Best way to use boiler for hot water

Rainbow_Butterfly

At the moment I have the boiler on for water for an hour in the morning, an hour in the early afternoon and then 2 hours in the evening.
I have a friend who has hers on permenantly as she says it is cheaper to keep the water warm than to warm it up from scratch each time.
Which of these is correct?

Also, the water in the morning/ lunch is just for washing up etc throughout the day, do you think I could get away with having it on for less time?
The 2 hours in the evening is for washing up & family baths, how long does it normally take to heat a tank full of water?

Thanks. xx

floss2

If your tank is well lagged/insulated, then it should stay warm enough the way you are living.... although if you are out all day, you probably don't need it on in the afternoon. You my even find that half an hour in the morning is enough to boost it for washing up in te day.

We have ours on for a couple of hours first thing, then again at 4.30 until 7pm.

Also, check your hot water temperature - you don't need it to be boiling hot...it just uses gas to keep it that hot.

Magentasue

We have a combi boiler now but in our old house, we had the boiler on for 45mins first thing for showers, 45 mins tea time for washing up and bath and another 45 mins for later baths.

Washing machine and dishwasher were cold fill and we'd run max of three baths in the evening. If we needed hot water during the day weekends or school hols, we'd put it on manually.

I think you need to experiment - when we first got CH, I set the water for much longer because that's what my neighbour did, but our boiler was newer and more efficient so didn't need so long.

jan2januk

Hi,
I've been experimenting with this and have got it down to 20 mins in the morning and 20 mins evening without anyone shouting at me cos the water's gone cold in the shower! Three adults living here and we're at home most of the time. I just kept chopping ten minutes off and seeing what happened!
Jan

Magentasue

Yes, jan2, that's what I did. We're a family of six.

Rainbow_Butterfly

Ok thanks all, I shall just have a fiddle with the timer then and see what happens. xx