Leaving heating on 24hrs?

Reason123

Sorry, dont know where else to put this....?

My problem.

I have a 2 bed 1st floor maisonette with no one living underneath.
I have old style single panel rads.
And single pane windows (with added drafts!)

I wake up at 8.00am Our heating is set to come on for 5. Temp set at 25C. Still cold. goes off at 9.00am when i leave the house.
Similar in the evening.
Rads come on at 4.00pm, and turn off at 10.00pm. Im in the house at 6.00pm and through out the evening its cold.
The rads are very hot to touch.

Ive now been advised to leave the rads on 24hrs at a lower temp (15C) constantly and would 'probably' cost about the same.

Any advice?

Cheers

penrhyn

Fit some cling film secondary double glazing and/or thick curtains. Go round and draft proof where possible. Can you check/ add insulation in the roof space?
Get a room thermometer, as peoples perception of temperature is not a good guide.
20-21 degrees is regarded a comfortable.
If your rooms don't reach this temperature then the radiators may be undersized.
It might be worth investing in a programmable thermostat to set different temperatures during the day.

Reason123

Cheers Penrhyn. How do you mean by cling film secondary as someone else mentioned this to me also..

philgee

Do your radiators have "fins" on the back? Older ones don't and have to radiate the heat. Ones with fins convect the heat as well, making them much quicker at heating rooms.

Cardew

Variations on the OP's question are asked time and again on MSE and cannot be answered by anyone on this forum.

e.g is it cheaper to have heating set to 25C for 10 hours a day or at 15C for 24 hours.

A couple of comments:

If your heating is set at 25C from 4pm to 10pm and the house is cold(with the rads very hot to touch) , then there is something wrong with your CH system or house insulation. As mentioned undersized/blocked rads is a possibility.

15C is just not a bearable temperature for living accomodation - it is below the minimum for office temperatures.

Barneysmom

Reason123 wrote: »

Cheers Penrhyn. How do you mean by cling film secondary as someone else mentioned this to me also..

This is a good remedy for draughty windows.
You cut a piece of clingfilm so that it's a couple of inches wider than the pane and stick it to the frame with double sided sticky tape so it's like double glazing only a lot cheaper.

Reason123

Hi Cardew
I see, so the heating needs to stay at 20c 24hrs to be bearable.
which will be to expensive to run 24hrs...

Philgee, Our rads do have fins on the back.
I might measure up and look on ebay for a used double rad?

Also id say the rad sizes are very adequate for each room size.

Barneysmom

Reason when I bought some new rads for hall/living room, I looked on EBay but found the cheapest to be B&Q in the end with the postage and everything.
My brother fitted them for me and I bought him and his family a Sun holiday so it cost me £85 to have the 3 I bought fitted and bro got a break too :cool:

bryanb

Barneysmom wrote: »

This is a good remedy for draughty windows.
You cut a piece of clingfilm so that it's a couple of inches wider than the pane and stick it to the frame with double sided sticky tape so it's like double glazing only a lot cheaper.

After this gently heat the clingfilm with a hairdrier to tighten it. Use low heat and keep moving. Then trim the film to tidy the edges.












BB

Reason123

You can use normal every day cling film???!
But its not wide enough?

Barneysmom

Just overlap it, you can buy proper stuff from B&Q etc, but it does cost a bit more, worth it though.

In rooms that aren't viewed from you can put bubble wrap up.