Gas heating - on constantly or timer?

sofietrouble

Hi there,

I'm wondering if anyone can help - this is the first time I have lived in a flat with gas heating, with radiators fired by a boiler, and not sure of what is cheapest!

I'm on maternity leave at the moment so at home pretty much all day long. I'm wondering whether it is cheaper to put the heating on a timer for four hours in the morning and four hours in the evening. I've set the thermostat to 17 degrees. It does get slightly chilly in the afternoons but soon warms up once the radiators kick in in the evening.

I've also tried having the heating on constantly. However, when I have tried this, the house seemed to stay at 17 degrees constantly and I only noticed the radiators coming on for what seemed about 20 minutes in the evening!

Is it cheaper to leave the heating on constantly, or have it on a timer?
As ideally I'd like the house to be kept at a constant 17 degrees, does it waste more energy to let the house cool down then heat it up again to the required temperature, or just to leave it at 17 degrees the whole time?

Sorry if this seems a daft question but I have never lived in a place with gas before. I'm with the cheapest supplier for my area also!

x Sofie

Cardew

This has been covered dozens of times.

It is always cheaper to have the property on timed. The longer the CH is off the more you save. so it very much DOES NOT "waste more energy to let the house cool down then heat it up again to the required temperature"

If 17C is warm enough for you*(it wouldn't be for most people) then letting it cool down in the afternoon, as you do, will be cheaper.

That said if the flat is well insulated and only at 17C, the difference in cost between timed and constantly will not be much.

* 17C set on your thermostat - particularly if it is sited in the hall - does not meen the living room is 17C.

Robert2009

If you are at home all day and want to be warm all day, leave the heating on all day.

My wife and I are at home all day and we leave the heating on all day. If you go out turn the heating off and when you come home turn the heating back on.

If you had a gas or electric fire you wouldn't leave it on when you went out would you?

Same with central heating. Whatever gives you the most comfort, mine is on all day and off at night.

Rob

KimYeovil

Just to echo Robert - the choice is between having it on all the time and SWITCHING it on when you need it. Don't put it on a twice-a-day timer unless you have no life outside of work.

sofietrouble

Thanks so much for your replies!

Don't put it on a twice-a-day timer unless you have no life outside of work.

I'm on maternity leave so not at work at all, I am pretty much at home with the baby all day, apart from popping out to the shops/doctor's/friends etc for not more than an hour a time. I'm loath to turn the heating off at night as even though me and my husband will be fine under a big duvet but don't want the baby to freeze, and we've been discouraged from covering up the baby too much...

17C set on your thermostat - particularly if it is sited in the hall - does not meen the living room is 17C.

I have these baby room thermometers in the bedroom and living room which say 17 degrees all day.

I'm still undecided - even though the heating is on constant, the radiators hardly ever seem to come on - maybe the flat is better insulated that we thought?

joe_schmoe

Have you tried a sleeping bag to regulate babies temperature, worked really well for our son and very safe for babies

DVardysShadow

sofietrouble wrote: »

... I'm loath to turn the heating off at night as even though me and my husband will be fine under a big duvet but don't want the baby to freeze, and we've been discouraged from covering up the baby too much...

How come Eskimos have not died out? What did people do before the invention of central heating?

markharding557

when we had a newborn we used an oil filled elec radiator with it's thermostat set at a low level which kept the room temp at 16c.
this worked out quite cheap probably not much more than £1 per week.
much cheaper than heating the whole house all night.

Robert2009

When we left the heating on all night when my grandson was born on Feb first we used 5000 kWh extra from then until June. Constant 21 C for 4 months.

Rob

oldskoo1

I was heating the house at 18dC 24/7 last year.

Our little one was born in the sep and we wanted to keep it at a constant 18 regardless of cost.

This was a 4 bed detached and it only worked out slightly more. Like an extra few quid a month. Easily worth it for comfort but more importantly to keep the baby at the right temp.


Anyway, this year as we are out and about sometimes we still have it on 24/7 but we turn down to 16 when we're out or in bed and turn up to boost.


And i agree with you on not covering the baby. Baby grows imo are best and now she's past 1 we sometimes put a proper baby blanket (the one with holes in) for a little extra insulation at night times but the right tog grow should do the trick.

sofietrouble

How come Eskimos have not died out? What did people do before the invention of central heating?

Lol! Eskimo babies wear animal furs, UK babies would die of overheating if we wrapped them up like that even in our worst winter!! Their climate and homes are incomparable to ours, what works for them won't work here (and vice versa.)

My husband and I would happily go with the heating off all night, especially since we have a memory foam mattress which uses body heat to warm us up even more.

We've decided to keep the heating on something like 15 degrees all night and combine that with a winter tog grobag for the baby, the baby def won't get too cold then.

I like the oil filled radiator idea but we're in a one bed flat and space is at an absolute premium at the mo, and I think we'd need a decent size one to make a difference... the cost of heating is such a difficult thing to calculate!!