Preparing for winter II

inspirespirit

Can I ask everyone a question please (avid lurker but not poster on this thread). I have heard conflicting advice re; central heating. Is it best to leave the heating on 24 hours a day on a medium heat (around 18/19 degrees), to keep a constant heat and therefore not having to keep heating a cold house, or put it on for a couple of hours in the morning and again in the evening and leave off all night.

CH27

inspirespirit wrote: »

Can I ask everyone a question please (avid lurker but not poster on this thread). I have heard conflicting advice re; central heating. Is it best to leave the heating on 24 hours a day on a medium heat (around 18/19 degrees), to keep a constant heat and therefore not having to keep heating a cold house, or put it on for a couple of hours in the morning and again in the evening and leave off all night.

We kept ours on set at 16 degrees last winter & our bills didn't go up from the year before when we had it on timed.

inspirespirit

Thank you for that CH27. I was hoping someone would have actually done both to compare. I definitely prefer the idea of keeping the heating on all the time. Is 16 degrees quite warm?

CH27

inspirespirit wrote: »

Thank you for that CH27. I was hoping someone would have actually done both to compare. I definitely prefer the idea of keeping the heating on all the time. Is 16 degrees quite warm?

I find it just takes the chill off nicely. It certainly isn't over warm.

Rainy-Days

inspirespirit wrote: »

Can I ask everyone a question please (avid lurker but not poster on this thread). I have heard conflicting advice re; central heating. Is it best to leave the heating on 24 hours a day on a medium heat (around 18/19 degrees), to keep a constant heat and therefore not having to keep heating a cold house, or put it on for a couple of hours in the morning and again in the evening and leave off all night.

The last two winters I did weekly gas meter readings. One was from our old boiler and the other from our new one. When the worst of the winter hit last year it got down to minus 14.5, so we kept the heating on at a constant 20 degrees and turned it down at around 9.30pm (not long before bed) to 17 degrees. When we got up in the morning we then turned it back up to 20 degrees. This constant heat was done for about three or four weeks and to be honest there was just one therm/unit of difference. You also have to take into account that if you allow your home to drop to below a certain temperture when the boiler does kick into action it does make it hard work for it to have to bring the house temperature back up to par!

The only way you are going to know is by doing the weekly meter readings. I mark mine down on the calendar and I do it on a Sunday morning.

Ziggy8083

Morning,

By goodness it's blowing a very cold wind here. Got the 13.5tog down duvet on last night. What a difference! I was lovely and toasty.

Regards to heating we have it on timer for morning and evening as there is no one in house during day. If there is someone in house then it's a case of jumpers/thermals etc on to keep cosy. Each to their own really as I have no idea what is better.

Prepping still going well. Got a load of rhubarb from someone so need to get it chopped and frozen.
*Rant*
Sadly still no freezer delivery. Spoke company again who apologised and said the delivery company is letting me down. So I am getting called tonight to hopefully rectify the problem. Put it this way unless I get compensation for the inconvenince I will be creating merry hell! OH has had to wait in all day for 2 separate days now. *Rant over*

Still need to get following:

tinned/packet goods
Clothes powder
toilet rolls for mountain
cat food
flour & baking stuff
Bread flour for machine
Deicer from eBay

On plus side, my Mum has offered me a rifle through my late Granny's linen cupboard as she has a mountain of flannelette sheets. Grandpa doesn't need them so next time I'm down I am going to see what's there. My Granny was a bit of a hoarder so there are lots of unopened linen and towels all brand new!

Hope everyone has a good day:A

Confuzzled

inspirespirit wrote: »

Can I ask everyone a question please (avid lurker but not poster on this thread). I have heard conflicting advice re; central heating. Is it best to leave the heating on 24 hours a day on a medium heat (around 18/19 degrees), to keep a constant heat and therefore not having to keep heating a cold house, or put it on for a couple of hours in the morning and again in the evening and leave off all night.

if you have an old house that is mostly stone etc and not particularly well insulated then a low constant temperature will make your lives feel soooo much better and likely be the same price or cheaper than if you turn it off then crank up the heat when the chill really sets in.

old houses made of stone rely on thermal mass (ie heat building up in the stone) the very walls (and sometimes floors) then become a radiator of sorts. if you have very cold walls then the cold is pushed back into the rooms, if you have warmth that is pushed into the rooms thus why it is important to keep at least a low constant temperature.

i used to live in an old crofters cottage and this was very evident between the rooms that regularly had a fire in them and those that didn't. even if we used a space heater in a room that didn't regularly have the fire we just barely felt the benefit of it. yet we could walk into one of the rooms that usually had a fire and even if it wasn't lit that room would always feel much warmer.

if you have a well insulated modern home then there may be some benefit to only turning it on as needed however, for the sake of your pipes once it is reguarly near or below freezing i would urge you to always keep your house at a minimal temperature, of 15-16C just to keep the pipes from freezing.

helen_jelly

I kept my heating on last year all the time [sorry can't do comparison figures] and my monthly gas/elec bill stayed the same year against year. Most of my house is 3 outside walls and when its cold the wind whips round the house, I'll sacrifice alot before I sacrifice heating!! We kept it at 20 for most of the time but it did get to 25 on a couple of occasions, I turned it down to about 17 at night

HTH
Helen

LadyDee

I asked this question of Calor UK as I will shortly be moving to a new mobile home heated with Calor gas from a large on-site tank. Unbelievably, they said they didn't have the expertise to answer the question!

Looking on the Energy Saving Trust website they say this:

"No! If you want your house to be readily heated up when you wake up in the morning or come in from an outing you should use the timer/programmer to switch the heating on a suitable length of time before hand. You can time how quickly your home heats up and cools down by switching the boiler on and measuring the time taken to reach a comfortable temperature. If this is for example 30 minutes then set the programmer to switch the heating on 30 minutes in advance of times when you know you will be waking up or arriving home. Leaving the heating on for any longer than this when you are out the house even on a low setting means that the boiler will be working continuously when the heating is not needed and all the energy it produces will be wasted".

pinkmami

CH27 wrote: »

We kept ours on set at 16 degrees last winter & our bills didn't go up from the year before when we had it on timed.

Just looked at my central heating timer & it says 17 degrees now & I have the kitchen window open! Its cold outside but I'm luck as this house really is toasty (terraced). Once the lobscouse is ready I'll shut it to keep the warmth in!

I usually have the CH on for 20 degrees in the winter. Never more.