Gas Central Heating Dilemma

whowants2brich

Hi all,

I know you've all had lots of discussions about having the heating on 24x7, and that it is more economical to have it on for a few hours in the evening, and for a short while in the morning.

BUT.....

I've noticed that in our house, I had the radiators (all TRVs) on level 3 and we've found that the radiators are hot and we're going through lots of gas (in this weather, it's expected). Our CH timer has an "advance" button, not a boost, so if we turn the heating back on, it stays on until the next time the timer says it should go off (not just for one hour). So we have the risk of leaving the heating on for long periods, going back to the 24x7 debate...

What I want to do is to try to find a way to avoid having to manually advance the timer, so I want a middle ground between leaving the heating on for longer and having to advance the timer.

Instead of having TRVs on 3, is it advisable to turn the TRVs up to 4 or 5 (max) and to have the heating timer on for a shorter period? Or should the TRVs never be set to max?

We only moved into our new 3-bed semi this time last year, so we are still trying to work out how to best heat up the house, the rad valves were previously old and sticking so were all replaced in the summer (except the bathroom rad), and we swear by the gas fire in the lounge which we use lots (probably too much, but it's cheaper to have the gas fire on heating one room than the full boiler heating the whole house, isn't it...)

Your thoughts on this dilemma would be much appreciated. And I'm not talking about reading meters here, I'm doing that anyway, but I'd just like to know your thoughts on the theory, which should be better, what I should be doing... and then I'll see how the meter reads go.

Thanks!

Cardew

The easiest way is to fit a new programmer.

On mine(not expensive) it has the same facility as yours(an advance or overide button) however in addition it has an 'extra hour' button. Press this button once for an extra hour of heating, twice for two hours. This is ideal if you stay up later than normal occasionally. It also has an extra hour for hot water button.

In fact it is worth investing in much more sophisticated programmers.

whowants2brich

Thanks, Cardew, for answering one thing I forgot to mention. If a new timer saves £20 a year then it would definitely be worth it. But, would 1 hour with TRVs at 5 be better than 2 or 3 hours with them set to 3? That would be the same dilemma regardless of the timer issue.

And one issue we know about is the cavity walls which we are looking to fill in early next year...

ariba10

The TRVs are thermostatic valves.

The numbers on them are equivalent to a temperature.

If the room is cold and the heating is on, the valve is open, no matter what number it is on.

As the room warms up the valve progressively closes.

It has no control on the water temperature, only the room temp.

That I am afraid is the best that I can explain it.

ariba10

Just thought. If you set it on a low number the room will not get as hot as it would on a high number but the water temperature in the radiator will stay the same untill the valve closes.