Gas on constantly or on and off...?

SuzieSue

tomstickland wrote: »

This is as old as the hills.
Where do they think the heat that's used to keep it warm goes all day?

If you were going on holiday for a month would it save money to leave the heating on so it didn't require heating from cold when you got back?

If you are going on holiday for a month, then you should keep your heating on sufficiently so that your pipes don't freeze. You can't compare a house heating up and cooling down 60 times during a month when you are occupying the house every day with a house heating up and cooling down twice when you come back from a month's holiday.

SuzieSue

SuzieSue wrote: »

If you are going on holiday for a month, then you should keep your heating on sufficiently so that your pipes don't freeze. You can't compare a house heating up and cooling down 60 times during a month when you are occupying the house every day with a house heating up and cooling down twice when you come back from a month's holiday.

Also, no-one is saying that you should keep the house at the same temperature all day - obviously when you are out, you need to turn the thermostat down.

moneysavermum_2

I have a 3 bedroomed 14 year old detached house. I work all day and only put heating on when im in....most of time donot have heating on at night at all and put gas fir on in living room in morning for kids and in living room at night.

I have had the heating on almost constantly over xmas as it has been so cold and the gas fire.

But as a rule only heat the room im in i.e have gas fire on and rarely use my heating unles mega cold in house. I pay 25 pound for electric and 36 pound a month for gas on edf dual fuel online 5

SuzieSue

nje24 wrote: »

I have a 3 bedroomed 14 year old detached house. I work all day and only put heating on when im in....most of time donot have heating on at night at all and put gas fir on in living room in morning for kids and in living room at night.

I have had the heating on almost constantly over xmas as it has been so cold and the gas fire.

But as a rule only heat the room im in i.e have gas fire on and rarely use my heating unles mega cold in house. I pay 25 pound for electric and 36 pound a month for gas on edf dual fuel online 5

That means you are paying much more than me as I only pay £36 per month for both gas and elctricity together.

Sublime_2

The reason ours is on constant is because my children, and OH are at home. When he goes back to work next week, I shall put it back on timed.

Cardew

SuzieSue wrote: »

Also, no-one is saying that you should keep the house at the same temperature all day - obviously when you are out, you need to turn the thermostat down.

As was stated above:

By the way turning down the thermostat has exactly the same effect as turning off your heating.

So having your heating off by using the timer when you are out is exactly the same as turning down your thermostat. - both methods turn off the boiler.

The advantage of using the timer is you can set the heating to come on, say, 30 minutes before you come in, or 30 minutes before you get up in the morning. If you use the thermostat then you have to wait until you get back in the house to turn the thermostat up.

tomstickland

SuzieSue wrote: »

You can't compare a house heating up and cooling down 60 times during a month when you are occupying the house every day with a house heating up and cooling down twice when you come back from a month's holiday.

The house will lose more heat to the outside if it is left heated all day versus the heating being turned off when it's not needed.

SuzieSue

tomstickland wrote: »

The house will lose more heat to the outside if it is left heated all day versus the heating being turned off when it's not needed.

It depends how well insulated your house is and what temperature you set the thermostat at, which is why I advised the OP to try both and see which is cheaper. As you say, the house will lose heat if it is heated all day but that needs to be compared to the amount of extra heat needed to warm up a stone cold house. All houses and families are different and so there is no right answer. Keeping the heating on 24/7 has worked for me and my energy bills have gone down and my house is more comfortable throughout the day and night.

SuzieSue

Cardew wrote: »

As was stated above:



So having your heating off by using the timer when you are out is exactly the same as turning down your thermostat. - both methods turn off the boiler.

The advantage of using the timer is you can set the heating to come on, say, 30 minutes before you come in, or 30 minutes before you get up in the morning. If you use the thermostat then you have to wait until you get back in the house to turn the thermostat up.

You can get programmable room thermostats now which you can set to different temperatures throughout the day.

Cardew

SuzieSue wrote: »

It depends how well insulated your house is and what temperature you set the thermostat at, which is why I advised the OP to try both and see which is cheaper. As you say, the house will lose heat if it is heated all day but that needs to be compared to the amount of extra heat needed to warm up a stone cold house. All houses and families are different and so there is no right answer. Keeping the heating on 24/7 has worked for me and my energy bills have gone down and my house is more comfortable throughout the day and night.

SuzieSue,

Without wanting to sound rude, you really shouldn't comment on things you clearly don't understand. All you are doing is giving very poor advice!

There is a right answer. It is an answer determined by the laws of physics.

This is from the Energy Saving Trust - A Government agency set up to advise us all.

Question.
Is it more economical to leave my heating on 24hrs in the winter?

Answer

No. It is a common misconception that it is cheaper to leave your hot water and heating on all the time. Boilers use more power initially to heat water from cold, however the cost of this is greatly exceeded by the cost of keeping the boiler running all of the time.
The best solution is to programme your heating system so that it comes on when you need it most (possibly early morning and in the evening), and goes off when you don't need it (when you are out of the house or asleep). There are a range of controls that can be used and your heating engineer will be able to provide you with the most appropriate solution.
Depending on your circumstances it may be necessary to keep the heating on all day during winter but it will cost more than if you turn the heating off when you don't need it.

Can you not understand that if you accept the principle that you wouldn't leave an unoccupied house with the heating on 24/7 at a constant temperature if you were away for a year, then the same principle applies to a month, a week, a day, an hour!