Heat yourself, not entire house

HUDengineer

Empty_pockets wrote: »

Hmm, don't know tat much about boilers but still a little confused.

I would guess it's the hot water dissipates the heat and it circulates round the system.
Does the water then return to the boiler to be heated to a certain temprature again?

You are correct. When you turn the Central Heating on, the boiler lights only if (i) the thermostat says the room temperature is lower than required and (ii) if the water in the heating circuit is below a certain temperature. (iii) Other conditions, such as whether your hot water tank needs heating, and other interlocks can come into play also.

For (ii) above, you may have a knob on the boiler that adjusts the setting: Turned up, your radiators (and hot water!!) can be painfully hot to the touch. If you only have one radiator turned on, then the circulating water in the heating circuit warms up quickly, and so the boiler spends more time off, waiting for the water temperature to reduce. The more radiators you have on, and the higher the water temperature you have selected, the longer the boiler will be on to get things hot.

[The water circulation pump speed (which is selectable on some models) affects behaviour too, but should not be something that individuals tinker with, as the plumbing engineer should have set this to suit the installed circuit.]

If the water temperature thermostat is set very low then the boiler will perform frequent on/off cycles (I would call it short cycling). Turning the water temperature thermostat on the boiler up allows the boiler to turn on for longer bursts, as the radiator is now hotter and therefore delivers more heat into the room. Assuming this is the room in which the room thermostat is operating, the room thermostat will turn the boiler off when the desired room temperature is required. However, note that the water temperature thermostat is not just affecting the Central Heating performance, but the temperature of the water in your hot water tank, so you need to consider what is comfortable, and what suits your needs.

Note that for people who like the idea of a comfortable temperature in just one room at a time, you can now get central heating controllers with a portable room thermostat, if you like that degree of convenience, but I think you must have to give the radiator valves a tweak too.

Andy

Badger_Lady

I haven't really done it for money saving reasons... Although I did choose my home to save money. I have a very large room (photography studio) in a squat, so it's all big open spaces in a concrete building with no central heating. I tried switching on an oil-filled electric radiator, but the heat is lost just as quickly as it's generated so I don't bother with that anymore.

Instead, I have:
- A heated waterbed that maintains the perfect temperature all night long.
- An electric pad that's tucked under a fleecy blanked on the sofa, so I can switch it on to warm my bottom.
- A small oil-filled radiator in my dressing room, which I switch on before showering and switch off after dressing.
- Of course, a hot water bottle for generally carrying around

Luckily the hot water is free and always switched on, so although the whole building is freezing I can jump into a hot shower whenever I like. I go out to work every day, often staying in the office late or using my audience club membership to stay entertained and warm in the evenings. And I always know that my bed will be the perfect temperature at night.

chris1973

Once again another thread where the majority of closed minded contributors assume that everybody on god's green earth has central heating, or *shock* *horror* even access to mains gas. For some of those who don't live on London, Manchester or Birmingham this is a reality, as well as those suffering from tight landlord syndrome, the type who can't be ar**d to put in decent heating for their tenants and expect them to live like its 1911 not 2011

For those people, as well as those stuck on a landlord controlled tariff, high electricity rates and crappy 30 year old storage heaters tend to force their hand a little, and leave them no alternative but to seek personal forms of heating as they'd be bankrupt even trying to heat poorly insulated 100 year old buildings.

For those people, articles on alternative or cheaper forms of heating are a must, if you don't like it or can't handle the fact that IMBY is does not apply to all society in general, then there is an invention made just for you, its called a 'back' button, see it in the top corner of your browser?, well hit it and it will magically take you back out of the thread you appear to be stuck on, and you'll never have to visit this thread again, then you will be free to find one about Eastenders or little fluffy bunnies thats more to your taste!

pothole50

chris1973 wrote: »

Once again another thread where the majority of closed minded contributors assume that everybody on god's green earth has central heating, or *shock* *horror* even access to mains gas. For some of those who don't live on London, Manchester or Birmingham this is a reality, as well as those suffering from tight landlord syndrome, the type who can't be ar**d to put in decent heating for their tenants and expect them to live like its 1911 not 2011

For those people, as well as those stuck on a landlord controlled tariff, high electricity rates and crappy 30 year old storage heaters tend to force their hand a little, and leave them no alternative but to seek personal forms of heating as they'd be bankrupt even trying to heat poorly insulated 100 year old buildings.

For those people, articles on alternative or cheaper forms of heating are a must, if you don't like it or can't handle the fact that IMBY is does not apply to all society in general, then there is an invention made just for you, its called a 'back' button, see it in the top corner of your browser?, well hit it and it will magically take you back out of the thread you appear to be stuck on, and you'll never have to visit this thread again, then you will be free to find one about Eastenders or little fluffy bunnies thats more to your taste!

Well said I could not agree more. :T

brightonman123

i have put extra clothes on, and a hat, to avoid nasty heating bills..

double duvets when in bed too!

groatie_queen

My sympathies go to anyone with no or poor central heating, no or poor double glazing and no cavity wall and loft insulation. I'm a home owner and over the past 13 years I've invested a lot of time and hard-earned into sorting out the energy efficiency of what was a badly neglected 1970's chalet bungalow. I've prioritised all of this over holidays and entertainment, as a good investment. However the rising cost of energy has made me start heating me primarily, and the house to a lesser degree. It would be miserable if I hadn't done all of the above! I'm currently sole occupant of the house. House on market to achieve a downsize (family flown the nest and I don't need 4 bedrooms).

Heating self: Like Badger Lady, I have a heated throw on my sofa. The CH rad TRVs are all set to 1. I wear thermal leggings under trousers or long skirts, and on top I wear Icebreaker base and mid layers under a third or fourth layer, depending on how warm I feel. I wear real sheepskin bootee slippers when I feel cold but often prefer to wear merino wool socks for walking round indoors. I run an electric blanket on an all night setting on my bed, and have two layers of fleece blankets over my duvet, which is the highest tog rating I could find.

I haven't felt cold this winter, and admittedly it's a lot milder than last year. My Scottish Power statement arrived this morning, and I have used 41% of the Kwh gas (=£47 per month) that I did for the same 3 months last year, and 44% of the electricity (=£20 per month). The mild weather of course accounts for the gas being lower. I think I could get the gas lower again, but this is quite a large house and Dec has been chilly in this part of Scotland. Last thing I would want is frozen pipes - boiler is in garage and hot water pipes run up to attic and along and back down to bathroom and kitchen (there used to be a hot water tank upstairs).

Off topic (as it's not about heating the person rather than the environment), but I was reflecting on what I've changed to account for the lower electricity bill. Have become less of a hoarder so stopped using the freezer in my garage and just use fridge freezer in kitchen; have been switching off my cooker at the wall; have stopped watching tv and just use laptop for iPlayer/dvds. Bought a smaller kettle which uses less power, and continue to only heat what I actually need. Bought the electric blanket for the bed, and stopped heating hot water bottles through the day and two for the bed at night.

I do all the other usual stuff like only ;ighting one room at a time but have done that for years and the other things mentioned are the only changes since last winter. I guess when the CH is running, the electricity required for the pump etc increases in line with boiler firing, which would have added to last year's electricity usage over the same period.

Am I pleased? I'm thrilled, and for me I'm happy that my own personal experiment in lowering costs by applying the most heat to me and not primarily to the house has shown encouraging savings (but doing this in a harsher winter will be more of a true comparison for the gas). And it hasn't felt meagre or deprived - still want to get that £47 down.... puts thinking cap on....