A little experiment....

webuserisme

I'm planning to try and get to the truth about the 'boiler on most of the time at a set temp or just coming on at certain times of the day' theories that abound. I plan to use the boiler for one whole week for a total of 16 continuous hours set at 20c and the next week I will time it for when we actually need the heat so it will be coming on 6.30am-8.00am, 12.30pm-2.00pm and then 5pm-10.30pm. I will then be able to compare the juice used in each week.

Anyone care to predict the results? Only problem I can see is the variable weather. Or is this wole thing just a silly waste of time?

atticgirl2003

I Predict Your 16 Continuous Hours Will Burn More Than Your Timed Hours.
I Have Tried This But Can't Remember Just How Much More It Was.

Might Just Give It Another Go Myself.

full-time-mum

You will need to make sure that you don't do anything unusual in those 2 test weeks otherwise you won't get a fair result.

Xbigman

This is a debate that goes around and around. Logically you cannot save money by having your heating on longer but it depends on your lifestyle.

Everyone should try it themselves and compare gas usage and decide which is best for them using their personal criteria. Only other thing I would say is that you should be able to see the difference with two 24 hour comparisons, not two weeks.
Regards



X

masonic

Take daily readings. Also, keep a record of the weather conditions for each day (e.g. temperature, wind, rain). Compare several days that have similar weather profiles and you should be able to get a reasonable feel for any differences in using the two different timer settings. Of course, the colder it gets, the more pronounced the effect will be.

BexTech

For us it worked out slightly cheaper to keep the hot water heated (via gas) on all the time.

Di

i tried this a few years ago. cant remember the costs/savings but do remember the plaster cracks in the hall, kitchen, living room!!!!
central heating is a dry heat and our house didnt like it one bit, and its an 80's house

Cardew

BexTech wrote:

For us it worked out slightly cheaper to keep the hot water heated (via gas) on all the time.

Well if it did you have re-invented the laws of physics!;)

Keep your kettle boiling 24/7 then, because that must be cheaper. Also keep saucepans of water boiling 24/7 and the oven on and permanantly up to heat(all for when you want them) - it is the same principle;)

If you go on holiday for 3 weeks, leave the hot water and central heating on because that must be cheaper.

Or you can read the Energy Saving Trust advice who will tell you you are plain wrong!!!

BexTech

Cardew wrote:

Well if it did you have re-invented the laws of physics!;)

Keep your kettle boiling 24/7 then, because that must be cheaper. Also keep saucepans of water boiling 24/7 and the oven on and permanantly up to heat(all for when you want them) - it is the same principle;)

If you go on holiday for 3 weeks, leave the hot water and central heating on because that must be cheaper.

Or you can read the Energy Saving Trust advice who will tell you you are plain wrong!!!

So because you don't like the truth that for us it worked out cheaper having the hot water system switched on 24/7 than it did having it only come on certain time/s of the day you have to mock.

Well I'll tell you this, IT DID work out cheaper, so make stupid fun as much as you like.

For us it DID worked out cheaper, simple as that, for US it did.

Obviously if we are going away we are going to switch of the hot water, but when you have 6 people in the house only having the hot water come on for so many hours per day for us worked out dearer than just leaving it on all day and the gas topping up the heat now and then.

Not sure if you are just pretending to be thick, but the hot water has a thermostat, boiling a kettle or saucepan and leaving it on is not the same thing.

nrsql

Why don't they make kettles that are plumbed in to the water supply and keep the water near boiling?

If it's cheaper to keep the water hot than to heat it when needed why is it cheaper to turn it off when on holiday?

A lot will depend on how well insulated you are.
Also need to take into account the cost of the power you are using - if you have cheap overnight then timing it to come on during the day could work out more expensive.

Could be that if you keep the water hot then you change your habits in which case it could be good for you.

BexTech

nrsql wrote:

Why don't they make kettles that are plumbed in to the water supply and keep the water near boiling?

They do.

nrsql wrote:

If it's cheaper to keep the water hot than to heat it when needed why is it cheaper to turn it off when on holiday?

Come on, think about that for awhile.

You aren't going to be home to use the hot water, so it's pointless heating up OR keeping hot water that you aren't going to use.

When you are at home, you use the hot water, so you need to heat it up, now you could heat it up for so many hours and then use it and find you have no hot water and then need to heat up again from cold, or you could leave the heater on all the time (thermostat) so it tops up as and when required the heat. We have very good insulation, so the top-up heating doesn't cost much, but when we tested only heating up for so many hours in the day it worked out we were using more gas.

If you went away for 2 weeks holiday would you still leave your hot water to come on for so many hours and then go off everyday whilst you are away?

It's gas heating we have, so no rip-off dayrate electricity needed if on E7 / E10.

nrsql wrote:

Could be that if you keep the water hot then you change your habits in which case it could be good for you.

Not really possible, makes it more awkward when one of us works nights.

As I posted for us, it simply worked out cheaper to leave it switched on 24/7 (obviously not when away on holiday, that would just be stupid).

If we could change anything we would, as we only have energy saver light bulbs, only switch lights on when needed, all items are completely switched off at the mains and not just left on standby, we conserve as much as we can, which was why several times we have tested whether it would be cheaper to have the hot water on all the time or only for so many hours per day, and at the end of the day for us, it was cheaper for it to be 24/7, whether people want to believe that, I couldn't really care less, let them think they know better, when I can sleep safely at day knowing for us it is cheaper, if it was cheaper to have it switching on an off for us then that is what we would do, but as it isn't we don't.