Keeping central heating on all the time?

kat21

no not even clever use of a timer will make any difference, your heating the house from cold permitting it to cool down. My way the house is always maintained at an optium comfort level. YOur way the fabric of the building has to heat up first (that takes time) which costs on fuel. if your home is already heated then it does not need to heat up the fabric of the building.
kat21
hmmm
one day men will see sense
erm perhaps not

gingerdad

my 2 p's worth we have a digital control which keeps the house at 14C all the time and boost to 18C for a few hours in the morning and evening, we use gas to cook as well and our gas bill is 60-90 per quater......3 bed semi.

Cardew

albertross wrote:

Maybe you could ask Martin to add this to his big questions list..

My "fabric" gets heated up in an hour or two, even in the coldest weather. But the higher the heat of the fabric (in relation to the outside temperature), the faster it cools down. Even if you fill a thermos flask, it still cools down, so your house must be made of special stuff.

Maybe the laws of thermodynamics don't apply to the fairer sex?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermodynamics

Albertross,
The sad thing is that some people will read and believe the rubbish spouted about heating and lights left on 24/7 to save money.

"heres the science and my brother and I proved it!!" Priceless!

'Proof by repeated assertion!'

John_3:16

Can I have some of what there on. What is a comfy temperature? Remember to always wear a wolly if you go to the 24/7 houses as their stat will be so low you will be cold.

This has to be a wind up. I admit you got me. LoL

tomstickland

kat21 wrote:

no not even clever use of a timer will make any difference, your heating the house from cold permitting it to cool down.

Yes, but keeping the house warm when not needed is wasting energy. The rate of heat loss from the building will be proportional to the temperature difference between it and the outside. Lowering the temperature will lower the engery requirement. Having it warm all of the time will mean more heat is lost than if it was allowed to cool for part of the day.

My way the house is always maintained at an optium comfort level. YOur way the fabric of the building has to heat up first (that takes time) which costs on fuel. if your home is already heated then it does not need to heat up the fabric of the building.

Take a bath with a leak in it. The water level in the bath equates to the temperature in the house. If you leave the tap on a very low level then it will maintain a full bath. Alternatively, you can turn the tap off, go out, and then when you come home turn the tap on full and fill the bath up. If the bath only loses level very slowly then it might not be empty and you have to make up the difference and you'd use the same amount of water that you would have done if it'd been filling slowly all of the time.
If the bath was totally empty then you'd have to fill it, but it'd take less water than if you'd just left the tap running all of the time.

YOur way the fabric of the building has to heat up first (that takes time) which costs on fuel.

It costs more fuel to keep the fabric always warm than to let it cool and then heat it up when you need it.

You're explaining your experience (which I don't dispute) with a theory that is inconsistant with the basic rules of thermodynamics.

KathrynPenguin

I never let my house go below a set temperature in the winter. I lost a pin to the timer thingy about 5 years ago and have worked off the thermostat ever since.

When I go to bed at night I turn it down to 15 - any lower than that and I'm waking up cold anyway. When I get up in the morning it goes up to 20 and as I leave the house back down to 15 (its next to the front door so hard to forget). Same in reverse when I come home - the house never feels freezing and takes ages to warm. I don't get cold in bed like I used to and I didn't notice any significant change either way in the bills when I started this.

Mind you the water is seperate - I have a water heater that gives me hot water on demand, gonna miss that when I move.

shelly

kat21.....I'd give up now.... You know it works and so do I. You aren't going to change these peoples minds

masonic

Perhaps a dodgy thermostat might explain why a couple of people have observed a benefit to leaving their heating on? If a thermostat was really slow to react to a change in temperature, every time the heating came on it would overheat the house initially, thus wasting energy.

shelly

masonic wrote:

Perhaps a dodgy thermostat might explain why a couple of people have observed a benefit to leaving their heating on? If a thermostat was really slow to react to a change in temperature, every time the heating came on it would overheat the house initially, thus wasting energy.

We have recently got new thermostats in the hall upstairs and a radio controlled one in the lounge. Both are digital so can see the exact temperature at any given time. As soon as the temp drops to half a degree below the set temp (whatever that may be for the time of year) a symbol comes up on the display to say the heating is on. (We also hear it click on) As soon as it gets to the set temp again it clicks off.
So no, our thermostats aren't slow to react.


I know alot of people can't see how it works (or don't want to) but I know it does save us money. Believe me when I say that if it didn't hubby certainly wouldn't do it.

Cardew

shelly wrote:

I know alot of people can't see how it works (or don't want to) but I know it does save us money. Believe me when I say that if it didn't hubby certainly wouldn't do it.

So perhaps you can enlighten us on how you know it saves you money?

How are your tests conducted? Do you try it for one week on a timer and one week on 24/7? A month each on both methods?

You apparently have the confidence to make a statement on this forum that defies every law of science, any form of logic, and contradicts every expert on heating(including the government agencies) - so you surely must collect some data for such a statement? Or do you just 'know' it does - a sort of female intuition?

After you have been awarded the Nobel prize for science(joint with Kat of course) you will be able to save everyone money because timers for central heating will now no longer be needed - simple on/off switch will suffice.

On the other hand please tell me this is a wind-up(we will take it in good part) but there are people on here who might actually believe you.