Keeping central heating on all the time?

tomstickland

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.

Really, claiming that others "obviously don't want to believe it" or "can't see how it works (it just does OK!)" is no substitute for explaining why it works.
Saying "the fabric of the house is prevented from cooling down" is wrong, because if the house doesn't cool then excess energy is being used to keep it warm when it could be allowed to cool (thus saving energy)

I can only conclude that the reason savings have been seen is because the temperature has been set lower.

I'll go and google on the subject.

dbs

I leave the heating on 24/7 because if my OH comes home and the house is freezing cold she wacks the temp up to very high for the rest of the day and all I want to do then is fall asleep.

Since keeping the heating on at a nice working temp everyone is happy in the house.

kat21

folds arms, seee
I rest my case (for the time being)
9 out of 10 users cant be wrong
kat21:p :T

tomstickland

Anyway, as I already said, it doesn't make any difference to me because I have economy 7 heating.
Principle though LOL.

Anyway, here's some stuff I've found out on the web:

Even a small reduction in the amount of time the heating is on brings money savings and helps the planet

http://www.simonthescribe.co.uk/articles/Templates/Heating.htm

3. Don’t leave heating on when you don’t need it

http://www.britishgasnews.co.uk/index.asp?PageID=19&Year=2003&NewsID=461

Modern central heating systems can run efficiently providing warm and comfortable homes at a surprisingly low cost. The overall effectiveness of a heating system depends on two things: a high-efficiency boiler, that ensures little potential heat is wasted, and good controls, designed to ensure that the boiler is only working when heat is needed in the home.

It is not true that boilers work best when they are running continuously or that energy is saved by leaving the heating on all day, even if the home is unoccupied. Whenever the boiler is firing it is using energy, and whenever the home is being heated to a temperature above that outside, it will be losing heat to the outside world

http://www.nef.org.uk/energyadvice/heatingcontrols.htm

If your house is centrally heated, you can make the heating more efficient and less expensive by upgrading your heating controls. A time switch or programmer allows you to set heating and hot water to come on only at times when needed.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/family_parent/housing/energy_efficiency.htm#Heating

To get the most out of your timer, set it to switch on and off only when it is needed. Allow the central heating system time to warm up.

http://www.housewarming.org.uk/heating_systems/heating_controls.html#timer

Turn down your central heating - turning down your thermostat by just 1°C could cut your heating bills by 10% If a timer is fitted to the heating system use it to ensure that the heating system runs only when it is required.

http://www.chester-le-street.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=7989

An electronic 7 day timer (with separately programmable hot water and room heating if
possible) will ensure that heat is only provided when required and not when the house is not occupied for long periods

http://www.cus.net/oil/oil.html

It goes on.
I reckon the apparent saving is due to setting a lower level.

Someone should do some testing at: timer hot, on all time low, timer low.

shelly

OK. I have just shown hubby this thread and he's explained to me what we do.

Our heating is on 24/7 but the boiler isn't going 24/7. I think thats where some have got confused.
We have a timer (of sorts) as the thermostat is set to 22 in the morning and the heating will come on if the house isn't at that temp. (If its at 22 or more then obviously the rads don't come on) Then it goes off at 9am. The heating is still on all day as it doesn't let the temp drop below 14. Then later on the minimum set temp goes back up to 22. At bedtime it goes back down to 14.

We used to have it on timer only but heating the house up from cold twice a day used more energy and gas than having it on constantly.

So yes we have our heating timed (kind of) but it is also on 24/7, keeping the house at a constant temp. We have been doing this for 2 years and have seen the savings so will continue to do so.




I'm not going to post anymore on the subject as I'm tired of explaining what I know works for us.

kat21 I suggest you do the same If they don't want to try it or accept that maybe we have found the right set up for our homes then leave them to it. I am.

Cardew

shelly wrote:

OK. I have just shown hubby this thread and he's explained to me what we do.

Our heating is on 24/7 but the boiler isn't going 24/7. I think thats where some have got confused.
We have a timer (of sorts) as the thermostat is set to 22 in the morning and the heating will come on if the house isn't at that temp. (If its at 22 or more then obviously the rads don't come on) Then it goes off at 9am. The heating is still on all day as it doesn't let the temp drop below 14. Then later on the minimum set temp goes back up to 22. At bedtime it goes back down to 14.
We used to have it on timer only but heating the house up from cold twice a day used more energy and gas than having it on constantly.

So yes we have our heating timed (kind of) but it is also on 24/7, keeping the house at a constant temp. We have been doing this for 2 years and have seen the savings so will continue to do so.




I'm not going to post anymore on the subject as I'm tired of explaining what I know works for us.

kat21 I suggest you do the same If they don't want to try it or accept that maybe we have found the right set up for our homes then leave them to it. I am.

So you do exactly what you should do! ie you have it on a timer and operate it exactly in the manner that we in this thread (and all the experts) say you should be doing.

The difference is that you have a more modern and sophisticated heating controller where you can set a lower temperature that starts the boiler in the rare event that your temperature drops to that level(in your case 14C)Bear in mind that as it takes time to get the fabric of a house up to heat(as you have painstakingly pointed out) it also takes time to lose heat.

So in a well insulated house in would need to be extremely cold outside(or you keep open doors and windows) for the temperature to drop by 8c overnight(from 22C to 14C) or during the day. So for practical purposes you are doing exactly the same as anyone else, and what you were doing before, eg heating the house up from cold.

How on earth can you say we are "keeping the house at a constant temperature" when you are very cleary not doing so. You are setting it at 22C and allowing it to fall to 14C.

No wonder you are not going to post any more on this thread as your earlier posts have been completely misleading and demonstrated adequately that you had absolutely no knowledge of the subject on which you were so adamant. It is a pity you were not more contrite – although if you have any more insight now you should be embarrassed.


Just one further point. The principle on heat loss so painstakingly explained still applies. If you set your lower level temperature to 12C you would save more money than having it at 14C although it wouldn't normally drop to either temperature unless the house was unoccupied.

ariba10

tomstickland wrote:

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.

That is the best simple explanation that I have seen so far, but will it be simple enough for some?

tomstickland

Correct, you have found a set up that is right for you. This is saving money. Good.

I'm tired of explaining what I know works for us.

There's no need - one explanation was enough.

The explanation of why you believe it works is at odds with all accepted rulse on the conservation of energy though.

Hence I'm not questioning that you have seen a difference, but I am questioning your understanding of why it has made a difference. It's probably best to leave it here since you don't seem receptive to working out why it works. I wonder if you actually read any of the posts beyond the point of thinking "there might be a difference of opinion here".

shelly

I really wasn't going to post again but as I'm not discussing the topic in my reply I will.

Cardew wrote:

Bear in mind that as it takes time to get the fabric of a house up to heat(as you have painstakingly pointed out) it also takes time to lose heat.

If you read my posts again I don't think I have once mentioned anything about heating up the fabric of the house, much less "painstakingly" pointed it out.

Cardew wrote:

No wonder you are not going to post any more on this thread as your earlier posts have been completely misleading and demonstrated adequately that you had absolutely no knowledge of the subject on which you were so adamant.

Also I don't think I ever said I had knowledge of the subject we are discussing, I just said what we do in our household.

I'd hardly call posting on a thread 4 times (not including this post) is being adamant about it either.

IGK

I'm new to these forums, but I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread.
What I don't understand is why the advocates of leaving heating on 24/7 want to set the thermostat to a lower level. A lower level than what?
If, prior to seeing the light as it were, they had the heating coming on a couple of times a day and heated up the rooms to say, 21c, then why would they want to then leave it on all the time, set to 18c or something. They would feel chilly at the times they previously were at 21c, and too hot all the rest of the time (like in the middle of the night). So the thermostat was set too high in the first place.
And as for this fabric business... heating up a house from cold uses a lot of energy (like if you've been on holiday in winter and it takes a couple of days for the house to really warm up), so it's a slow process for the 'fabric' to get heated. It's therefore a slow process for the 'fabric' to cool down when the timer is set to off (at night for example), so only a small proportion of heat has to be recooped when the timer kicks in again.
It's a pointless waste of energy running the heating all night to maintain a core fabric temperature, or whatever....

Rant over...