Keep it on or on timer?

Bubby

Please excuse my ignorance but I know very little about the world of central heating:o:o

Is it cheaper to leave my heating switched "on" all the time but set the thermostat to say 20? Or set it to come on in the morning and evening just to heat the house through? The problem is I am having to use it during the day aswell and because it has become so cold it takes a long time to heat up and it has to be on 30 to feel any heat.

macman

No no no! It doesn't heat up any quicker by turning it up to 30C!
The longer your boiler is running, the more gas it will use and the higher your bills will be.
If it's not warm enough by the time you come in, adjust the programmer to come on earlier and so bring the temp up higher by the time you come home.

Bubby

macman wrote: »

No no no! It doesn't heat up any quicker by turning it up to 30C!
The longer your boiler is running, the more gas it will use and the higher your bills will be.
If it's not warm enough by the time you come in, adjust the programmer to come on earlier and so bring the temp up higher by the time you come home.

I am home all day unfortunately. I know it doesn't heat up any quicker but because it has been so cold it needs to be warmer to feel hot iyswim?

edited to add: If i had it "on" but set at 20 would it not stay off until the house drops below 20?

macman

Then you need to leave it on all day if conditions require.
Yes, the stat switches on the boiler when the temp falls to below the set level. 20C is typical of the temp that most people like their living areas at, bedrooms are normally cooler.Control the individual rooms using the TRV's (if fitted).

Bubby

macman wrote: »

Then you need to leave it on all day if conditions require.
Yes, the stat switches on the boiler when the temp falls to below the set level. 20C is typical of the temp that most people like their living areas at, bedrooms are normally cooler.Control the individual rooms using the TRV's (if fitted).

Thank you, so would that be cheaper than say having it on timer to come on for an hour in the morning an hour at night then switching it on for an hour twice a day during the day? (i'm sorry but I really don't have a clue:o:o)

st999

All you can do is experiment as to what suits you and what costs the least amount of money.

Before I retired my heating went on at 07:00 then off at 10:00 when my wife left for her work. I started work at 08:00.

It then came on again at 17:00 until 23:00. 9 hours heating a day. I sometimes came home at 13:00 and the house was noticably cooler, but I never put the heating on unless I was really cold.

Then my wife retired and the heating has been on all day ever since.

In the past couple of years I have increased the insulation in my attic, before that the temperature upstairs dropped to 10 deg C, sometimes lower, when the heating was off overnight, but now it never drops below 16 deg C.

Downstairs it drops lower but that is because of the dirty great hole in the wall that BG made us put in, ventilation they call it.

To get to the point, eventually, leaving the heating on all day has not increased our relative gas consumption by all that much, in fact we are using less gas now than 4 years ago but that is entirely due to the increase in insulation.

So put it on all day and read your meter to find out how much gas you are using then try it on timed and again see how much gas you are using and also how comfortable you are in the house and decide, be comfortable or be cold, spend money or don't.

Me, I prefer to be comfortable so have the heating on all day but if I am going out I turn the room thermostat down a little so that when I come home I just need to turn the thermostat back up and the house is warm enough again after a few minutes.

SwanJon

Bubby wrote: »

set the thermostat to say 20?..... it has to be on 30 to feel any heat.

This one always gets me.
If it's a spring day and it reaches 20C I'd be happy to be out and about without coats & scarves etc
When it gets to 30C it is beginning to get too hot to do much.

If it's colder outside I appreciate 16C even more...

dogshome

Hi Bubby - As Macman has advised, if you the wind the Thermostat up to 30, all that happens is that the house takes the same amount of time to get to 20 as when the Stat is set at 20, but the boiler then keeps on running till the house reaches an over warm 30.

You haven't listed your homes insulation properties, but it's worth upgrading where possible -A friend bought a 1960's 3bed tearrace, in the 1st year it used 19000 kwh of gas and was still chilly. When up graded with 15" of loft insulation, Cavity wall filling and decent D/Glazing, it now uses 9,500Kwh of gas a year and is very comfortable

macman

Bubby wrote: »

Thank you, so would that be cheaper than say having it on timer to come on for an hour in the morning an hour at night then switching it on for an hour twice a day during the day? (i'm sorry but I really don't have a clue:o:o)

No, it would not be cheaper if it's on all day, as the boiler will be running for some of the time it's switched on. However if you leave it on all day it will maintain the temp at your required settings all day and be warmer. if you switch it off, it will start to cool down again, whether that is still confortable for these periods will depend on your property's level of heat loss.
Do you have effective insulation (loft, cavity wall, double glazing)?