Gas on constantly or on and off...?

davidgmmafan

"For my circumstances, I will have my heating on constant."

No wonder we're going round in circles, its not on all the time is it because it has a thermostat. So what you are really saying is not having the heating on all the time is cheaper, which is what the other people are arguing in a different way.

Think I'll just lurk now as I have nothing else to add.

stevemcol

davidgmmafan wrote: »

"For my circumstances, I will have my heating on constant."

No wonder we're going round in circles, its not on all the time is it because it has a thermostat. So what you are really saying is not having the heating on all the time is cheaper, which is what the other people are arguing in a different way.

Think I'll just lurk now as I have nothing else to add.

For the purposes of this discussion, having a constant temperature set is considered 'on all the time'. The comparison for discussion has generally been 'constant temp set' versus 'Off' during the day.

bobbybuttons

stevemcol wrote: »

The best way to manage this is to set the temperature you require in the hall. You should then control the temperature in the warmer rooms with radiator rad stats, assuming you have them. If you haven't, they're worth buying and not too expensive.
Tweaking the thermostat in a cold part of the house to maintain temperatures in warmer rooms is the tail wagging the dog really.

Also, the room / hall in the house with the thermostat should not have a rad stat as the thermostat/rad stat will conflict.

Thanks for your advice. We are in a council home and have an old boiler and the radiators do not have temp controls on them.
a lot of the radiators do not even have knobs on anymore as when when they started to leak or there was a problem the council hit them off and now they cannot put new ones on as they are no longer made, so to put new ones on it would mean having to change all the valves or something like this ( i was told this as i moaned we could not turn radiators on or off ) the council have no money though so are not going to change them and only do jobs is completely necessary.

RichPyke

Right then...

When my heating was on timed, 2 hours in the morning, 8 in the evening, it was cold and took over half of the time that it was on to get up to comfortable temperature. The morning 2 hours was pointless as it did not get to a comfortable temperature before it turned off again! Granted, it would be warmer than if it didn't come on but it wasn't a comfortable temperature. The evenings, it would be late evening before it was comfortable enough.

When I leave it on constant, the house is constantly a comfortable temperature.

The difference in gas usage... when timed I used more gas than when it was on constant. Timed I used 1 more cubic foot of gas. Yes, outside temperature, cloud coverage etc. was not constantly monitored however the maximum and minimum daily temperatures were.

Last week was by far the coldest week with the lowest outside temperature recorded being -13c! Much colder than any week it was on timed or constant. Yet in this coldest week, on constant, I used the exact same number of units.

So in conclusion, at least for me and in my house, it's favourable to leave the heating on constant. And even if constant had used 1 or 2 more cubic feet of gas, it would still be beneficial to leave it on constant in my opinion. My gas costs roughly £1 per cubic foot so for £1-2 a week, or less than £10 per month, I would rather be comfortable than save a few quid.

Throw all the "but you didn't measure this or that..." around but I have been recording a lot more than just meter readings. A day on constant, which was colder on average (even at it's high!) than a day on timed which was warmer was still cheaper to heat my house with the heating on constant!

By constant I mean the timer on constant, room stat set to my prefered temperature (which hasn't changed on any of the weeks I have been monitoring the usage on timed vs constant) and TRVs set up correctly to get each room to the temperature it needs to be at (there are no rooms which are unused, if there were these would be right down on the TRVs).

Make of that what you will. Claim all manner of laws and such like you want. It doesn't change the fact that it has been cheaper or the same cost to maintain the heat than to then reheat. And don't take this as me saying that all houses would be the same, they wont, check your own. But it has been worth it for me to check this out as I am now entering a warm house when I get home, and no longer shivering for 4 hours after I get home... and am happy to leave the heating on constant knowing it isn't costing me any more to do so.

hansi

I guess you must have a large house if it takes up to 2 hours and doesn't get up to temperature in the mornings. Admittedly, I only have a small house, but half an hour in the morning is all I need.

HappyMJ

These past few days have been virtually tropical compared to last week. You are correct in saying it's more comfortable and that comfort comes at a price and as you have found out that price is not significant at under £10 per month. It's not much we all agree on that. So when someone asks the question is it cheaper to have the heating on all the time then the answer must be no but it's a hell of a lot more comfortable for only around 30 pence more per day.

Cardew

HappyMJ wrote: »

These past few days have been virtually tropical compared to last week. You are correct in saying it's more comfortable and that comfort comes at a price and as you have found out that price is not significant at under £10 per month. It's not much we all agree on that. So when someone asks the question is it cheaper to have the heating on all the time then the answer must be no but it's a hell of a lot more comfortable for only around 30 pence more per day.

You might note however that RichPyke has completely changed his stance. This is what he posted earlier(and was the cause of the disagreement)

Mine cost more when timed than when it was on at 21c all day every day. The difference was minimal though... on 24/7 was 25 imperial units used, timed (2 hours in morning, 6 in evening) was 26 imperial units used...

No ambiguity there that I can see, 8 hours a day apparently used more than 24 hours a day at 21C. Complete nonsense of course.

It has been stated repeatedly that 'on timed' or 'on constantly' is a compromise between comfort and cost, but only constantly will cost more.

grahamc2003

Rich - So if you went on a fortnight's skiing tomorrow, would you turn your heating off( or at least down to a minimal value to stop freezing) or would you leave it on at a comfortable 21 degrees?

flashnazia

I wish my house would defy the laws of physics like the houses of some posters here!