getting ready for the winter...

spoonk1

I know this may be a little early but cant afford to be caught short like last year.can anyone help me plz.have decided against the idea of a wood/multi fuel stove going to keep the oil heating.I have my oil tank filled and ready to go.I have a thermostat inside which goes from 5-30 what is the ideal temp to keep this at?
I also have 2 dials on the boiler outside 1 of them is like an inverted dial which goes from 1-3 and the other is like a cooker dial which goes from 1-5.My son got in to the boiler house and played with these dials and now i dont know what they should be at does it make a difference.can anyone help me with where these dials should be pointing.
How often do you have your heating on?

G_M

Impossible to advise!
Depends how warm you like your house!
Depends how hot you like your water!
Depends what kind of boiler it is!
Depends what condition the boiler is in!

No idea why 2 dials on the boiler. There's usually one which is a thermostat to control the temperature of the water being heated in the boiler. Try setting them both half way then see what happens. Is the bath water hot enough? When the heating is on, do the rads get really hot?
If not, turn up the dial(s)!
If too hot, turn down.

Presumably there is also an internal thermostat in the house? his will not control the temp of the water in the system, but will control when the system comes on/off. When the house gets cold (and this is up to you to decide) the internal stat will turn on the system. When it reaches the temp you like in the house, it turns it off. Having said that, if the boiler is set to low, so only warm, not hot, water is circulating, the house temp will never get up to what you want.

You have to experiment to balance keeping the water / house hot enough with not wasting fuel by keeping them too hot.