Hehe - replying to my own message - but I think I may have sorted out the problem (fingers crossed)
The viv is a different one to the ones I had before - I got it second hand because I didn't have much money and hubby pointed out that the backing material, instead of being thick like our other vivs, is more like thin plasterboard. So I've put some towels over the back and temps now seem to be holding fine.