Timered heating or on all the time??

Mum22

Hi
I don't know whats best to do. We have always put heating on timer switch. 6.50 - 8 in the morning and 4.30 - 9pm. With the odd boost button for 1hr when its cold.
Is this better than keeoing it on all the time but just turning the thermostat up and down.. We have it on at 18degrees at present.

Thank you

Cardew

This has been discussed scores of times.

Turning the thermostat down far enough achieves the same objective as turning off the boiler - i.e. the boiler doesn't fire and hence use any gas.

However when using the thermostat, as soon as the temperature in the room drops to the level set on the thermostat, the boiler fires up.

I think most of us use the method you already use.

inaminute23

Leave your heating on!!!

I have done both, and saved a large amount of money.

Key things you need to do....

1. If you don't already, move your room stat into your lounge. After all that is where you spend most of the time. Also if you can get a wireless digital one. They cost about £30 and are easy to install. Have you ever wondered why most room stats are in the hall? Me too! Anyway mine was, and the current temp in there with no rads is about 15 deg!! That means you will always be guessing what to set it at. So set it to say 20 degrees celcius in your lounge and that is what it will heat too. If you can't do this. then by a cheap digital thermometer and just use it accordingly, ie if the stat is set at 20, but your lounge is 25 deg., then knock it down accordingly so your lounge thermometer registers 20 deg.

2. Turn your boiler up to max and on a combi boiler, pressurise the system (open the filling loop) until its about 1.5 - 2 bar. This should ensure the rads are operating at there optimum.

Just do a simple test, that is if your heating doesn't come on until you are home from work. Take a temp reading, in this weather even in a well insulated house the temp can go to as low as 15 degrees celcius. Now turn your heating on with the stat set at 20, and see how long it takes to get there. Today it took 45 minutes to heat my living room by just 1 degree! ( I was doing a test, not using my normal method) so do the math and you'll see the pennies disappear. My boiler uses around 3 units per day (95kwh) with the heating on all day set at 20 deg. This is an extreme too as we all know we are suffering a horrendous winter so far.

If you decide to switch to this method then i would advise in buying a fan heater. for around £15 they will heat your living room up to the desired temp in a lot quicker time than the boiler will so worth doing if your start temp is only around 16. In fact if i could do it all again, all my house would have convector heaters installed.

Obviously if you are away for days on end, then turn it off, or leave on very low (to stop any pipes freezing). Upon return set to your desired temp, but use the fan heater to start off with to get to this temp quicker.

I hope this helps you all, but if you are in doubt just do the test.

HappyMJ

inaminute23 wrote: »

My boiler uses around 3kwh per day with the heating on all day set at 20 deg. This is an extreme too as we all know we are suffering a horrendous winter so far.

Only 3kwh. I must assume this is a typo. Unless your house is one of the best insulated houses around with almost no heat loss. If that were gas at 3.5p kwh then the cost would only be 10.5 pence per day. What is it in summer?

I understand your point about the thermostat being in a cold hallway but wouldn't TRV's be another option on all radiators? Then each room could be set to 16 or 20 depending on room use.

ariba10

inaminute23 wrote: »

Leave your heating on!!!

I have done both, and saved a large amount of money.

Key things you need to do....

1. If you don't already, move your room stat into your lounge. After all that is where you spend most of the time. Also if you can get a wireless digital one. They cost about £30 and are easy to install. Have you ever wondered why most room stats are in the hall? Me too! Anyway mine was, and the current temp in there with no rads is about 15 deg!! That means you will always be guessing what to set it at. So set it to say 20 degrees celcius in your lounge and that is what it will heat too. If you can't do this. then by a cheap digital thermometer and just use it accordingly, ie if the stat is set at 20, but your lounge is 25 deg., then knock it down accordingly so your lounge thermometer registers 20 deg.

2. Turn your boiler up to max and on a combi boiler, pressurise the system (open the filling loop) until its about 1.5 - 2 bar. This should ensure the rads are operating at there optimum.

Just do a simple test, that is if your heating doesn't come on until you are home from work. Take a temp reading, in this weather even in a well insulated house the temp can go to as low as 15 degrees celcius. Now turn your heating on with the stat set at 20, and see how long it takes to get there. Today it took 45 minutes to heat my living room by just 1 degree! ( I was doing a test, not using my normal method) so do the math and you'll see the pennies disappear. My boiler uses around 3kwh per day with the heating on all day set at 20 deg. This is an extreme too as we all know we are suffering a horrendous winter so far.

If you decide to switch to this method then i would advise in buying a fan heater. for around £15 they will heat your living room up to the desired temp in a lot quicker time than the boiler will so worth doing if your start temp is only around 16. In fact if i could do it all again, all my house would have convector heaters installed.

Obviously if you are away for days on end, then turn it off, or leave on very low (to stop any pipes freezing). Upon return set to your desired temp, but use the fan heater to start off with to get to this temp quicker.

I hope this helps you all, but if you are in doubt just do the test.

Do you visit planet Earth often?

inaminute23

ariba10 wrote: »

Do you visit planet Earth often?

Listen, I've done it both ways, and it is cheaper leaving it on.........Fact!

By the way it was a typo 3kwh, it is 3 units about 95kwh

inaminute23

HappyMJ wrote: »

Only 3kwh. I must assume this is a typo. Unless your house is one of the best insulated houses around with almost no heat loss. If that were gas at 3.5p kwh then the cost would only be 10.5 pence per day. What is it in summer?

I understand your point about the thermostat being in a cold hallway but wouldn't TRV's be another option on all radiators? Then each room could be set to 16 or 20 depending on room use.

Trv's are useless how do you know what temp they are to go off at say at level setting 4 out of 7?

(TRV's) fit on the radiator in place of the existing valve, inside the valve is a wax capsule which expands when heated and stops the flow of water to the radiator. As the wax cools it contracts and lets the water from the boiler flow into the radiator. You should only fit TRV's to every radiator providing there is a bypass fitted on the system, but even then this is not advisable. As it could increase your fuel bills and increases wear and tear on your boiler. This is because once all the rooms are up to temperature all the TRV's will be closed, but your boiler will still be producing heat at about 78 deg °C. The pump will still be pushing the heated water around the bypass circuit, even though the house is warm enough. This will cause the boiler to cycle unnecessarily. So it is also advisable to fit a room thermostat. A TRV should not be fitted in the same room as the room thermostat as this can interfere with its operation. When the room stat is satisfied it will shut the pump & boiler off (providing another circuit is not calling). For best economy just fit TRV's in rooms that are too warm (bedrooms) or in south facing rooms and unused rooms. If you have a condensing boiler then do not fit too many TRV's, usually no more than a third of all radiators, as they will reduce the high efficiency of the boiler instructions.