Thank you

Edit: I just tried again and now I hear fluids flowing, but not hot....?

[Pursuivant]

They put the heating on when it gets cold. Thats Finnish cold, so it means say October-ish when you start getting night frosts.
Basically 0 is off and 5 is the top setting, usually thats too hot, but it depends. When the heating comes "on" you'll be getting a lot of "fun sounds" as the pipes "live" and they do get hot.

[interleukin]

there might also be air stuck in the heater, preventing the hot water from flowing into it. Get your landlord or the house company to have a look at the heaters if they do not start warming up soon.

[Lamminparras]

Alright thanks guys!

[Jukka Aho]

Alright, I'm a complete newbie to anything dealing with a heater in a house. I have lived in Florida all of my life. I'm assuming these pipes going to the heater are hot water pipes. I would also assume that if I turned the knob all the way, it would come on, right?

If the heat is on in the house, yes. (Water Central Heating 101!) The “heaters” in a central heating system (which is based on the circulation of hot water) are properly called radiators. (That’s “radiaattori” in official Finnish HVAC-speak... or “lämpöpatteri”, or just “patteri” in common layman-speak.)

If you live in an apartment building or a rowhouse located in a relatively urban area, you typically get the actual heat from the local district heating system. (See here for more information... and the additional links on the sidebar.)

Also what do the settings mean?....
0----------*----------1-----2 • • •3 • • •4-----5

0 = off
* = freeze protection (sufficient circulation to keep the pipes from freezing in wintertime)
1...5 = various temperature levels

oventrop π____________vindo TH

“Oventrop” is the name of the manufacturer, “Vindo” is one of their product families.

See here, here and here.

[Lamminparras]

Wow! Thank you for going that extra mile! (er kilometer!) I really appreciate it, that answers all my questions!!

[irnbru]

Finnish radiators have 2 settings 0,1,2,3,4,5 = off 6 = on

[Pursuivant]

Or rather 2 settings of "too dang hot" and "witch's tit"

[Jukka Aho]

Wow! Thank you for going that extra mile! (er kilometer!) I really appreciate it, that answers all my questions!! :P

Just one more note... the maintenance and the regular adjustment of a (water) central heating system in a big apartment building is a science unto its own – especially given the different (often contradictory!) preferences and demands of the tenants. One trick the maintenance guys employ to keep the system in balance is limiting the temperature range that the thermostat/actuator will actually control... This is typically accomplished with a special limiting disc installed inside the device.

So tenants are not necessarily allowed full control of the radiators in their apartments. Instead, adjustments may have been limited within a certain allowable range... even though the knob will (misleadingly) turn all the way in either direction!

[riku2]

Most heating systems in finland don't have very hot water going around the pipes ALL the time. The temperature of the water going round the circuit varies inversely with the temperature outside. So when it's +10, the heating water is perhaps +40. So even with the knob on max, the radiators won't feel that hot. When it's -30, then the water will be at something like +60. It's better than the system you find in the UK and US where the heating water is always very hot. There the heating pump switches on and off to regulate the temperature. With the Finnish system there is a small computer to regulate all this.
If you live in a block of flats then you have to hope that the system is calibrated so that your flat gets heating water that's hot enough. Otherwise even with the knob on your radiator fully open your flat will never get warm.

[irnbru]

It's better than the system you find in the UK

I beg to differ. In the UK you can set the temperature to be whatever you want whenever you want. Apartments typically each have their own boiler. Probably it's not as energy efficient but a better experience for the end user.

[Upphew]

It's better than the system you find in the UK

I beg to differ. In the UK you can set the temperature to be whatever you want whenever you want. Apartments typically each have their own boiler. Probably it's not as energy efficient but a better experience for the end user.

I think irnbru is right, especially when there is some new energy efficiency push by EU. Brits just switch to the system we use now and we must figure out how to teleport the water so we can get rid of heat losses of the pipes.

[Jukka Aho]

I beg to differ. In the UK you can set the temperature to be whatever you want whenever you want. Apartments typically each have their own boiler. Probably it's not as energy efficient but a better experience for the end user.

Given that Finns don't typically own their apartments (per se) but only shares in the housing company (which legally entitles them to the right-of-possession and little else), it "logically" follows the company who legally owns the building is also the party responsible for maintaining the overall "integrity" of the property... So it is in the interests of the company, as a collective of shareholders, to ensure that individual occupants do not ruin or otherwise devalue "company property" by, say, letting the pipes freeze or burst in "their" apartment... which some individual shareholders might just manage to do if they were allowed to control the heating or plumbing in their apartment independently of the other shareholders/occupants!

[riku2]

In the UK you can set the temperature to be whatever you want whenever you want. Apartments typically each have their own boiler. Probably it's not as energy efficient but a better experience for the end user.

This is the kind of thing that controls the temp of the water going round the radiators in finnish homes and flats (flats have a more professional type that can be configured via the internet or gsm).
http://html.ouman.fi/english/lammonsaat ... anEH80.pdf
I've never seen this kind of controller in the UK since heating systems there don't have the regulator valve that allow the heating circuit water to vary in temp from room temp to 60 deg or more (based on the outside temperature which is monitored by an outside probe). In the UK the boiler temp is set and you can manually adjust that, but I don't think anyone or anything varies it in accordance with the outside temperature. Instead the room thermostat and radiator valves work in an on/off fashion. So the radiators can be on/off, not always on with their temp varying from 20 deg - 60 deg like with the ouman type controller.

[old higsonian]

It's better than the system you find in the UK

I beg to differ. In the UK you can set the temperature to be whatever you want whenever you want. Apartments typically each have their own boiler. Probably it's not as energy efficient but a better experience for the end user.

In the UK you are in control, but you have to balance the temperature, the timer and the gas bill. Not always easy to do.