How do you heat your home cheaply?

masonic

Kayak wrote:

I meant about it heating up quicker in the morning - that if you are happy to turn the thermostat up as you wake up and have the boiler temperature high, then I think that saves a lot compared to having it on before you wake up to ensure the house is warm when you crawl out of bed.

I think there are certainly marginal savings to be had by doing it this way, but you have to consider that in well-insulated houses there is a considerable 'damping' effect, which is going to make the difference between moderate heating over a given timespan and rapid heating over a slightly shorter timespan pretty negligible.

Also, there will be an increased potential for overshooting the desired temperature when you heat more rapidly - this can, of course, be compensated for by turning down your thermostat slightly until the room temperature stabilises in the morning.

Kayak_2

Cardew wrote:

I can appreciate the variable schedule scenario you paint. However why not have the boiler switched off on the timer 24/7 and then switch it on when you come in and select the time you want it to come on in the morning.

Well you could do it that way. Personally I don't like the house to get too cold either overnight or during the day, so I keep the heating on but at 15-16 degrees or so unless I am in and awake. In spring and autumn the boiler does not need to fire to keep that temperature (the temperature drop is not fast enough over a few hours) so there is no difference. In the dead of winter though it does mean a rather more comfortable night as well as a quick heat up when you come in in the evening. Mine is an older house and so cools relatively quickly -- I'm sure that in a modern flat I might well find the same in winter as I do in spring/autumn.

A complexity in my case is that since I work from home, share a room with a cuddly warm computer, and am fairly cold-tolerant, I actually have three thermostat settings: 15-16 for overnight, 17 for during the day, and 20 when the wife gets in. Oh, and 23 when the wife is by herself in the house and thinks I don't know

Jet

caroline1973lefty wrote:

Kayak wrote:

If you turn the boiler temperature well up (4 or even 5 during the winter, unless you've got young children who could get scalded on the radiators) then it won't presumably take anything like an hour for the flat to heat up from cold.

I'm in a 2 bed victorian end of terrace. The heating will be off today, but when I get home at 3.30pm, I can guarantee it will take at least 2 hours to get to 21 degrees. the loft is insulated and I have replacement windows, 1 door is upvc and insulated, the other is wooden but not particularly draughty.

The boiler is old and the radiators have stats on them (no room stat). The floors are always freezing. I'm entitled to a warm front grant and am waiting for an appointment. I'm hoping they can do something.

I dream of a cavity wall insulated, 1st floor flat! :rotfl:

Altarf

Turning down the boiler temperature means that the boiler will be running very inefficiently. Modern gas boilers work most efficiently at higher water temperatures, where it can have a sustained 'on' period, and then a long 'off'. If you set the boiler to 1, it will forever be turning on and off and will use more gas to achieve the same aim. It is only worth turning the boiler setting down if you have no room or hot water thermostats.

However, this seems to be your problem, having no room thermostat. Trying to control the temperature with only Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRVs) is very inefficient. TRVs will only switch the flow to a single radiator on or off. They do not stop the boiler from firing (and so using energy). They are useful, but tend to be a rather crude control of temperature in a room, as they are affected by their location (behind furniture or curtains, etc).

In contrast a room thermostat is accurate to within a degree or so, and will get the boiler to switch itself off if there is no demand for heating for either the heating or hot water circuits and stops cycling (where the boiler fires up and down based on its internal thermostat) saving energy.

There are other advantages to modern room thermostats. They can contain an optimum start temperature sensor, which delays the boiler firing on relatively mild days, again saving energy.

7 day programmable ones also allow you to set different temperatures at different times of the day (and different days of the week), they allow 'party' and 'holiday' modes so you can specify different temperatures for a specific period of time. So if you are going out for the evening, you can set a lower temperature for the number of hours you will be out, but the heating will turn back on in time for your return.

I have saved considerably more than the £50 cost of the thermostat and the house is a lot more comfortable.

iwanttosave_2

Jet wrote:

caroline1973lefty wrote:

I dream of a cavity wall insulated, 1st floor flat! :rotfl:

We have had our cavitys done about 5 days ago, and it is amazing how much warmer the house is, last week I had the fire all the whole time we were home because it was freezing, now, we put it on in the morning to warm it up, then about dinner time it is swtiched off till the next day, I cant belive the difference it has made.

helz228

Hi

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I will try turning the boiler up and turn the radiator valves down. I will also look into having a room thermostat installed. I still dont understand what the setting on the boiler does? Does it control the speed at which the water heats up or does it control the temperature? How will turning the radiator valves down save me money?

dc

helz228 wrote:

Hi

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I will try turning the boiler up and turn the radiator valves down. I will also look into having a room thermostat installed. I still dont understand what the setting on the boiler does? Does it control the speed at which the water heats up or does it control the temperature? How will turning the radiator valves down save me money?

It is a thermostat that controls the temperature of water inside the boiler, in some older boilers, the gas will switch off when the water reaches that temp, in others it will turn the gas flame down to keep the water at the temperature set on the dial. (modulation).

Remember that heat loss from the house is directly proportional to temperature difference between the inside and outside temperature.

The hotter the house and the lower the outside temperature, the more heat is required. Hence the arguments about how to obtain efficient, yet comfortable heating.

If it is very cold outside then the house might not get sufficient heat from the boiler after a long off period, to get the house up to a comfortable temperature. To combat this programmable stats or night set-back stats are used to keep the house at a lower temperature, by leaving the boiler on ( say 10 or 12 degrees,) in the "off" periods. This way the boiler will not have to struggle in really cold weather.
Also if the outside temperature is above that of the setback temp, leaving the boiler on wont use any gas as there will be no loss of heat to the outside, therefore no heating requirement.


All systems have a design temperature (outside), so will have to have some method of help when the temp drops below that temp.
The design will also have a flow (water temp leaving the boiler, set by the knob on the boiler) and a return ( ie water going back into the boiler from the radiators) temperature. With condensing boilers the return temp should be no more than 55 degrees otherwise they will not condense and therfore be no more efficient then a non-condensing boiler.

Each house is different and each persons comfort level is too. So experiment with your settings, but keep an eye on the bills too.

black-saturn

I don't leave my heating on when I'm out or leave it on at night unless there is snow. When you get in from outside the house always feels warmer in comparison anyway and then by the time the heating has started warming the place up you will be getting more used to the temperature.

I've switched my kettle to a stove top one which seems to keep the kitchen warmer (no heating at all in my kitchen) and when I have finished using the oven I leave the door open so that the heat which I have already paid for goes into the house.

At night I have a duvet and 3 thick blankets on the bed and a hot water bottle with a thermal cover. I also wear thick PJ's and bedsocks.

Thats really the only way to keep your heating bills down.

caroline1973lefty

Cardew wrote:

caroline1973lefty wrote:

I think you have misunderstood the point Kayak was making in his first paragraph.

oops yes sorry i realised that afterwards. my system is different. sorry for confusion!