Timer or thermostat?

Annie021063

Obviously we want to keep our heating bills down this winter, so far we have managed to keep the central heating off but I am worried about when it goes on. Should I set the thermostat so it comes on when the temp dips below or put it on a timer for an hour or so in the morning and at night. Has anyone experience in this and which method is best? Thanks

Cardew

If the thermostat is at a setting below the temperature of the room in which it is situated, then the CH is effectively off regardless of the timer setting.

The principle to follow is:

The lower the thermostat setting, the lower the bills.

The shorter the time the heating is on - the lower the bills.

The sensible option is to have the heating timed to come on shortly before you get up, and go off before you leave the house.

Pincher

Draughty, poorly insulated:

You are throwing the heat away as soon as the boiler produces it, and you are throwing money away every minute you have the boiler on. So, you can only have it on for the minimum amount of time, like one hour in the morning, three in the evening. Might as well have the thermostat on 20 degrees, it probably won't reach it in one hour anyway.

On the other hand:

If you have a very well insulated house, and lose heat at 4 kW, for example, it means 3.5px4=14p per hour, or 14px24=£3.36 per day.
In this case, why bother suffering the cold at all? Just have it on all the time, with the thermostat at 18 degrees.

So, you do what fits your heat loss characteristic.

macman

It's not 'either/or', they are connected in series. If the timer is 'off', then the boiler won't come on regardless of what you have set the room 'stat to.

grahamc2003

How about keeping it controlled by the thermostat all the time, with the temperatures set to a (default)profile something like this (adapt it to your own temperature preferences and the hours you are at home

22:00 5C 06:30 18C 07:30 5C 16:00 18C 22:00

Note that the room temperature won't be the same profile at all, and hopefully will be well above 5C during the night (so the heating will be off), and that the room will keep it's temperature acceptable until you go to bed at say 23:30.

I'd check your pump is not running all the time the above settings.

jalexa

Annie021063 wrote: »

Should I set the thermostat so it comes on when the temp dips below or put it on a timer for an hour or so in the morning and at night....

Grahamc2003 made a good suggestion but given your "Subject" and question you probably don't have the necessary "programmable" thermostat. Well worth investigating. Purely as a frost protection measure I would never switch my heating off in winter but set a suitable low overnight temperature on a programmable stat.

Also get a handle on your consumption by taking regular daily meter readings to see the effect of different settings and cold weather.

Annie021063

Thanks everyone, our house is not particularly well insulated but not really draughty either. I think we will go for the timer option as I can control that from my boiler. I shall see how it goes, thanks again.