Gas central heating on constant or timer?

13468911

Comments

  • mech wrote: »
    Well not necessarily. Mine just comes on a set number of times an hour with a set "bandwidth". It tries not to let the temperature vary by more than 0.5 of a degree. You will find all the modern digital roomstats do this because it's more efficient. Ie: it's more efficient to vary the temperature less with a lower peak than to vary the temperature more with a higher one. I don't see any contradiction in the theory there.

    Does your thermostat control the temperature by turning the heating on and off several, if not many times per day? If the answer is no, please tell me how else it's doing it.
    Reading this signature is a waste of time
  • mech_2
    mech_2 Posts: 620 Forumite
    markbloke wrote: »
    Does your thermostat control the temperature by turning the heating on and off several, if not many times per day? If the answer is no, please tell me how else it's doing it.

    It does, but what is your point? How does that save energy compared to controlling the temperature by some other means? (eg: variable boiler output)
  • mech_2
    mech_2 Posts: 620 Forumite
    DGJsaver wrote: »
    For the layman amonst us !
    We live in a 2 bed masionette , with people above , and the alley way one side and the entrance to the yard the other , the two bedrooms are in the basement and the living areas upsatirs , last winter our gas usage was ridiciolous i think
    We have a crappy old combi boiler , potterton or similar and a rudimentary timer box next to it , with a old fashioned dial thermostat in the frontroom , the house is vicotrian
    What is the cheapest way to heat our place ?
    any tips welcome because it appears theres some pretty clever people on here !!

    :beer:

    In the absence of any better information, put it on timed. Just don't assume that it being on timed is saving huge amounts of money. Turn the set temperature to the lowest you feel comfortable with and don't wander around the house in just a T-shirt in cold weather. All the usual advice really.

    I'm just bemoaning the lack of any hard facts on the subject.
  • mech wrote: »
    It does, but what is your point? How does that save energy compared to controlling the temperature by some other means? (eg: variable boiler output)

    I'm simply trying to establish the other end of the timescale from a million years of switch-off. We've agreed that switching off the heating for a million years saves money compared to leaving it on. You asked about the other end of the scale - I'm trying to establish whether or not that saves energy.

    So, the thermostat does control heating by turning the heating off for fairly short periods. If increasing the duration of the off periods saves money (turning down the thermostat) then we can say that there is a tendency to save money by increasing the off-time even if the house isn't given time to cool down completely (as in the case of the million year scenario).

    Unless you take issue with the idea that turning the thermostat down saves money, or that turning the thermostat down does anything other than increase the periods of off-time then you'd have to make a very special case for saying that turning it off for eight hours does the opposite and wastes any money. That is the point of this thread, should the heating be left on or on a timer to save money? You might argue it doesn't save much money, but the rational thing to do is turn it off if you want to save money.
    Reading this signature is a waste of time
  • Cardew wrote: »
    Ah but have you factored in the effect of Global Warming in your million years analogy;)

    You are of course absolutely correct in all your statements on this subject, but the 'urban myth' of 'it takes more gas to heat from cold than keep a constant temperature' persists.

    The annual thread on this subject will doubtless soon be started - with the usual "I know its true because my friend is a plumber and he told me" statements.

    The case falls down after a few billion years too, when solar power really catches on and vaporises the planet. At least we'll get a proper summer.

    I actually think this is a healthy discussion because it started out by questioning the allegation that leaving heating on all night saves money. Arguments are being put forward in a gentlemanly fashion (or gentlepersonly) and there's been no name-calling or sarcasm (which my wife will say is a miracle for me). Well done us.
    Reading this signature is a waste of time
  • markbloke wrote: »
    I actually think this is a healthy discussion because it started out by questioning the allegation that leaving heating on all night saves money. Arguments are being put forward in a gentlemanly fashion (or gentlepersonly) and there's been no name-calling or sarcasm (which my wife will say is a miracle for me). Well done us.
    beerchug.gif Agreed, there is nothing wrong in questioning received wisdom. Robust but 'gentlepersonly' discussion as found in this thread is rare on the internet. So many healthy discussions descend into flame wars which achieves nothing and puts genuine people off asking what they think might be considered 'stupid questions'.

    Mech I am reading that paper thanks.
    No longer half of Optimisticpair


  • I have an old boiler, timer that can control the water only or water/heating, simple control thermostat, thermostat on water tank and TRV's on room radiators (exc where control thermostat is).

    Originally I used to have the water on for 2 hours in morning and all evening. The thermostat on the central heating on high (20+) so heating was on most of the time in the winter except when I was out.

    Now in the summer I turn the water on when I need it and the tank thermostat is set lower. In the winter I have the heating come on early enough to make the house warm for when I get up. In the evening the heating turns on in time to heat the house up for when I usually get back. Control thermostat turns on at 15C and off at 18C. Since moving in I've insulated the walls, topped up the loft, fitted the trv's, made sure radiators are all flushed and working correctly and fitted double glazing.

    The heating on for @30 mins in the morning (timed for 90 mins) and about the same in the evening (timed 5 - 11) - the thermostat controls on/off within these periods. If I feel really cold then I may up the thermostat to turn the heating back on or maybe it'll kick in later on in the evening when it's really cold outside but this only happened a couple of times last winter. I don't like hot houses so am happy with the temperature.

    I've only got usage figures from my bills for before but from after figures using this "model" I reckon I've nearly halved my gas usage from when I first moved in - so I'm firmly in the camp of heating the house (or water) to the temperature needed and not keeping it on all the time. But the main thing I noticed is that upping the room thermostat a couple of degrees resulted in the heating being on a lot longer.
  • This is how I have my 1 year old, 3 bedroom mid terrace house set up:
    Condensing boilder (one of the best apparently).
    Timer set to turn off between 8am and 5:30pm (when I'm out)
    Programmable thermostat set to be at 19-20 degrees from 5:30pm until 10pm then allowed to drop to drop on to the lower setting of 16 degrees.
    In the morning the heating is set to boost the air temperature to 19-20 degrees until 8am then everything off again.
    I have foil behind the radiators, tuck the curtains in behind the radiators etc

    My thought on the matter is that I like to be warm when I'm awake and cool when I'm asleep. To keep the fabric of my house warm during the day I have dark bricked house (does absorb alot of heat) and my neighbours who know its best to leave the heating on all day long (at 25 degrees) so thanks to them my heating bill is low.

    My thermostat is the Siemens REV100 which has a PID control system, this system actually teaches it's self so the first time it turns the heating on it may overshoot the setpoint by around 4 degrees. It then knows not to leave the burner on for so long and mine can maintain a temperature of around 0.6 degrees. The standard thermostat I had fitted would swing around 5 degrees so I was either hot or cold, not constant = not comfortable.
    Lets get this straight. Say my house is worth £100K, it drops £20K and I complain but I should not complain when I actually pay £200K via a mortgage:rolleyes:
  • mech_2
    mech_2 Posts: 620 Forumite
    This is how I have my 1 year old, 3 bedroom mid terrace house set up:
    Condensing boilder (one of the best apparently).
    Timer set to turn off between 8am and 5:30pm (when I'm out)
    Programmable thermostat set to be at 19-20 degrees from 5:30pm until 10pm then allowed to drop to drop on to the lower setting of 16 degrees.
    In the morning the heating is set to boost the air temperature to 19-20 degrees until 8am then everything off again.
    I have foil behind the radiators, tuck the curtains in behind the radiators etc

    My thought on the matter is that I like to be warm when I'm awake and cool when I'm asleep. To keep the fabric of my house warm during the day I have dark bricked house (does absorb alot of heat) and my neighbours who know its best to leave the heating on all day long (at 25 degrees) so thanks to them my heating bill is low.
    I would be surprised if your neighbours could affect your usage detectably whatever they did. The house mine is adjoined to stood empty for a year. I couldn't detect any higher gas usage.
    My thermostat is the Siemens REV100 which has a PID control system, this system actually teaches it's self so the first time it turns the heating on it may overshoot the setpoint by around 4 degrees. It then knows not to leave the burner on for so long and mine can maintain a temperature of around 0.6 degrees. The standard thermostat I had fitted would swing around 5 degrees so I was either hot or cold, not constant = not comfortable.
    Gosh, that was a bad one. My old mechanical thermostat had a total swing of about 1.5 degrees.
  • I have tried turning off the heating for one of the coldest days earlier this year, it was raining and overcast so I know the sun had no/little influence. When I got in at 6pm the temperature was 16degrees, at 8:30 the temperature went up to 19degrees. In my house there was no heating, no cooking and no hot water on so I know the heat must have been coming from next doors. At the time the neighbours came around and told me that there house was freezing and they had their thermostat at the 30 mark (not achieving this though) Apparently it had been cold since they came in so they turned it up.
    The houses are breezeblock with a couple of inches of insulation between)

    The original temperature sensor can be bought new on eBay for £5 delivered. The controller could be set to a temperature and this seemed to have around the 1.5 degrees on/off error but because the house has 10 large radiators and a powerful boiler it would overshoot around 4 degrees, when it cooled it would then drop 5 degrees before it kicked the boiler in to overheat the room again.
    Lets get this straight. Say my house is worth £100K, it drops £20K and I complain but I should not complain when I actually pay £200K via a mortgage:rolleyes:
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards